Wednesday, January 28, 2015

My First Quilt Top

In honor of my three years of quilting, I have moved to the top of the priority list my first quilt top.  It was January of 2012 and not a good winter for snow or playing in the snow.   Although I had been sewing for many years (garment and home dec projects) I had never made a quilt.

I walked into my LQS (which happens to be Keepsake Quilting in Center Harbor, NH) on a quiet mid-week day and asked for assistance buying what I needed to make a quilt.  Well, you know what that led to!  The pattern that was recommended by the shop employees was Sassafras by June Bronson.



The pattern turned out to be a very good recommendation.  The pattern has over 1,000 pieces so that made it challenging and interesting for someone who was not a beginner sewer.   The blocks were a nice introduction to quilting and included  half square triangles, pinwheels, nine-patches, log cabins and scrappy units.  This quilt is honestly full of mismatched points, chopped off points and wavy squares and rectangles.  Frankly, I am amazed that it is even close to flat as I was approximating a 1/4" seam when piecing.  By comparison my current work is PERFECT (which it definitely is not).

Let's talk about the fabric.  Batik.  I did not know at the time that batik fabric was not "cool."  Picking up this quilt recently after a couple of years of working with non-batick quilting cotton, I have to say I like the feel of the fabric.   You know how lovely Art Gallery fabric feels?  This quilt feels like that, soft and very smooth.  It is the ONLY batik quilt I have made to date but now that I have revisited this quilt, I am definitely not ruling batiks out of my repertoire.

I am going to quilt this and put it to work at the house in the woods.  This will be my first time quilting batik fabric; always something new to learn!  Quilting suggestions welcome!

Linking up with Lorna's Let's Bee Social and Lee's WIP Wednesday parties!

Kathy

12 comments:

  1. Ah yes the batiks. I think I recognize some. Batiks were "in" when I started quilting and I have tons of them. I blame this on my friend Wendy who pursuaded me to join a batk fat quarter club. My interests are definately elsewhere these days...but I'm still slowly working my way through them.

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  2. I am a great fan of batiks, so anyone looking to get rid of them can send them my way! lol Isn't it fun to go back to old quilt tops and see how your skills and tastes have evolved.

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  3. I love batiks, and anyone with looking to get rid of them can send them my way! Isn't it fun to go back to old projects and see how your tastes and skills have evolved.

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  4. Such a fun quilt with a story. I suggest you quilt it simply. Detailed quilting will not show up very well. :)

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  5. Very pretty! The gorgeous woodsy colours in your fabric lend themselves very well to being quilted at your house in the woods!

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  6. I enjoy batiks too. I even made myself a shirt using a tan batik that looks much like the tan in your quilt.

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  7. I love batiks but don't work with them often. What beautiful colors you have in that one, perfect for a house in the woods.

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  8. Lovely expressive quilt--and I am a total batik lover! I like the softness of that print--just looks so warm and cozy...glad you are quilting it...hugs, Julierose

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  9. I have made a batik quilt and my son grabbed it up right away when it was complete. I have too many fat quarters of batiks now, also, that I need to use up. But they do make comfy quilts!

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  10. My first quilt was batik too! I did a block of the month at the LQS and this was their recommendation. I am very impressed that your first quilt was over 1000 pieces! Great job!

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  11. Although just recently I saw some bright colored batiks and thought they might be nice. The bright and bold colors definitely add to the "cool" factor :)

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  12. I love sewing with batiks... They press so nicely and have such a pretty sheen. Your top is beautiful and I look forward to seeing it quilted!

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How nice of you to take the time to comment!

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