If you’ve kept up, I kind of disappeared after Christmas. The dang sew-jo just went pfffft and was
gone. But, I’ve been slowly revving it
back up during the last couple weeks. One
of the things that has helped me recover it was quilting and binding my Gypsy
Wife quilt! It's been a year since I started (the QAL started last February), and I can pretty much say I enjoyed the entire process. It's a rare project that doesn't get to the "hate" part of the love-hate-love cycle.
At first I was waffling on how to quilt it. Originally, horizontal
lines. Then, fancy quilting because I
could. Then, what type of fancy
quilting, maybe simple was best. Then,
and I thought this was the winner, ditch quilt the blocks and horizontal lines
on the background strips. That was it. And then I started quilting.
The very first line I sewed right over the block (that I was supposed
to ditch/outline stitch). Whoops. Oh well, that decision was made, and it just
meant the quilt was quilted faster. I am
not one to rip out unless it’s really bad.
It was quilted over a weekend, marking with a hera marker (pretty sweet),
and the binding took a week. I decided to hand bind in case I enter it in
the fair. I’ve been machine binding
everything lately, and it is so much faster (if not quite as pretty from the
back). The hand binding has been exceptionally
slow, and revealing in that I really do need to find a thimble that works for
me. I've tried several different kinds, but I guess I need to try a few more.
Anyways, back to the subject at hand, my beautimous quilt! I love her!
She is wild and crazy, and I’m so glad to have my own couch quilt. The star block is probably my favorite, although I love that rainbowtized HST block beside it as well.
My husband thinks the Amy Butler backing
print is “old lady”. That just goes to
show what he knows. Pattern matching is a pain, but it turned out great.
She's already been snuggled on the couch and makes that sad hand-me-down so much brighter!
Thanks to Michelle for starting the QAL last year!
