Just before all my craft fair craziness started, I decided to participate in the Tula Pink Butterfly QAL, hosted by GnomeAngel. I got a late start because I wasn't sure what color scheme to use, but finally decided on a stash pile of warm colors: pink, orange, and yellow. I soon got derailed on the timing of the QAL because my sewing machine ended up in the shop for 3 weeks (turned out nothing was even wrong with it!).... but I eventually caught up.
Just before the QAL ended, I was able to finish the quilt top. I can easily say that this was the most challenging quilt I've ever pieced. Here's why:
- The curved blocks! I've heard from other people that they are the. worst. I really struggled with the smallest ones- the larger the curve, the easier it was to construct.
- Those curved blocks? Make sure you make them mirror image. I didn't. I had to remake some of the hardest ones!
- Fabric selection: Doing a color gradation approach was no picnic. It definitely doesn't come natural to me, I really like high contrast in my piecing and doing that within the same color is not easy.
- Piecing all the pieces together was not easy either. Many readers may recall that I love my Triangulations "software" that helped me complete the 154 HST's in an afternoon.... but I found that they were a bit on the small side when I had to piece them with my other blocks. My best guess for why this happened? Maybe the way I cut and measure is a tad bigger than Triangulations standards.
- Making everything twice got old for me. Especially if it was something challenging to piece- you "get through it," and then you have to do it again.
I really did have fun choosing fun fabrics to include in the quilt top, lots of little creature motifs and I love the use of the Brambleberry Ridge bird background fabric.
I was one of the three winners of the QAL, so that was exciting.
I have to admit that I am a quite scared to put this on my longarm and finish her up.... it's very intimidating to try to think of how I could custom quilt this with my limited free motion quilting skills. It will be a while before I have the courage to put this on my machine.
Linking up to Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.
5 comments:
Good, you persevered through all of the challenges and now you have a beautiful quilt. And along the way you learned some new skills. Perhaps taking a small break to give yourself time to think about your quilt design may help. You will certainly push through this challenge as well.
Absolutely stunning, this is a work of art. x
You did a GREAT job on this! Absolutely love your colors. You should be very proud! I have this pattern and have been putting it off for so long because I can’t decide on a color scheme!! Maybe 2018 will be the year I make my decision!!
Pretty!!!
Beautiful job. I totally understand the fear of beginning to quilt a top that turned out great and took a lot of effort. Take your time, it will come to you eventually.
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