Friday, May 23, 2008

Brick Path Quilt

I finished the brick path quilt. Hoorah! I ended up attaching the binding by machine after an hour and a half of hand sewing only resulted in a foot of the binding being sewn. At that rate, it would have taken me weeks to sew the binding by hand. Despite this, I'm really happy with my first quilt.


For the back, I pieced together some leftover scraps from the top. I love how it turned out. I also love the crinkly goodness that resulted after it was washed and dried.


Some things I learned about quilting during this project:

1) Cutting accurately is the hardest part. A rotary cutter and mat are my friends. However, this pattern is so forgiving that it doesn't matter that I cut a few of the first fabrics less than stellar.

2) It's easy to overthink the layout. I spent at least a good two hours just staring at my quilt top and rearranging the pieces, and I could have easily spent a lot more time doing this.

3) Taking the time to make sure everything is smooth when basting together the back, batting, and top is worth it. I hardly had any puckers!

4) My machine is adequate for quilting. I was a little worried that my basic Singer wouldn't be up to the task of quilting. Could I fit all that fabric through the arm? Yes, and I could have fit more. The trick is rolling it up and starting the quilting from the middle. Worked like a charm. The walking foot was definitely helpful.

5) Quilting is fun! (Not that I needed to tell you that.)

I started the quilt mid-April and finished on May 21st. This is much sooner than I expected to finish! Thanks for playing along with my guessing game. I think Robyn had the closest guess (May 26th). Robyn, please send me your address and I'll try to send you something fun in the next month or so.


Ok, off to wrap myself in the quilt some more (and guard it from the cats who have been eyeing it covetously this whole time).

12 comments:

Christina said...

Your quilt looks so nice! I've never quilted anything so big, I'm glad to hear that it's do-able on a regular SM. Here's to many happy times cuddling under it...

Adrienne said...

Your quilt is gorgeous!!!!

UK lass in US said...

It's absolutely beautiful. Really lovely.

You had me fooled with all that procrastination talk - my guess was way off...

Raesha D said...

It's SO beautiful!!! You did a wonderful job:):)
Add one more item to your "things learned" list -
1. Quilting is addictive:)

kathryn said...

this is gorgeous Stephanie!

Jessica said...

I love your quilt! The fabrics are beautiful. I think my favorite quilts are the brick-path like designs. Happy Quilting!

Jodie said...

It looks great and really you finished it so quickly. I have one from last year I am still working on!!!

Colette said...

Your quilt is absolutely lovely.

I must finish mine!!! I too spend too much time on working out the fabric/colour layout.

This quilt will just get lovelier and softer with many cuddly moments under it. Enjoy :-)

Kathy said...

I love, love, love the quilt! I knew that you would enjoy it. It's very magical to see pieces of fabric turn into a blanket that you can use to wrap yourself in warmth (or take on a picnic - we found a better use for that square, pink blanket this weekend!).

Congrats!

beki said...

that turned out so well, good job!!

Anonymous said...

Awww... Wow, the quilt looks phenomenal! Even better that you were able to finish it by my due date :-) Congrats again on a beautiful quilt (I'll go send you my deets now...).

~ Kim ~ said...

Beautiful. I've been wanting to make one for my daughter. I love yours!!