Saturday, February 12, 2011

String Quilt: a.k.a Charlie's Impromptu Photo Shoot

A couple of years ago (pre-blog) I decided to make a quilt. It was right before I got into hard-core bag-making. I had seen the directions for a string quilt on about.com's quilting page. I had a ton of scraps that I thought would be great--and even now when I look at the quilt I think "curtains, skirt, bag lining, curtains, curtains, change purse" as I think of the larger projects the scraps came from. I never took pictures of this when I made it, but when I stumbled across it today I thought I'd share it with you. It's definitely a first quilt: terribly snipped threads, crooked lines, weird tension, not big enough for a bed but too big for a throw quilt--all the things that you don't know you're supposed to be careful about when you're first learning something. But all of the colors make me happy, so that's good enough for me.

Charlie could care less about whatever you're doing most of the time, but today he decided he was feeling like being in a photo shoot.

 He would sit at the front door all day if you let him.

Here he is finishing his upward-dog pose. He does a wicked downward dog too but I didn't have the camera ready when he decided to have a little yoga practice.

 This one is my favorite block--and kind of Valentine-y. I thought I could sneak a shot without him but nope. He was actually sniffing my forehead while I was taking this.

 
There are some blocks and fabrics that wouldn't normally go but in this instance there is so much going on that they all just blend in together. I was determined to empty the bag of scraps.


 Those are all supposed to be squares but my seam guide thingee kept moving.

The back is pretty wonky. I thought you just sewed and ended up with a quilt. I didn't know you were supposed to keep an eye on the back that you weren't sewing big wrinkles into it and other things. When I showed this to my grandma, I said "The back isn't that great. There's a lot of mistakes." And she said "Honey, we don't tell people those sorts of things." Which made me laugh--taboo quilt topics, haha. I did a fake binding--I cut the backing an inch larger and trimmed the batting to the quilt top size, and then folded the backing to the front and sewed. It worked well enough but I would probably do a proper binding now.

This quilt is super heavy. For a string quilt you're supposed to sew strip after strip to a base square and then sew those squares together. I decided to use this thin fleecy-felty stuff instead of batting. I had no idea how heavy it would make this quilt. And it's a little stiff because of all the layers involved. But I love it. It was my first real quilt. I had made a few table runners, and each improved over the last--but I hand quilted those so it was much easier to keep things straight.


I'm going to leave the untrimmed threads just as they are. It's nice to have something to look at that you can compare to something new you've made to see how far you've progressed with something.

26 comments:

  1. I love all the different colors you used, it makes it cheerful looking.

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  2. Oh that is a beauty! I love projects like that in which there are reminders of other things you have made. I have items that I made on holiday or at certain times of year and I can tell you where I bought the fabric, how much it was, where I was when I made it, what I was listening to ~ isn't that odd, but good?
    Kandi x

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  3. Wow, That is a work of art. I love the colors you chose! Very nice, the dog aint so bad either. lol Happy Valentines Day!
    xoxo

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  4. WOW, that is beautiful! I love how cheerful and happy it looks! It makes me want to smile!
    I agree with leaving "as is" to see the progress you've made. I believe in that philosophy! Thanks for sharing, I love your post.
    Happy Valentines!
    Love, Brenda

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  5. So pretty! And NEVER point out your mistakes to anyone!! They won't see them. I made a string quilt too, and it was very heavy. I love yours!!

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  6. Your dog is very photogenic! He looks beautiful on the quilt and really enhances all those georgeous colours!

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  7. If you look at the quilt from a distance, it looks really professional. I've never made a quilt before. Just patched blankets for my kids. I do enjoy looking at my old bags thru' my blog and see how much better I am now.

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  8. I {LOVE} scrap quilts!!!! Isn't funny how you look at them and remember all your other sewing projects that the fabric is from? I quilted my last quilt myself and it is so dang hard to keep those lines straight - you did an awesome job!! I love your cheery colors too!
    -Mariesa

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  9. So beautiful! We're featuring fabric this week over at the M&T Spotlight and would love for you to submit this. http://www.makeandtakes.com/spotlight

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  10. Love the colorful fabric selections. This is a beautiful project. Cute dog too-lol.

    Enjoy your day.

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  11. I think it's gorgeous! Especially because it's so colourful, so what if it isn't perfect? Nobody cares. It's perfectly imperfect, ha! ;-) xo

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  12. I really like your quilt. My first, second and third quilt all have loose treads, crooket seams and wrinkled backing. I have learned to see the love behind all those things instead and have fun with it instead of letting my perfectionism get the better of me. But I'll tell you there was a long process getting there.
    Thank you for sharing.

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  13. This is beautiful. I am just contemplating creating my first quilt. I'm a new sewer, and I'm a little daunted. I would be so proud to show your lovely quilt!! ~Lori

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  14. So fun! I love the string look, but have told myself I'm never quilting angles again after a quilt with diamonds and the nightmare of trying toline them up! I would never guess that is a first quilt, way better than my 5th and 6th quilts! i have mustered up the energy to start #7 :)

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  15. How fabulous! I love this! It is such a great feeling to finish a big project like this! Looks wonderful!

    ~Jessica
    at: myhappinessexperiment.blogspot.

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  16. Congratulations! A quilt is a big challenge to tackle, and you did a brilliant job. Backs are a challenge for me, too. Happy Friday.

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  17. I just love it. Such happy colors and makes you want to wrap up and read a good book or watch a fabulous movie.

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  18. I think you should be very proud of your first quilt! It is absolutely gorgeous and your Nan was quite right .... don't mention the "what's wrong with its" - someone I knew used to say Just make a feature of it! Most things I make have a feature!!! :0)
    love to you,
    Val xx Oxfordshire UK

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  19. i think you are being very hard on yourself...this looks just perfect to me! my first attempt at a quilt is utter embarrassment! stopping by from tatertots and jello

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  20. Wow, your quilt is so nicely done, and I love the colors!

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  21. wow! great job... love the choice of colors... and the dog too ;) we are having a link party if you would like to come join! http://www.bubblynaturecreations.com/2011/02/project-party-weekend-make-your-blog.html

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  22. I love all the colors! Great job! :) You're right, it is nice to look back and see how far my abilities have come. Thanks for sharing!

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  23. oh wow! that turned out beautiful! Thanks for linking up!

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  24. I think it is beautiful! Thanks for sharing!
    I always point out my mistakes also and most people wouldn't even notice! haha

    nancy

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  25. Oh, I just love quilts! You did great on this. I love the mix of all the colors. Thanks for sharing this at Fantastic Friday. I hope that you will join us again next week!

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  26. I really love this!! The colours are great. They remind me of spring...sigh. :)

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