Before I show you, can I just tell you again how happy this party makes me? I thank you sincerely for accepting my invites, hopping over from whichever blog you were visiting, linking to, or writing from and checking us out and linking up! I love getting new followers every week and I adore seeing the same people return each week. It's nice that this party is so intimate that when someone is absent for a week or two, they're missed :-) And most of all, I love that the days with the most hits to this blog are days when I'm just posting about knitting and this party...because it means that all of YOU are checking in, sharing, and having fun!
Fiber time!
How does this little pile of squares turn out to be a twin sized blanket? I spent quite some time pairing up the colors and designs...
Had my nice little stack ready for assembly line-style sewing...
Purple loving girl spent at least an hour diligently placing squares in an appealing order...
And today I finished the quilt top....here it is!
I'm so happy with it! But now I have a very difficult decision: do I quilt it myself? And in doing that I know I'll only be able to do straight line quilting. Do I take a class at my (somewhat) local quilt shop and learn how to use their long arm quilting machine? Or do I just contact my great quilt lady who finished my big quilt for me a couple months ago and have her do a really cute, whimsical, job on it? I'm torn.
Anyway....now I'm looking forward to seeing what you've been up to....do tell!
Oooh! That is gorgeous! I love the playfulness of the pattern and colors! Great job! (And BTW I think this TOTALLY COUNTS as fiber arts!!) I don't envy the decision you have to make, though! Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI love your quilt. I decided to join you in posting quilts, although mine are just blocks. Personally I like to hand quilt my large quilts myself. I prefer to stitch in the ditch. I like to tell people that the quilt was made by me and only me, plus I like to show case the blocks and not the stitches. That is my personal preference, but I know a lot of people who prefer to have someone else quilt their quilts on long arms. Both are good. It is all up to you.
ReplyDeleteI think if you are going to be making more quilts then learning to use the long arm machine is going to be useful. If you aren't going to make many then just send it out. Are you sure you can only do straight line quilting on your machine? My quilting teacher told me that if you drop the feed dogs and use a darning foot you can quilt on most machines. My old machine couldn't drop the feed dogs and she suggested placing template plastic over them.
ReplyDeleteThat is really gorgeous, I love the colours. You are making me want to make a quilt!
ReplyDeleteI love that we have a handful of great blogs like yours and mine that people can share their adventures in fiber arts. I've met amazing bloggers through both of our link ups.
ReplyDeleteYour quilt is beautiful! Yes, I can see where you would have a hard time with the decision. Taking a class would be very beneficial for you if you intend to make more quilts in the future and having the quilting 'expert' finish it would give you a quilt that will last forever. I lean towards those two options. I have a quilt my one grandma made me by hand about 25 years ago and...it's falling apart. I am going to see if my aunt who is an amazing quilter can re-work it. Its using fabric patches from the 1970's and 80's and I would love to keep it plus grandma hand-stitched everything...the problem is that I used it every day growing up and was hard on it.
Happy Fiber Arts Friday!
Wow beth! That is really awesome!!!! I am amazed at how fast you got that together.... it would have taken me weeks (or months) with bouts of curse words being strewn at my machine, frustration and procrastination. Good job!
ReplyDeleteLOVE that quilt!! Did you use a specific pattern or make it up yourself? It's beautiful!!
ReplyDeleteThe quilt is beautiful! I'm new to quilting, and I struggle against stereotypes in my mind of cutesy quilts. Quilting for children, and in purple, is especially a challenge, but you made it look so modern and fresh.
ReplyDeleteYou might want to make a hot pad / oven pad and practice free hand machine quilting on it. It won't matter if you mess up, and you'll get some good practice in. Then you can decide if you want to quilt it yourself or not.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous! I love all the purple love!
ReplyDeleteWow, that is lovely! And so cool that you had a totally absorbed little helper!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful quilt. I hope you have time to take the class.
ReplyDeleteThat looks fantastic!!!
ReplyDeleteSo when are you hopping on a plane to Canada to come help me learn how to sew? LOL...I am somewhat serious there. If you are ever wanting to vacation out of US just let me know. You are MORE than welcome up here.