The Simplicity quilt started last month is now a finish!
The tutorial for this quilt is posted at Stitched in Color.
The pattern calls for "bricks" cut to 10"x 5.5" so
the quilt sews together pretty quick.
I began the process by laying out all the bricks on my
design wall in random order.
Stitched in Color posted a tip on her site about using
painter's tape to mark the rows of the quilt as you sew them
together. I took it a step further and used painter's tape to mark
the bricks as I sewed them together. It worked great and eliminated
a lot of confusion as the rows were sewn together.
The painter's tape was also useful as the seams were pressed
at the completion of each row.
The biggest "opportunity" I had in piecing this
quilt is that I should have chosen a heavier fabric to use
for the sashing. The sashing is the glue that holds this
project together so be sure to choose a fabric with a
tight weave if you make one for yourself.
One of my personal goals for this year is to expand
my machine quilting skills. I purchased a wonderful DVD
by Patsy Thompson called "Fast and Free" which is full
of machine quilting design ideas. The above pattern is from
the Loop-D-Loop family. The awesome thing is that Patsy
offers a series of free patterns and videos that can be downloaded
off her website if you would like to check it out:)
This was the first time I've used this particular machine quilting design on a quilt
and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I actually found it quite
relaxing to stitch out and a nice change of pace from the basic
stippling pattern that I normally use.
Here is a close-up of the quilting on the back. The thread is difficult
to see since the shades of color are so similar,
but it does add a nice texture to the back of the quilt.
In conclusion, this was a fun quilt to make
and it was liberating to try several new techniques.
Check out the other finishes this week at
May you always Sew in Peace!