quilt love (part 4 of 4)

i was determined the quilt was not going to end up in the Guilt Box of Projects That I Need to Finish Because They Have Been There Forever. and it is finally done! and i so love it:


i did not do anything fancy to quilt it, just straight (mostly) lines down and across the sashing (the light stripe in between the blocks). i used cotton batting because i had read that it is a bit easier for beginners to use and the threads do not wiggle through the needle holes as poly batting sometimes is wont to do. all things considered, i really liked working on the cotton batting and it gave the quilt a very nice hand and weight once i was finished. i also did not baste my layers together, not sure if that was a good idea or not. i pinned prodigiously so maybe that helped but everything i read recommended basting, if i were doing a larger quilt and/or more advanced quilting i probably would.

i also did not use a walking foot, i don't have one. i looked at them when i was at the fabric store getting the batting but the generic one was $29.50. looks like a fun toy but i just don't know if/when i would ever use it again. if i were quilting on a more regular basis i would invest in one since it wasn't that expensive, but $29.50 is a lot for one little project.

nothing fancy to finish the edges either, just a simple binding. i did not blind stitch the binding to the quilt because i liked the stitching line running around the edge, similar to my other quilting lines. i was kind of thinking i might want to do prairie points on the edge but i decided that would be too busy and too much work.

this turned out to be kind of a fun project, not as awful as i thought it would be once i got into the swing of things. i can see why quilting is so rewarding for the people who do it. it did feel a bit backwards to me from regular sewing though. all those ¼" seams and pressing in one direction and perfectly straight lines and matching seams exactly, it all seems to run counter to everything i do as a seamstress. it kind of felt like i needed to forget everything i ever learned about sewing and start over. so, i don't think quilting is going to become my newest obsession hobby, but i wouldn't mind learning more and improving my skills.