Tuesday, August 12, 2014

A PB&J Finish

I’m happy to present the latest finish at From Bolt to Beauty: my Candy Circle quilt in Basic Grey’s PB&J …


I love the back. It features a print that gets lost in the patchwork on the front …


This project, like all of mine, had its highs and lows. Cheryl Brickey’s instructions were spot-on and easy to follow. It was the quilting that tripped me up. I experienced some puckering and ripped out about a fifth of the quilting. A second go-round produced some puckering but not as much as the first time. Sigh. I was lamenting recently to Audrey of Hot Pink Quilts: I’m sick of having to chalk quilt projects up to learning experiences! I just want something to work out the way I plan it to!



The triumph on the quilting, however, was that I did not mark every blessed line with my white Chaco liner. I just eyeballed the diagonal quilting in the 2.5-inch blocks. I think it’s the least anal-retentive thing I’ve done in my entire life—and it worked out pretty well. The way I saw it, even if I marked every line, the quilting would not be perfectly straight. This approach saved some time and produced about the same results as if I had tediously marked the entire quilt.

Another first: I bound the quilt in Kona Oyster (a cue taken from the Carnelian and Iron quilt by Kim, of Leland Ave Studios fame). Usually, I go for darker binding. Doing so, in my opinion, grounds a quilt. This quilt, however, is headed to a new baby girl. I purposely made this quilt more “little girl” than “new baby,” even adding a border to enlarge it overall, in hopes that she’d get a few more years of use out of it. A darker binding would have undermined the little-girl-ness, don’t you think?


I’m riding that postfinish high. (This quilt is on my Q3 list, to boot!) I hope to report that another project is wrapped up sooner rather than later!

Linking up to Sew Cute Tuesday, Needle and Thread Thursday, and Finish It Up Friday ...

15 comments:

  1. Michelle that makes a VERY pretty patchwork quilt!

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  2. Beautiful quilt! That is one lucky baby girl :) I may have to copy this ~ love the quilting!

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  3. Oooh, I love this quilt. So pretty! The pattern is fabulous.

    And ugh. Learning experiences....

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  4. Love this one finished and it looks great in person too! So happy to meet you tonight!

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  5. I absolutely love your version of Candy Circle! Would you allow me to highlight you and your finish on my blog?

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  6. I love this one and have added it to my own quilt bucket list, thanks for sharing

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  7. This is very sweet. What is that alphabet fabric on the backing? Love that.

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  8. One of my favorite lines, I even made kitchen curtains from the large floral. I hope I have enough scraps left from the quilt I made to make one like yours. It's great!

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    1. If I encountered the large floral on the bolt somewhere, I would not be able to resist! If my LQS had it in stock, it's long gone now. : )

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  9. This is so adorable! I love the way the entire thing turned out! The quilting, the binding, it's all just so sweet and perfect for a baby girl! And good job on a Q3 finish!

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  10. Love your quilt and fabric choices - beautiful. Thanks for sharing. Marie (quiltswithpersonality@gmail.com)

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  11. Really gorgeous - those fabrics are very yummy!

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  12. As the grandmother of the baby girl in question, I can attest to the beauty of this quilt. Looks even better in person, if you can believe it! I just love the "heft" of the homemade quilt. It's that bit of weight that tells you the quilt is going to be warm and cozy, whether it's the baby sleeping under it, or the mommy or daddy cuddling the baby in it. Thank you so much, Michelle!

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  13. Great finish! I love those fabrics, I just pulled a PB&J layer cake out of my stash today. I totally understand wanting a project to turn out what we visualize in our mind! It will happen... or at least that is what I keep telling myself! Keep up the great work!

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