This has not been the week that I’d hoped it would be.
The plan was to completely finish quilting my spring quilt so I can work on my BOM blocks once they get here in a few days. I came really close to calling the quilting job done and starting on the binding, but I didn’t, and I’ll show you why.
I had this plan to do each section of the quilt in a different quilting pattern. It was going really well until I came to the final section of my quilt, the outside sashing. It’s a large area and nothing to really guide me. I wanted to make sure I utilized straight lines so I could use my quilting guide and I was intrigued with the idea of using it to create 60 degree angles. I ended up creating a zig zag pattern and then overlapping it in the opposite direction, both zig zags had 60 degrees angles.
I was really proud of the idea, not so much the execution. It looks awful.
The lines are straight but somehow I managed to not always get the angle right so they don’t intersect at the same places throughout the pattern. And then there’s the corners. I don’t know what I was thinking…I should have just done it straight across instead of trying to turn the pattern.
I spent more time than I care to admit staring at it and trying to convince myself it looked okay, but then I had an even bigger issue than just the appearance. The batting that I’m using requires the quilting to be no more than 4 inches apart. Some of these areas are definitely larger than 4 inches, which isn’t going to work.
I had two options. I could either layer on more zig zags and hope it didn’t look too busy, or I could pick the stitches of the whole sashing and re-quilt it. I decided to pick the stitches.
It’s going to be a long haul, but I know in the end I’ll feel much better about it. I’ve decided to do a checker board pattern which will look much better.
This has been a great learning experience, which is good, I just wish it wasn’t such a huge time consuming one. 
On the bright side, I used the 45 degree angle to do a simple zig zag down the smaller white sashing and I love how it looks. I will post a picture of the quilting in it’s entirety once I’m finished, but here’s a sampling of one section and how I used the guide to give me a perfect 45 degree angle. Pretty neat huh?
Recent Comments