Project 14 - The Final is Finished!

Here it is........................... ta da!

The Final Exam

Just as a reminder, here is Harriet's ......

Looks pretty close -  do you think I passed?

For those who are interested, here's some pics of the process to make the Homespun quilt........

The fabrics used were Blue Jewels from Quilters Choice, Full Sun from Maywood Studios and the horrible fraying quilters muslin again.

The leftovers after constructing the B Blocks - I was one set short and had to cut another strip.  Hopefully I have enough sunflower fabric left for the borders. 

All the fabric calculations were done on a spreadsheet, but I still have to convert imperial measurements to metric - yards to metres, inches to centimeters etc, so maybe this accounted for some of the inaccuracies in my calculations.  Or maybe I just got it wrong and need more practice!

The A blocks were assembled production style, so I made the whole lot at once.  Harriet has a trick of keeping all the bits in order which I took advantage of.

Did you notice the mistake in the completed block at the top?  Yes, I had some unpicking to do!







For the quilting process, I'll be using Heirloom Machine Quilting by Harriet Hargrave as a guide and reference. Everything anyone ever wanted to know about free-motion quilting on a domestic machine is in this book.

A FUN DIVERSION
As mentioned in my previous post, I did a weekend workshop with Lisa Walton, where, with some other members of Stitches & Beyond, we made an art quilt. The process to make the art quilt, was the complete opposite to traditional patchworking - all measurments, including cutting & seam allowances are approximate, there is no seam butting either, in fact no precise-ness at all. This was a really freeing and fun excercise and I'm glad I took part. We spent a lot of time discussing colour and shading, which was brilliant!

Stitching & Beyond members at a Lisa Walton workshop 

(that's me front/left with dark coloured quilt top).

I spent 3 full days on the art quilt, (it's grown a lot since the picture was taken) deliberately neglecting my final exam - does anyone know how to spell procrastination? Now that it's done, I believe I really didn't want to finish it, because that meant I'd come to the end and I'm not ready to stop yet. Yes, there is a heap more to do before the tops become quilts, but I'm going to miss working though the book. I have to wait a whole 3 months before the next one is released in May.

But before I get to that, I'm going to take a little break, re-introduce myself to my neglected husband, and do some other things.  I wonder how long I can stay out of my sewing room? 

Of course I also want to finish the art quilt, make up a new hand applique project, practice some free motion quilting, plan all the borders and quilt designs, shop for fabrics, complete the black & white treadle quilt and work on a challenge quilt for my guild group.  Hmmmm.  Did anyone say obsessed?

I want to thank Harriet and Carrie for their support and encouragement while I've been working on the quilt tops.  Harriet has been in touch and offered help with answering questions and quilting advice, for which I am very grateful and sure to take advantage of.  Not only is Harriet a wonderful teacher, she is also a very gracious lady.

Till next time.................Cheers from me!