Vol 2 - Project 2 - Nine Patch On Point (Bryce's Quilt)

THE DESIGN

From the book

Nine patches, plain squares and setting triangles are the elements of this quilt.  Now I will admit to triangles scaring me - I've heard horrible things like s-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g and being difficult to match points, so I approached this quilt project with trepidation.  Making the Sampler showed us the techniques which are to be used in this simple quilt top.

THE FABRICS

This quilt has been made for another grandson - Bryce - who requested (of all things) that it have dirt bike fabric.  !!!!  Okayyyyy.  After looking around and finding nothing, I lucked out with a fabric listed on E-bay.

Personally, I found the fabric rather uninspiring, so jazzed it up with a deep red with tiny brown stars (avoiding all fabrics with flowers and hints of anything 'girly').  Blue & white are the colours of Bryce's football team so I went with that.  The off-white is a quilters muslin from my stash and the blue is the leftovers from the Sampler.  I actually cut a couple of the blue strips 1/4 inch too narrow (damn)! but instead of grabbing the car keys and heading out for more, I rummaged around in the scrap bin and found some other blues which I shaded in - Jinny Beyer style. 

THE MAKING

The making of this top was without drama.  It went together really quickly and I managed the whole thing without the need for any un-sewing at all.  Happily, I was able to use my flash new Creative Grids ruler and was a little intrigued (and a tad concerned) that the tops of the triangles get cut off.  I figured that was how it was meant to be (see how new and green I am) and went with it.

Probably the biggest issue I had when making this top, was trying to fit it on my ironing table!  The instructions suggest laying out the sewn pieces on a design wall, but as I don't have enough wall space to have one of these, (too many windows, and no, I'm not complaining) I laid it out on the floor.  Harriet's instructions are super clear and I had no problems putting it all together.

Laid out on the floor, ready to sew the rows

One thing which troubled me was the points weren't butting up too well.  I figured out the problem was the fabric guide I'm using, forced me to remove the pins an inch or so before reaching the needle, and I suspect the fabrics shifted slightly before being sewn.  Changing the way I pinned the seams sorted out the problem.

The 'shaded' blue fabrics look pretty funky I think.

THE FINISHED TOP

Even with very ordinary fabric, the on-point design gives it extra punch.  I think Bryce is going to like his quilt.