Thursday, February 19, 2009

Procrastination Nation

Alright, so you'll have to pardon the pictures - it was late and there was no natural light to be found. I was so relieved to have the top of this sucker finished, I wasn't waiting around for the sun to wake up to get a picture of it!


It's measuring 54"x39" unquilted and unbinded (I'm pretty sure those aren't words). I find it quite large for a baby quilt myself, but I'm hoping once I get it quilted and get the binding on, it'll frame it up nicely and it won't look so gigantic. I also finished the back and cut the batting to size, but that's where my determination motor started to sputter and finally stalled. Next step: free motion quilting something larger than a barbie sized quilt. YIKES! So I did what any terrified person faced with such a horror would do - I got my Sew, Mama, Sew! Fat Quarter Swap all bundled up, made cute mailing labels and affixed them to the envelopes, cut out Donna's 5x5 for March and even wrote her card up to go along with them. Then I went to bed. Ahh, the fine art of procrastination!

Things I did on this quilt top that I know never to do again:

1. Use 4 inch squares to make the triangles that make the zig zags. Too small and time consuming. Go big or stay out of the sewing room.

2. Buy only two meters of white fabric. There's nothing wrong with having a lot of white fabric, Sara. Don't be afraid.

3. Make bobbins mid project. Think ahead, woman. Make several bobbins before you do anything else. You'll thank me later (thank you, Self!).

4. Choose fabric with a directional pattern for a zigzag quilt. I really had to stretch my brain to manage getting the pattern all going in the same direction. Sara, you quilt to relax, not to exercise your cerebral cortex!
~Sara

2 comments:

Donna said...

It's fantastic!! I love your lessons learned thing . .I am hopefully going to work on and write up my progress on my itty bitty quilt tonight . .man free motion is a loud thing with a spring loaded foot - can't risk it while maude is napping.

What colour is the back?

Anonymous said...

Thanks! I am really anxious for you to finish that quilt. The process can sometimes be overwhelming, but when it all comes together, it feels really great!

The back - It's mostly white with three stripes of the colored fabrics I used (the two in zig zags and the binding which will be striped.