The Sewing Place

Completed Checkboard Quilt

mudcat

Completed Checkboard Quilt
« on: July 23, 2018, 07:24:22 AM »
So I started this in March of last year and finally completed it this weekend.  I will preface this with saying I don't particularly enjoy quilting.  I sort of enjoy designing/piecing.  But, I find the quilting/binding to be quite tedious especailly with large quilts.  This one is approximately queen sized.  I don't mind quilting small lap quilts but anything more than that is a bore and ends up being put off for years.

In my living room I have black floor tiles and one red wall.  I have a futon couch which is primarily there as a bed for out of town guests.  Nobody ever actually sits on it except the cat. It's rather sad that the living room is the largest room in my house and the only thing we ever do in there is watch TV.  In reality I rarely watch TV but Mr MC watches regularly.  To the right  there is a black leather loveseat recliner and to the left a large screen TV on the wall.

I had a 25 year old quilt on the futon couch and one of the cats pretty much shredded it. It is now in the bin for Monday morning trash pickup.  My original idea was to make a black and red checkerboard quilt.  I thought having these large squares would make everything go faster.  And for cutting and piecing it did.  After that it lingered and lingered. 

I also didn't want to buy any fabric so some of my red squares are orange or dark pink.  Based on the picture the various shades seem to blend well.  The only fabric I bought was the black with red polka dots that is used for the borders and binding but you can't really see it. The quilt back is a rather large scale floral with black background.

The squares started out as 12" but after sewing they are 11.5".  I only stitched in the ditch of the squares in each direction and then again diagonally with a wavy stitch that I often use when quilting because it doesn't need to be as precise as a straight stitch. Unfortunately, this loose quilting is causing drag lines on the bottom row that hangs over the futon.  When it's laying flat it looks normal.  I assume it's because of my rather light quilting.  At this point I don't care but I may add a bit more quilting to the bottom row later.  Also I think I made it too wide because there are two more rows tucked around the back.

Outside of the puckering I'm quite happy with it. The colors work so much better. The old one was dull and pale.  Also, there is some bearding going on so you can see the little white beads which I've decided to ignore for now.  They aren't noticeable unless you're up close.

The quillt:


The narrow butted binding:


The back:


I'd also like to say a word about binding.  I do not sew by hand at all.  I might sew on a button but that's about it.  Hand sewing is physically painful for me after years of mouse use.  So the way I do bindings it to double them up, sew from the front, flip it around to the back and then stitch in the ditch from the front.  This has mostly worked for me in the past but I never really liked my corners because of the bulk.

So here I did it more more like this video where she trims away some of the bulk.  In retrospect I think I could have also trimmed a bit from the first two sides as well so I plan to do that in the future.  I have a quilt that was professionally quilted that has been waiting to be bound for about ten years.

Butted binding corners

Iminei

Re: Completed Checkboard Quilt
« Reply #1 on: July 23, 2018, 08:07:27 AM »
I think its perfect!

My favourite quilt, The (S)Crappy Bargello (the S is silent) is a bit like this one. I only used things out of my stash, it was one of my very first quilts made before I even had a 1/4" foot (or much idea of what I was doing) and no two seams match!.
At the time I quilted it, as you have done, sparsely and very pleased with it I was too ... and it hangs on the back of my chair in the dining room day in, day out  .... with me thinking periodically (as my confidence grew) that I must get round to beefing up the quilting on it.

In fact it was after musing on that very thought about 3 years later that Mei was sick on it ... I did what I normally do, automatically stuck it in the washing machine on a gentle wash.

BIG Mistake ... the light quilting did what light quilting will do and the resulting mess sagged gently on the back of my chair for another couple of months or so .... Until our Ruby from over the waves told us how she 'skinned' a quilt.
Some time later, on a break from projects, I mustered up the confidence to do the same!

thread here

It now hangs proudly on the back of my chair day in and day out and Im very pleased with all of it, No two seams matc and it never will be square but, very strangely, it is still my favourite quilt .....



linky

So as you see its not all about perfection and this one of yours seems just perfect to me.
« Last Edit: July 23, 2018, 08:11:17 AM by Iminei »
The Imperfect Perfectionist sews again

Greybird

Re: Completed Checkboard Quilt
« Reply #2 on: July 24, 2018, 19:36:45 PM »
It's lovely @mudcat - keep the cat off it this time!

crafter

Re: Completed Checkboard Quilt
« Reply #3 on: July 24, 2018, 22:13:51 PM »
Blooming eck.  Fabulous quilts.  Will I ever get that good at this dark side lark? -<

mudcat

Re: Completed Checkboard Quilt
« Reply #4 on: July 26, 2018, 03:36:07 AM »
You are very sweet iminei and thanks greybird.  I think it's far from perfect but I also find myself quite pleased with the more colorful room when I pass by.  It has better balance.  I may take the time to add more quilting to it in the winter when it's not so hot.

Funny thing about the cat.  I bought a new iMac a couple of weeks ago and kept the box in case there were any problems.  She found a new cubbyhole on the closet shelving in the spare room. So she hasn't been on the futon at all.  The bottom shelf is completely full of stuff and she couldn't jump to the second shelf until I put the box there.