Tuesday 8 January 2013

The Field Study quilt

The first of the quilts that I couldn't share with you before Christmas, (because it was a present for my sister), is the Field Study Quilt. It is entirely inspired by this quilt from this house. I loved the use of the triangles (obviously - being obsessed with them at the moment) and using colour to create separate blocks.

I used Thangles again, this time, 4" Thangles, because I find it impossible to make accurate half square triangles without them. And Field Study, with a few solids and prints from other collections to compliment it.

November's spare time was mostly taken up with sewing this quilt, I became totally absorbed in it, like a good book. Watching a lot of re-runs of ER, sewing a lot of 1/4 inch seams and fiddling with the order of the order of the blocks to get it just right. I found my iPhone incredibly useful when it came to photographing the order of the blocks so that I could tidy them away from the kids/pets/hoover in-between sewing.

Sewing 4 squares together to make the blocks was a bit fiddly, but once this was done, sewing the blocks and then the rows together was really quick. Adding row after row was very satisfying, as it went from pile of fabric to finished quilt top.

For the quilting, I stitched in the ditch as usual, due to lack of imagination and desire to do anything more complicated. It ended up being a stepped zig-zag across the quilt, following the squares. The backing was this extra wide dottie quilt back because I am far too lazy to piece a quilt back.

I canvassed opinion on Instagram about which shade of grey to use for the binding and decided on this one - I find it really hard to choose binding. I always have the idea that I chose something rather more adventurous but end up going plain - I guess this quilt is quite adventurous enough already. As per my last few quilts, I managed to make the binding a good half a metre too short. Maybe it's time to buy a calculator? But this time I did add the wording when the binding was already partly sewn on to avoid putting it in the wrong direction, at least I have learnt one lesson.

I finished my quilt when my mum came to stay and we sat side by side on the sofa. Me: hand stitching the binding, her: doing applique on my niece's quilt.

It has ended up being a decent sized quilt, somewhere between queen and king sized I think, plenty to wrap yourself up in.

It was finished just before the end of November leaving me feeling unusually organised when it came to Christmas presents. 

How did your Christmas crafting go? please share any links from your blogs or Flickr of finished projects.

13 comments:

  1. Download the Robert Kaufman quilting calculator app on your Iphone. I use it all the time to calculate binding. Beautiful quilt!!

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  2. It's beautiful Kate, very inspirational for a beginner like me. I like the image of you and your mum on the sofa quilting side by side! x

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    1. just wait Jane, there will be no stopping you after your first quilt!

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  3. Beautiful, Kate. I'm sure your sister loves it. My aim this year is to do BIG quilts too!

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    1. Thanks Karen, they are great - worth the extra effort on the quilting

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  4. Beautiful quilt! Yes get the RK quilt calc it is fab and always spot on and v handy on my phone x

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  5. What a beauty, Kate, I have no doubt all your hard work will be appreciated for years to come.
    Happy New Year x

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  6. Oooh, lovely! I *so* want some thangles. I bought a book from a charity shop called '1001 patchwork designs' and there are loads of different ideas for using half square triangles. But my sewing time is being stolen by a boy who won't go to bed very easily, and I start back at work in 4 weeks, so I think my quilt dreams will have to wait a bit.

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  7. Another great quilt Kate, I love doing the binding, always cut and make my own and always hand sew them while some great tv is on (usually something from On Demand Box Set - more action, more sewing lol)

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