Finally Something Quilty!!!

Finally, I have something quilty to show off. I have been cleaning up a number of projects that I have actually shown before but I thought I would show you one of them. First of all, my lovely assistants are holding up my Thimbleberries quarterly kit. I enjoyed this quilt but I am astonished at the finished size and the fact that this is supposed to be a wall hanging. Farmer Boy and I were laughing at the size of the wall you would need to hang this!!! It is quite large. The children are standing on the sofa and they even commented on how big it was!!


The last time you saw this the borders were missing and it had not been quilted. Here it is all finished and the binding sewn down by hand! Yee Haw!!!


They insisted on a closeup, when the flash goes off they drop the quilt on the floor and race over to see themselves on the camera. Talk about vain!!! LOL And they have been eating chocolate eggs so I am sure there is chocolate on my quilt!!

I used this quilt to try to expand on my machine quilting skills which desperately need some expanding. I am tired of the meandering stitch and spent some time trying other designs - the kind you make up in your head while you are doing it!!!!!!
I started this the other day and had to put it on hold, full up with paying guests for two nights, it is a kit that Farmer Boy bought me for Christmas. It is the Roman Holiday print by Moda, Charm squares. Very easy to do and goes together very fast. I have a couple of complaints regarding this quilt and my dear friends I would like you to bear with me.

My first complaint is that if you were a beginner and had purchased this quilt you would have been up the proverbial creek without a paddle half way through this kit. The directions were fairly non-existant when it came to putting the rows together. The yellow half-square triangles were the first thing I noticed, they didn't give you proper directions to cut enough. I had to go back and cut more when I realized the mistake and of course I cursed myself first and then reread the cutting instructions and low and behold it was not my error!!! Also, piecing the blocks together for this style of quilt is tricky for a beginner because you are sewing the rows together on the diagonal and if I hadn't done something similar to this before then I would have been really confused.


The next complaint is the finished size. The width on one side is a half an inch wider than the opposite side. The whole thing is wonky, I have tried to square it up as best I could but it still looks alittle screwey LOL!!!! And that brings me to my next complaint which is more of an observation and question. I don't think I really like working with Charm squares, sometimes things don't seem to measure properly when I am using them. Answer me this, Do you square up your charm squares before you begin a project. Does anyone else have problems with charm squares or is it just me? My problems with the squares are not major and they are great for quick projects but I am not sure whether this is user error or design error!!! Oh well, it is a really cute lap quilt and will look great at Christmas. I will hide the wonky uneven shape, I am quite experienced at hiding mistakes LOL!!!! Now I have to finish the borders and get it quilted.

All the best and keep smiling!!!