I finally trimmed the rest of the threads on The Splendid Sampler – or at least as many as I’m going to trim – haha! I learned something obvious about quilting from this that probably sounds dumb to anyone who’s been quilting for a while. I’ve always pulled the threads up from the bottom…when I start. But for reasons that I can’t explain, I haven’t been doing that when I finish quilting in an area. Instead, I’ve just been picking up the needle and moving to the next area, taking some small stitches and then starting up again. I’ve never had lessons so I missed that on YouTube. Here’s a picture of the quilt in her final home. This is my happy room with buttercream walls and a painting of my childhood home on the wall.
I left out an important detail on my last post about the birthday quilt – I had not just cut out the pieces in my last post…but nearly the entire quilt. In spite of really good advice from several of you to start over and use my AccuQuilt…it was too late to do that. I continued laying out pieces, starting in the middle and working out. I do best when I can see the big picture so I tend to pin the pieces to the design wall, then take a photo to see if I’ve made a mistake and then continue on.
Thankfully, I really had very little trimming to do on the blocks, other than the dog ears on the corners. I was watching Fons & Porter on Saturday morning and there was a good reminder on getting the most accurate cut. This picture is a bit off, but the idea is to lay the fabric so that it “just” covers the line. Don’t lay the fabric within the lines that you’re measuring again, lay it so that they barely disappear. The yellow lines represent the sewing width and if you lay the fabric within the lines, you’ll cut the piece a hair too small.
Anyway, I still need to sew the borders on here, and there are 3 of them so that will take me probably an hour or so to cut (and yes, I’m using strip cutters this time) but the quilt top is almost done and ready to be quilted. With that being said, I’m meeting a friend later this week to talk about making a quilt so it may be a while before I actually finish this one. It’s designed to finished at 90 x 110 so the borders actually begin from this point on all sides. Oh and it needs to be ironed!
To which guild do you belong? If you don’t mind my asking.
I just joined the Alamo Heritage Quilt Guild, and the Greater San Antonio Quilt Guild. I’ve only attended one meeting of the Alamo guild and I found it so informative.
Congrats on the splendid sampler. It’s really beautiful. And I love the labyrinth , can’t wait to see it finished
Thank you so much! I have to admit, I picked the labyrinth pattern not only because I like it, but because I knew it would be a pretty quick one to piece together.
What gorgeousness! Purple labyrinth and the sampler – both are lovely.
Thank you so much!
I love your finished SS! I am going to work on no.2 sometime this week. And, thank you for sharing that tip with some exact detail. I knew this in my head, but it really helps to see the actual illustration! Are you giving yourself a “vacation” week? I have 2 work things that need to be finished and then I am going to give myself a few days off with no cleaning projects, etc. 😀
Ha! I’m on vacation until May 14th which will be really nice! So far I’ve battled with insurance (and won 2 out of 3 rounds), sewed/quilted a lot…and cleaned out a bunch of stuff!
Congratulations on finishing your Splendid Sampler quilt…my 50 blocks are still sitting in a pile, ugh…I hate having another UFO!! That purple labyrinth is gorgeous!!
Thank you! If you’re like me, I have to put it down on paper and commit to it in order to get anything done. But I’ve also seen a number off SS quilts that used less than all the blocks so that might be something to consider also.
The quilt looks fantastic, congratulations!
I can see why that is your happy room!
The quilt looks beautiful!
I also like the purples on the Birthday quilt.
You are an artist.
Thank you! I found out the woman who designed the labyrinth quilt will be at our guild so I have an incentive to finish it now on top of the birthday.