Friday 4 March 2016

Five on Friday. Five stages of a quilt.

I've just finished a quilt that I started last July. Eight months isn't that long for me. Considering almost all of it is procrastinating about the next stage. To celebrate I thought I'd join in with Amy's five on Friday series, and make a light hearted not to be considered as a tutorial five stages of a quilt post. 


1.Preparation and Design. Spend hours over several evenings, completely trashing the living room with fabric, and then sitting cutting small pieces into smaller pieces. Try to decide what to do with them.



2. Piecing. Once you've selected your design and cut your fabric strips you can endless join them together into squares. And then unjoin the squares, move them round and then join them up again.......


3. Quilting. First spend hours on the internet trying to buy a replacement part for your machine to stop the thread snapping. Order part. Dither for hours about how to actually quilt the thing. Enlist helper who will watch you closely as you work, 


and then quality control all the stitching for you.



4. Binding. Ponder fabric choices for several weeks and then finally ask teenage recipient of quilt who picks out a choice in five seconds. Become strangely addicted to a tv series on netflix whilst you spend hours hand sewing.


5. Testing for comfort and warmth. Put quilt on bed. Set a stop watch to see how long it will be before the cats find it.



44 comments:

  1. This quilt is gorgeous! I am am currently hand quilting a simple squared patchwork quilt and enjoy it a lot. I can't machine quilt because I am strangely addicted to watching old seasons of the X-files.... You didn't mention the batting, it is a major cause for procrastination in my house. Do you cut your binding on the bias? My two oldest have just received packs of fat quarters for their quilts. So much time spent choosing it..... still, I love it all. Have a great weekend. x

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  2. I love this post and the quilt. The colours are gorgeous. I haven't quilted for ages but have just started picking some fabrics for a new one. Somehow I don't think it will be as intricate as yours. Beautiful xx

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    1. I hope your enjoy making your new quilt, it's not the design that's important it's the cosyness!

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  3. The quality controller does not fail :))

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  4. The quality control is amazing. Such a great quilt, loved everything about it.

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  5. Beautiful quilt and I love your quality control team! xx

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    1. thank you, they are very helpful but sometimes they have dirty feet......

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  6. Wonderful! You've made an absolutely gorgeous job of it, and I love your cat on the sewing machine. Nice to have some help! Wishing you a good weekend Tess. CJ xx

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  7. Interesting quality control. I am currently working on my first quilt it was meant to be a birthday present (November) and then was gifted unfinished for Christmas I haven't touched it since. I am glad I am not the only one who procrastinates I don't know what to do about the quilting bit........

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    1. the procrastinating is part of the process, the longer the better........ x

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  8. That is a beautiful quilt!! Sadly I do not know how to quilt. I am an admirer of that art though.

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  9. This is pretty much how I made my one and only quilt. It's not as wonderful as yours, but I didn't have the help of a cat. But yes, I was a complete novice - 'quilting foot' what's that, google it, send off for it, how does it fit my machine, but I got there in the end! xCathy

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  10. Totally awesome quilt! Well worth the 18 months of...completely focused work! Xx

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  11. What a fabulous way to tell the story of this incredibly beautiful quilt!!! It really is stunning!! Congratulations on finishing it after all that hard work. Thank you for sharing at Five On Friday, hope you have a great weekend. xx

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  12. Wow, I love your quilt and your sweet helper :-)!!
    You must have so much patience to be able to make such a beautiful blanket! Love from Mirjam.

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    1. thank you x the sweet helpers are very lovely, except when they have dirty feet. x

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  13. Your quilt is stunning. I would never have patience to do that. xx

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    1. thank you. and I've always got patience to quilt when there's housework or the ironing to avoid!

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  14. It's just beautiful. It's a mystery to me how you do the quilting on such a large piece of material without getting in a tangle. :-)

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    1. oh I am an expert at getting into a tangle............

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  15. Gorgeous! And of course now I can see exactly where I've gone wrong in the past; my choice of quality controller......
    Beautiful colours too,
    P x

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  16. Love the color and the design! I've made small quilts, don't have the patience for a large one.

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  17. Totally stunning. I'm in awe of you

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  18. What a beautiful quilt! Great job on finishing! So how long did it take quality control to show up?

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  19. Excellent - colours, design, craftswomanship, chief tester - all fabulous x

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    1. thank you. the chief tester takes all the credit! x

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  20. Firstly congratulations on a finish (always a good thing!), secondly well done because it is quite beautiful, and lastly, THANK YOU - once again - because seeing your quilt a few weeks ago inspired me so much that I got over my 'quilt block' and got back to the sewing machine after an absence of many months.

    {{huggles}}

    PS: Daisy has offered to come and test it too, pointing out that as she is considerably larger she has the ability to quickly leave hair over a considerably larger area in a much shorter space of time.

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  21. Beautiful - certainly looks worth it's eight month creation. I have helpers/supervisors of the feline variety too. They think that it helps with the process...

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    1. feline helpers are the best. well apart from the fur, and the claws and the mud....

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  22. Great post! I love your helper, he looks to be taking his job very seriously.

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    1. they are very committed to their duties x

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  23. It is a beautiful quilt and I love the way you have grouped the colours. Clearly I need a cat to help with my two stalled quilts.

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  24. Your post really made me laugh! Love your furry helper. It's so true, all the hurdles you come across on a project but your finished product looks lovely. B x

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  25. What a lot of work! Good thing you have a helper.

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  26. This is a really lovely quilt Tess, and beautiful work! I think I need a helper like yours :)
    Helen xox

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  27. Much better than a tutorial! So glad you got round to finishing it, I love this one, really beautiful.

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    1. thank you, it's already well loved. x

      I just deleted your comment about your book of standing stones by accident, I pressed the wrong button and I can't undo it.... sorry xxx

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  28. It's stunning! I hope that teenage recipient is enjoying using it.

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  29. What a fun post Tess! Your new quilt looks gorgeous -- Log Cabins are a lot of work -- and you did it in such a short time! Congratulations!!!

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  30. How beautiful! Your cat looks exhausted from all the hard work.
    Amalia
    xo

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  31. gorgeous quilt Tess, how clever!! And I love your quilting companion too. Hope you are well. xx

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