The Pixelated Quilt

Is finished! Here it is, washed and ready for action.

The filmstrip back.

In the interests of transparency, I'd like to outline the stupid things I did while making this quilt so you can learn from my mistakes, or at least have a good laugh.

1. Firstly, and most stupidly. As I was preparing to sew the last two rows of this quilt, I realised that I had been sewing with my needle offset (The last thing I'd sewn was piping.) For some reason, I decided to move the needle back to 0. I don't know why I did this. Even as I did it, I said to myself, Self, I don't think this is smart, just sew the whole thing 3mm out of whack, at least it will be consistent. In my defence, it was very late at night and...that's all I've got. It was late.

You don't have to be much smarter than me to figure out what happened. 3mm over the 15 squares, each with 2 seams, added up. I tried to make it work. I pinned and convinced the two edges to merge. It looked terrible - waves and pintucks everywhere, and a serious bow at the edges. So close to finishing, I was a little distraught, but the mister peeled me gently off the machine and put me to bed.

The next morning I pulled those rows off and sewed new ones, needle back in the wrong place. All was not lost, I used the two bad rows in the backing. I love a happy ending.

2. Using an IKEA bedspread. Diana from Sticks and Bubbles let me know that the quilt she made her son with the same bedspread had begun to pill. This is always a risk when using 'non-professional' quilting cottons - I guess it's up to everyone to decide for themselves, with factors such as cost and wear in mind. As this was an experimental quilt for me I was happy to use this material. If I make the quilt again I will use standard commercial quilting cottons. (I also only use commercial materials when making gifts - it's not worth the worry.)

3. This isn't really a mistake, more an observation. The Warm and White all cotton batting equivalent I buy here in France shrinks more than the batting I buy in Australia. So if you are ever in France making a quilt (as you do) and don't like your quilts to get too wrinkly, you might consider pre-washing your batting. I don't mind the crinkliness myself, looks more cuddly.

What else has been going on? I finished the back for the retro quilt and basted it. Here he'll stay until I can get to the quilt store to pick up some matching quilting thread.

And I was in the mood for easy last night, so I used a charm square pack of Moda's 'Dream On' to make a quick girl mat top. I paired it with Kona Snow for a softer look.

I really love the patterns in this one, very girly.

And here we are, Friday again. Have a fabulous weekend, everyone!