New Wave Quilt is done!

My quilt is finished!


The pattern is New Wave. It finished at about 47" x 55". (I lost a few inches while squaring it...). Cutting using the template was a PAIN, so using a tumbler ruler (or a die cut) would definitely be a better idea...

The main fabric is from a discontinued fat quarter set I got from Connecting Threads last Black Friday (I hope they do a half off precut sale again!), and the backing is Thin Ice Frost (which I love as a backing- although my back stitches are quite beautiful, if I do say so myself, they get lost in it and just the texture shows, which is SO pretty- there is a picture later on down. And it was on sale- under $3 a yard is awesome!) I used essential thread in white, about 3/4 of a spool!

The way I quilted this quilt was to stitch in the ditch all the white lines, and then do free motion filler designs in the colored areas. I had some major basting issues that resulted in insane amounts of shifting during the stitch in the ditch part, so I actually had to undo three lines and then re-baste. I should have undone another two and rebasted the orange middle section as well, as when I got to the free motion part, that part is kind of a disaster (the back is filled with pleats, the front, a few). For as much trouble as I had with it (when I decided it was too late to do anything about it), it looks pretty good once it was shrunk in the wash.

The picture I posted a few posts ago with the quilt shoved in the machine shows the way I did the FMQ, I don't roll the quilt, but accordion it together. Here is a picture of me doing stitch in the ditch, I rolled it up, and let it sit on my shoulder (I got the idea seeing someone do it in the documentary "Stitched"). Normally I would have turned it in the middle, but with all the shifting (and the hours of ripping because of it), I wanted everything shifting in the SAME direction. This worked GREAT except the one pin that decided to jab me in the face.


This quilt was a seam ripping nightmare (I have a blister from it.) I undid at least two full sections of free motion when I decided I didn't like how it turned out. First, the whole orange section when I didn't like the design I chose once it was translated to a large scale (and when I realized how badly it was puckering...the orange looks bad now, it looked HORRIBLE then), and then the pink section when rather than quilting across the long side of the quilt (see previous post with picture of entire quilt shoved into the machine) I decided to take a short cut and quilt shortways- well, turns out I can't do the zig-zag design the same from two directions, so that ripped out as well.

As readers of this blog know, I love Leah Day's designs. I've been practicing many of them, on a small scale (though not as small as she quilts). I wanted to try translating them to large scale (so the quilt doesn't stand up on its own), and well, it didn't go too great - I ended up going with "inspired by..." - but I'm happy with that. My original thought was a different design for each section, but in the end, I went with four designs, each used three times.

The first one I tried was Wiggly Woven lines. This is not on the finished quilt. (see above). This is my favorite filler design, and I wish I could have used it. On a smaller quilt, I'm trying again!

Then, I went with Radio Static. I only did 2 sets of lines, And because of the visual orientation across the whole quilt, it just looks like zig-zags! But I like it.


Then, I just wanted a meandering design, and asked Kevin to pick a doodle shape (you know, one of those things girls draw over and over and thus can draw in their sleep) and he said Daisy. I tried to do mostly 5 petal flowers, but also threw in some 4 and 6 petal ones.


I made up my own filler (though I've seen scallops before so it isn't really original), and I call this one "Mermaid Tail".


Finally, I needed a filler to replace the failed Wiggly Woven Lines. I auditioned and practiced about five different designs and settled on Falling Stars, except I made mine a little easier. Instead of worrying about the fill in space, I just echoed the previous design any time I hit it. Her design is more defined than mine is.


I have to say: I LOVE the way the back of this quilt looks in this picture. I think the different fillers give it SO much texture. Almost like the back is a whole cloth design. This is why I really prefer fillers over all over stippling.


I think I am quilting too fast, as my stitches are a little bigger than I'd like, my open toe foot kept getting caught (and then I'd have to rip back and restart) and I broke 4 needles on this one...

The ONLY thing I don't like about this quilt is where the binding joins itself. I went with a few of the unused fat quarters to make the binding, and put them together in blocks. The blocks that join ended up with two different colors: one less than an inch (!), the other just a few inches long. I hate random chance, it never goes my way. I also need a lot more practice binding. It is really uneven on the back.

Up next: either a twin quilt for my Mom or a baby quilt for Acorn. Depends on when Acorn's fabric gets here.