I made this quilt for my mother-in-law Sue for Christmas. She's one of my most favorite people in the whole world.
It's a coin quilt with a variation in the sashing. I got the gist of how to make a coin quilt watching a good YouTube video, and I saw the variation idea on Pinterest. The fabric collection is one of the Kansas Troubles collections. This one is called Hope Blooms. I was pretty sure Sue would like these colors and patterns!
Here is the back.
Here is the back.
I got the idea to make this in October or November. Whatever it was, it was late in terms of making it in time for Christmas, especially considering the longarmer I use has a queue months long. I thought I could make a coin quilt pretty fast, and I thought I could quilt it myself on my regular sewing machine. Somehow.
It took me a couple weeks to find and assemble the fabrics. It took me about a week to cut and sew the front. Then, it turned out that I didn't have enough of the back fabric, an unanticipated glitch, as per usual. (I thought I couldn't really calculate how big the quilt was going to be before I started. I guessed. I guessed wrong.) I searched and found a big enough swatch of the fabric on Etsy. It came. It didn't match somehow. The design was smaller, the colors faded. And it was all vaguely smelly. I realized they'd washed it (after probably digging it out of someone's basement stash). No good. I searched again and found a better source and ordered plenty. When it finally arrived, at least another week had gone by since I'd finished the front. But I pieced the back together, matching the print, and then it was time to figure out how to quilt it.
It did not go smoothly.
I started by watching a lot of videos: quilting on a regular/standard sewing machine, straight-line quilting, quilting with a ruler, free-motion quilting, top tips when quilting for yourself, top things to avoid when quilting, etc.
I decided the quilt would actually look good with straight lines. For sure, the learning curve should be lower and the results more predictable. I set my machine up on our big dining room table--a counter-height slab of granite about 3.5 feet by 5.5 feet.
I quilted a test using a table runner I'd pieced in a class. It looked great! It was easy to do.
It took me a couple weeks to find and assemble the fabrics. It took me about a week to cut and sew the front. Then, it turned out that I didn't have enough of the back fabric, an unanticipated glitch, as per usual. (I thought I couldn't really calculate how big the quilt was going to be before I started. I guessed. I guessed wrong.) I searched and found a big enough swatch of the fabric on Etsy. It came. It didn't match somehow. The design was smaller, the colors faded. And it was all vaguely smelly. I realized they'd washed it (after probably digging it out of someone's basement stash). No good. I searched again and found a better source and ordered plenty. When it finally arrived, at least another week had gone by since I'd finished the front. But I pieced the back together, matching the print, and then it was time to figure out how to quilt it.
It did not go smoothly.
I started by watching a lot of videos: quilting on a regular/standard sewing machine, straight-line quilting, quilting with a ruler, free-motion quilting, top tips when quilting for yourself, top things to avoid when quilting, etc.
I decided the quilt would actually look good with straight lines. For sure, the learning curve should be lower and the results more predictable. I set my machine up on our big dining room table--a counter-height slab of granite about 3.5 feet by 5.5 feet.
I quilted a test using a table runner I'd pieced in a class. It looked great! It was easy to do.
So I started sewing straight lines on the coin quilt and freaking out at the lack of control and the crappy results. It looked bad and I could not think of a way to gain more control. I began to despair.
I went looking for other longarmer options. There are some around, but I was embarrassed to call them in early December asking for a job done by Christmas. I started to seriously consider the possibility of giving it after Christmas. My husband came to the rescue and built me this amazing topper that is flush with the bed of my machine. I thought I took pictures, but I can't find them. Here is one with Hobbes on top; he's sitting on the table topper. You can see how it's flush with my machine near the scissors and yarn.
I went looking for other longarmer options. There are some around, but I was embarrassed to call them in early December asking for a job done by Christmas. I started to seriously consider the possibility of giving it after Christmas. My husband came to the rescue and built me this amazing topper that is flush with the bed of my machine. I thought I took pictures, but I can't find them. Here is one with Hobbes on top; he's sitting on the table topper. You can see how it's flush with my machine near the scissors and yarn.
Well, with that invention, it was possible to continue. I tore out a number of rows of stitches and started again. This time I could control the lines because the weight of the fabric was supported. It still wasn't easy. But it was possible.
In the end, it wasn't perfect, but it was pretty good.
In the end, it wasn't perfect, but it was pretty good.
Front close-up.
Back close-up.
She loves it!
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