Monday, September 24, 2012

Two Bees are Better than One

My biggest quilt yet-
Front
Back


Title: "Two Bees are Better than One"
Size: 98" x 98"
Design (front): Starburst blocks from 12 Month Quilting Bee, set in an original design
Design (back): Seminole Patchwork Strips from Always Bee Learning, set in an original design
Quilting: FMQ "scallops"
Material: 100% cotton quilting fabrics, assorted; Major solids- Kona curry and paprika; Threads: YLI (paprika), Auriful (curry)- top; bobbin- YLI paprika
Batting: organic bamboo
close-up of scalloped quilting (after washing), front

use of Seminole Patchwork strips from Always Bee Learning , back
Lessons Learned:
1. It was time to use some of the beautiful blocks I have received from various Bees. In this case, I used one set for the front of the quilt and the other set for the back.
2. Some times procrastination makes for a beautiful quilt
3. I tried organic bamboo batting for the first time and had some interesting problems. I found it to be very fragile. While quilting the batting often coated the thread and pulled through to the top and bottom of the quilt. I thought perhaps washing would get rid of the batting "dust" but instead, this is what happened:

Much like pilling on a sweater. It was embedded in the quilt top, and it wouldn't come off with one of those tape rollers, so I had to resort to a sweater shaver to remove all the pill. It took hours to get both the front and the back pill free. I haven't ever had this happen with cotton or wool batting. I'm not sure I'm excited about using bamboo again (even though I have enough for one more quilt).

7 comments:

  1. this is amazing! I love the colors and your blocks are just the right colors to blend it all together. Really nice quilting too! The scallops look great, I might try those sometime!

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  2. I love this quilt!!! It is so unique and interesting trying to figure out how you made it! Great job! Ove the colors too! ♥

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  3. A gorgeous looking quilt! What a shame the batting wasn't to standard. Was it recommended for quilt making? =D

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  4. Oh I love the random improviness of this, it looks fab! Shame about the batting not playing nicely though...

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  5. Love both fronts and the name. A silver lining for procrastinating is always a bonus! bummer about the bamboo - I'm a huge fan of Winline 100% and just tried Quilter's Dream bamboo/silk for the first time.

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  6. I am in agreement - both sides of this quilt are absolutely stunning! Great way to combine your blocks! And it's too bad how the batting reacted. Though it would be crazy expensive, I wonder if using silk thread instead of cotton for the quilting would somehow move through the bamboo batting more smoothly without grabbing onto the fibers. Either that or maybe use the remainder of the batting for smaller projects that are less precious than another gorgeous quilt? Regardless, congrats on this one!

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  7. I love it and I made a block for that quilt which is really very fun to realize. You did an excellent job with the design and I love your quilting. Too bad about the batting but at least it is all fixed now.

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