What I Learned From This Quilt

1. I have way too much fabric.  Of course I already knew that but still…These were fabrics ear-marked for a civil war repro, but I have two in the works so I decided to make this quilt.  All fabrics from stash, front and back.

2.  Careful seaming is not optional. This is an Eleanor Burns pattern where you sew, tube, and cut to get the stair step effect.  The directions say to keep one edge straight as you sew your strips together and then straighten the other edge at the end. As you can see, that edge was far from straight.  Note to self: pin carefully-you know better!

3. Pieced backs are economical but this was really dumb.  There were a LOT of seams that made rolling my quilt neatly tough. And I wish I had saved some of the fabric.  (See #4.)

4.  Put your binding fabric away, far away from backing fabrics.  That way you won’t use it accidentally.

5. When quilting, if I put my tongue just right in my mouth, the edges come out much neater.  Also, going slowly helps. I can now use one hand for quilting and one hand to smooth the fabric.  Yay!

6.  If I take the time to hand baste the top and bottom of the quilt on my frame, things go much more smoothly.  Machine quilting purists may disagree but that’s my story and I am sticking to it.

7. Blues don’t play well together.  I may have to pick another color for the binding. (Again, see #4)

On to the next quilt!

Diane