In May I made a simple lap quilt for my husband -- the first quilt I had made in years and years -- and it turned out better than I expected. So then I decided to use a cute Smokey Bear panel and two coordinating fabrics I bought earlier this year at the Sleepy Valley Quilt Company.
Well, I made a top with some simple edging, and then pinned it together for the quilting. And, well... I didn't know what to do. I mean, I'm a simple "stitch in the ditch" sort of quilter -- I don't know any allover patterns or even how I would stitch them. So I tried to quilt around some of the shapes in the panel -- around the sign, around the trees, along the fence, across some of the grass, and of course around Smokey and the cubs. There's a big space in the upper left corner that didn't have anything, so I decided to stitch concentric quarter circles ... but that felt weird. And I think looks weird.
But I added binding and finished the darn thing. And my husband -- now spoiled for lap quilts as he has TWO -- likes to sit under it with the cats on his lap. So he's happy with it.
What have I learned from this project? I won't buy another big panel unless it has really really obvious things to stitch. Heck, let's be honest. I won't buy another big panel, period. It has also reminded me how much I hate the pinning process. I do plan on making one, maybe even TWO big quilt tops this year ... so I'll be looking for a longarm quilter to do the hard work.
Sunny, you might enjoy watching Pat Sloan's daily videos for the month of June. They are all about FMQ, and they are 10-12 minutes. She talks about other stuff too, but there's a daIly assignment, and it really helped me. She has three different panels she used for practice. You can search on YouTube for Pat Sloan June 1 and it should come up.
ReplyDeleteFun. Thanks for linking up with Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal and congrats on your finish.
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