Well after many hours (I don't like to think about how many!) Willow is finally complete (OK, I admit I still have to hand stitch the binding down, but that doesn't count, right?) Sooooo happy with this, and even though there is something slightly irksome about the wonky swirls in the top right hand corner of the quilt (why didn't I pick somewhere a bit less conspicuous to start?), it is kind of satisfying to notice how much better my technique has become through doing this project. I'm so proud of it.
Just had to share with you also a little binding accident. This has never happened to me before, but it was inevitable really. I don't know about you but I struggle with the last bit of joining the binding together with a mitred seam. It is just so unbelievably fiddly and I can never remember exactly how to put it together. Anyway, I thought I'd managed it, after about 10 minutes of wrestling and only a couple of swear words, when I went to iron the seam open (and yes I trimmed it first!! Big mistake!!) I realised that the bloody thing was twisted. There is no fudging a twisted binding I quickly discovered. And now thanks to the trimmed seam allowance I had even less fiddling room. All is well that ends well and I succeeded in covering up what was an extremely dodgy seam. You wouldn't even know!
I even added a hanging pocket. Really! How organised! I amaze myself sometimes. This is going to go up on my daughter's bedroom wall. And hopefully she'll love it for a very long time.More creative spaces (from clever people who have probably never twisted their binding) at Kirsty's.
Your quilt looks beautiful! And I'm glad I'm not the only one who finds joining the ends of binding tricky!
ReplyDeleteWow, that is amazing! Great job and thanks for sharing..it's so beautiful...I hope I can learn one day to quilt!
ReplyDeleteSimply gorgeous! Congrats on finishing it, and you should be proud :) I'm secretly happy to know that other people twist their bindings and then swear about it ;)
ReplyDeleteit is a lovely quilt and I do understand that binding twist and I do think it has happened to many a quiltmaker, even to a long time quilter, like me -- I now do not bother with the mitered join on the binding though - unless it is going to be a quilt for a show, on a everyday quilt no one ever notices if the binding join is just a straight across one...
ReplyDeletefound you via kootoyoo, will be back to visit again!
This is so fabulous - truly inspiring (even with the binding kink! - I did exactly the same thing yesterday, so this really made me smile) - thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteit looks just as beautiful as i imagined it would! what i can't imagine though, is how many hours and hours it took to complete! lots of love and work in there
ReplyDeleteWow - it looks fab - well done.
ReplyDeleteAnd so ou should be proud - it is beyond beautiful - I want it!!! lol
ReplyDeleteDanielle, it is so beautiful! You have every reason to be SO proud..... Joan
ReplyDeleteDanielle, Truly, truly beautiful. Your work encouraged me to make a small pillow using "Don't Look Now" free pattern and tutorial. I did not get the swirly, circle free motion to work, so did meandering. Everything looks perfect on yours. And, don't be dismayed about the binding. They exist to keep us humble. Keep on.
ReplyDeleteQuiltingCyclist here again. Can you answer this question, please? In learning to do free motion swirls, did you start with drawing them? I am having much trouble getting this technique under my needle. Thanks very much.
ReplyDeleteHi Quilting Cyclist! Thanks very much for your lovely comments. It does help to practice swirls on a piece of paper to get a feel for the movement. I have done 4 or 5 practice sandwiches too. It does take practice - but the improvement is really there. Are you on Flickr? Send me a flickrmail and I'll give you some more tips. I was planning to do a post on swirly quilting but I might not get to it for a while. Danielle x
ReplyDeleteit looks wonderful! Congrats on fixing up the binding - I hate it when things like that happen, but at least it worked out ok
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