Thursday, November 14, 2013

Roller Rink ~ finished

It's been almost exactly two months since I unrolled and sorted my Comma jelly roll, and finally we have a finished quilt.  For some reason this quilt seemed much more time intensive than some of the others I've made (even though really it didn't take any longer!).  Maybe it's that I had in mind that jelly roll = quick & easy, and because of that it didn't come together as fast as I thought it would.  All that said, totally happy and satisfied with this project now that it's done.  Pictures...


At first I had in mind to make something based on the project in the book, maybe a section of blocks and then wide borders of negative space, but in the end I went with the pattern as written and increased the number of blocks from 65 to 85.  In our family, a bigger quilt is always better than a too-small quilt!


A very windy day for taking photos outside!


The overall geometric quilting design that I used (ahem...finally got up the guts to try...) was great!  It seems like a pretty forgiving design and one that makes it pretty difficult to get stuck or work your way into a corner.  I started in the middle of the quilt and the nature of the design sort of caused my quilting to proceed in rows.  This was okay, but I had a few instances of almost puckers on the back when quilting towards an already quilted section, and honestly I'm not sure how to avoid this entirely.  Once I realized what was happening I was more conscious about not quilting too close to an already quilted section - the areas where I came within 1/4" or so of previous quilting were where the puckers almost happened, and if I kept it to 1" or so away then the problem was a lot less.  I find this tricky since I can't always see exactly where I'm going, but it's a learning process!


For the backing I used a tone on tone black print, incorporating my leftover strips of Comma to make it just a little bit more interesting.


One final note about this project - for the second time, I used a 100% bamboo batting.  Last time I did, I found that the quilt shrunk a lot, about 4" in each direction.  That was not something that I ever really took note of before but in this case I made careful note of before quilting, after quilting, and after washing/drying dimensions.  This one ended up shrinking about 2-3" in each direction.  Maybe this is typical and to be expected, considering none of my materials are pre-washed.  Food for thought.....

Quilt stats:
Finished size:  65" x 77"
Pattern:  Roller Rink, from Modern Patchwork by Elizabeth Hartman
Fabric:  Comma by Zen Chic for Moda, Kona Steel, Kona Iron, tone on tone 'quilting blender' from Fabricland (backing), green print from Ooh La La by Henry Glass (binding)
Quilted by:  me, using Aurifil 50wt cotton thread #2610 in the pattern 'geometric overall' from "Free-Motion Quilting with Angela Walters"

35 comments:

Kimberly said...

Gorgeous Heather!

Susan said...

Congratulations Heather- this is a great quilt! And your quilting is wonderful! Taking two months, start to finish is pretty impressive, in my eyes! You are much too hard on yourself!

Katie B said...

This turned out so great, Heather!! I really love the quilting.

Tricia said...

Congratulations! The quilting looks awesome!

Alisa said...

Wow! It's beautiful, Heather. A job well done. Love the quilting. So very daring of you. :-)

Amira@littlemushroomcap said...

Beautiful!

Amira@littlemushroomcap said...

Beautiful!

Lucy | Charm About You said...

Amazing heather! I agree with Susan, 2 months isn't long for a giant fmq quilt! So glad you went with that design, it looks perfect!

Adrianne @ On the Windy Side said...

Looks fantastic Heather! I think the FMQ design you chose works perfectly! And I agree - 2 months for a really big and labour intensive quilt is great.

Jessica said...

I love how your quilt turned out! What a great design, and it works so well with the Comma line. Your quilting looks great, too!

Debbie said...

oh my gosh! I'm SO impressed with your quilting and aspire to it!! Just lovely. Everything about this is just delightful. Love the backing fabric (what IS it?) and your photos too. Really terrific finish!! And thanks for the head's up about the bamboo. Is it really soft though?

Lorna McMahon said...

Great job, Heather! I am sew glad to see this finished. Your fabric choices are so suited to this design! Love your quilting, girl! And that lime green binding is sweet.

Erin @ Why Not Sew? Quilts said...

Gorgeous! I love the quilting. It suits this quilt perfectly.

Nicole said...

Beautiful job, Heather! I just picked up this book and and recognized your quilt immediately. Looks like it was pretty easy to adapt to a larger size. And the geometric quilting is a nice complement!

nicole said...

It's fabulous Heather! I absolutely love every last bit of it! And that quilting, awesome doesn't even begin to describe it!

DeborahGun said...

well done Heather - it is a totally brilliant quilt :-)

Suz J said...

I am in the all or nothing camp - well, for the fabric. Batting as far as I know doesn't require pre-washing... although I suppose there are always exceptions to the rule, and will depend on how you want to wash it once it's finished. I absolutely love your finish quilt and I am sure you will be ecstatic about it being finished and turning out so well. I wonder if the shrinkage in your other quilt was due to the heavier quilting style?

Suz J said...

Sorry Heather, my comment probably doesn't quite make entire sense... as I seem to have commented on someone elses blog posts (apart from the bit about how wonderful your quilt is and the shrinkage!) I'm sure you can make sense of that bit!

CitricSugar said...

Looks great!! and so does your quilting. I love that style and it's becoming a go-to for me. :-)

Carla said...

It looks so great Heather and the quilting is perfect!

Erica said...

I love it! And your backing choice is great, I have never used bamboo batting. I tried wool once and I didn't like it much so I decided to just stick to cotton :)

Wendy said...

It's really gorgeous, love the pattern and the fabrics and the quilting is perfect for it.

Samantha said...

So amazing Heather! I love it. The quilting is awesome too!

Deb@asimplelifequilts said...

I just love this! So eye catching. Great quilting choices too. Do you like the feel of bamboo? I've never tried it.

Vera said...

Great color combo. Lovely quilting. Well done!

mle said...

That is really fabulous! Love the backing too, perfect! Nice job on the quilting, I need to finally get the guts to try it sometime soon too.

Kelsey said...

What an awesome finish Heather! This quilt turned out great. The quilting is perfect, you must be thrilled that you tried something new because it sure is spot on with the quilt design.

Patti said...

It's really a wonderful finish, Heather! Love your fabric choices, and your quilting is fantastic!

Sara said...

Quite a color statement! The orange and lime greens pop so well with the black!

Leanne said...

This is such a wonderful quilt. I have enjoyed watching your progress on it.

Kirsten said...

This is such a stunning quilt - really love the Comma fabrics and how you continued the geometric theme with the fabulous quilting!

Cathy said...

oh man! that is a super awesome quilt and your quilting is just so cool!

Renee said...

What a fun quilt! Great colors and fun quilting!

Suzanne said...

Very nice!

Sarah said...

I really like this quilt. You've done a great job! Ahh, another one to add to the wish list. Great quilting too!