Twisted Fandango

I have my first finished quilt for 2013 and it feels good to have a finish under my belt.  I set some pretty lofty goals last year of making 12 quilts in 2012 and then life got in the way and I only managed to finish up 5 quilts.  So having a finish this early in the year has me doing a little jig.

I started Twisted Fandango way back in February 2011.  Wow that's even longer than I thought.  You can read earlier post about the quilt here, here, here, and here.  After I got the main part of the quilt together I really stalled with the borders.  I couldn't make the little pin wheels work out the way I wanted them to look and then nothing seemed to fit just right.  Then when one of my good friends announced she was moving I really wanted to send her off with a quilt.  I knew I didn't have time to start something from scratch and I knew she would like the colors in the Twisted Fandango quilt so out of the closet it came.  Needless to say she moved a while ago and I didn't get this quilt done in time to give it to her.  I am debating sending it to her now but there are a lot of things about this quilt I'm just not sure about now.

I started this quilt when I was a fairly new quilter.  I was still learning.  I rarely used more than one fabric line in a quilt unless I was going for a scrappy quilt.  So while I think this quilt is pretty and I love the fabric line as much now as I did back then there are some things I would do differently if I was making this quilt today.  I'm not a huge fan of the white in this quilt.  I'm pretty sure its just your basic Kona White although it feels a little stiff so I'm not sure now that it's actually Kona.  I'm thinking it might be the Joanne's brand of Kona.  Same name much different quality of fabric.  I'm also not a huge fan of the borders.  I thought when I was making them that adding in some of the charm squares I had left would give it a little something but now it just looks like an afterthought to me.  It's also a little small to me, I think it measures roughly 65 by 65.  I like my quilts to be nice and big for snuggling on the couch.  They have to be able to cover my shoulders and toes at the same time.  This one is a little small for that.  What do you think, is that a deal breaker?  I know not everyone likes blankets to cover that much and that some people prefer lap blankets that just cover their lap and feet.

The back, oh the back of this quilt is perhaps my favorite part of the whole quilt.  I love the little line of baby twisters marching down the back off centered.  And the fabric that makes up the rest of the back and the binding is one of my favorites from this line.

 I know my friend and I know she would appreciate the thought and love that goes into every quilt and that she would love this little quilt despite what I see as flaws.  So tell me, what do you think?  I know that sometimes I am my own worse critic.  Quilting is like everything else, the more you make the more you learn and the more you improve.  So would you share a quilt with someone you love despite its flaws or would you start over?  And if you start over with your skill set being what it is now in 5 years will you regret giving a quilt you made 5 years ago?

And since I finally have a finish to show on a Friday I am linking up with Amanda's Finish It Up Friday.  I have no crazy thoughts that I will have a finish every Friday but this is a start.

Dueling Flurry

You may remember from way back in December when I made "The List" one of the project I listed was my dueling flurry quilt.  My mom and I made matching Christmas quilts a few years ago and then my mom surprised me by giving me her quilt for Christmas that year.  We decided that my brother and sister in law needed to have Christmas quilts as well and if we each made one it would make the process that much easier.  We decided on Flurry by Kate Spain for the fabric and my mom picked out the Seville pattern Cluck Cluck Sew.  This quilt is made up of three different block types-all of which are relatively easy.  I had the first two sets of blocks done a while back because our original goal was to drop the quilts off to the long arm quilter by the end of July.  Then I procrastinated.  I am not a huge fan of snowball blocks.  I haven't found a trick that works for me and any block that requires sewing a square to a rectangle or a larger square and then cutting it off and pressing back to fill in that space does not get along well with me.  No matter how careful I am when I cut, press, and sew they always seem to go a little wonky on me.  But my mom dropped her top off last week so I knew I needed to get on the ball and get this one done so I took advantage of the three day weekend here in the states to make that happen.  But it must have been a little later than I thought on Sunday night when I laid out my quilt top and started sewing rows together because it is not as evenly distributed as I would have normally done.

First four rows sewn together.  Bottom four rows of the quilt.

I decided the next morning when I got up that I would make it work instead of ripping the seams.  And by happy accident I ended up putting a red square in each of the four corners.  You probably don't remember but the Christmas Quilt my mom gave to me is named Red Square Envy and this is one of the traits of that quilt.  So it seems appropriate that my brothers quilt also has a little red square envy of its own.

Finished Quilt Top

This is the finished quilt top after I got the boarders sewn on and I very much like it now that it is done.  I am particularly fond of the large circles the pattern makes.  I think it is just the right amount of interesting and with it being in Christmas fabrics I think they look a little like ornaments and the squares look like gifts.  Maybe that is a stretch but that's what I see when I look at it.  My mom is going to drop this one off at the long arm next week so she can work a little more Flurry magic into it.  Turns out the snowflake design my mom selected to have them quilted in is also called Flurry.  It may be a while before I have finished photos to show you but at least I can pretty much promise you this one will get finished in 2012.