Saturday, March 1, 2014

Raven in the Window -- Finished at Last



Gorgeous!  This one turned out positively gorgeous!  I knew when I first saw the fabrics lying next to each other on the cutting table that this was going to be a nice project.  But even I was surprised that it turn out so well.  I wish I could've gotten a bigger and better picture, but it's like 2F degrees outside with a wind chill I don't even want to think about.  That's a little cold for me to be standing around taking snapshots.

Dove in the Window is one of the few quilt piecing patterns that I've done multiple times.  I'm not sure why I'm so fond of it, but there you have it.  You like what you like.

Okay, for those who are interested, here are the technical specs:
The dark fabric is part of Michael Miller's Nevermore Collection.  A sort of Victorian meets Gothic motif going on there.  The crosses on black is another Michael Miller fabric, rather descriptively named "Ornate Crosses."  The gold is from JoAnn's -- one of their extra wide backing fabrics, which I also used for the backing of this quilt.  The batting is Warm and Natural 1/4" loft cotton batting.

No, these lines aren't really visible, that's just
the camera picking up some of the
left over chalk which is practically
invisible in real life.

The quilting is pretty straightforward.  Just some straight parallel lines in the large square of the "doves" er, "ravens" ...














... and some stippling in the gold ...












...and some more stippling in the sashes.  This one was tricky, because my thread so well matched the black background that I couldn't see where I had already sewn.

I figured if I couldn't see it, nobody else could, either, so I didn't try too hard to correct any mistakes.




And even the back is pretty.   Had to get the tensions just right, or the black thread would show on the back or the white thread would show on the front.  Errors in this department I did rip out and fix as they were so painfully visible.


I also had my foot pressure set too tight for a couple of squares of parallel lines and ended up with some pretty ugly bubbles, bumps, pleats and stuff.  These I ripped out, too, and kept fussing until I figured out the problem. I'd be embarrassed, but I am a novice quilter after all.

Anyway, there she is, in all her splendid glory.  Going off to garment sewing for a while now.

3 comments:

  1. Very nice. I'm still quilting in straight lines, note brave enough to do freestyle. Michael Miller does do beautiful designs.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Louise. When you decide to go for it, I recommend practice squares 12" x 12". After all, if you totally mess it up, it's only a little bitty piece. Though I admit, I still find that darning foot jumping up and down while I'm trying to sew a little intimidating...

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  2. Lovely quilting! Lovely quilt altogether! :) Hope the garment sewing comes along well....will be waiting for the pictures! :)

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