Winter Wonderland Finished!
Drumroll please!
Winter Wonderland is officially, totally, and completely FINISHED! YAY!
So what did I like the best about this quilt?
Definitely the design. For 2 weeks I lived and breathed snowflakes, looked at snowflake photos, and drew, drew, drew until I had 12 small blocks and the big block.
It’s so funny though because I usually rush the design process, so ready to make the quilt I see in my head.
I definitely took more time for this quilt and I think it definitely shows. All of the snowflakes are unique, but also share characteristics, which makes the quilt really go together.
What did I like least about this quilt?
Definitely putting the blocks together. In quilting, there is never such a thing as “saving time”.
A show quilt will always take time. Each process, the design, marking, quilting, binding, etc all take their required amount of time.
By quilting the blocks individually I did save time on the quilting because I wasn’t having to fight with the whole quilt on my table at once.
But all that time I “saved” then got spent while putting the blocks together. It’s always a trade off, but in this case, I definitely think block connections (curvy bias binding) really added to the overall quilt design so it was worth every minute!
Any giant flaws that most people would never see?
Most definitely. I had decided to orient the middle block the other way, but I didn’t stop to unfold the quilt before pinning the sleeve on.
The result? The quilt is hanging sideways.
When I saw that I immediately thought of many four letter words that I will not repeat here, but suffice it to say, I’m not changing it!
No one will know that is wasn’t MEANT to hang this way. It was really an aesthetic choice anyway, but I like it just fine this way.
If I ever decide I want it to hang the other way, I can always seam rip the sleeve off and stitch it on the left side where it was supposed to go.
This is one of those “oh wells” of quilting. If it was a bigger issue, I might be tearing my hair out, but I can definitely get past this one with just a shrug to the shoulders.
So far with the past four quilts I’ve quilted: The Duchess, Baskets in Bloom, Release Your Light, and now Winter Wonderland, I’ve learned that no quilt, no matter how much time you take, won’t be without flaws.
But those flaws are mostly just in our head. I know that I’m the only one that can see this flaw. To me it’s glaringly obvious, but to everyone else, it simply doesn’t exist!
So keep that in mind with your quilts and new projects this month. Don’t strive for perfection, don’t sweat every missed stitch. Just quilt to have fun and finish your quilts!
Here’s a quote from my Inspiration calendar which seems quite appropriate:
Little minds are subdued by misfortune; great minds will rise above them.“
~ Washington Irving
So tomorrow is the deadline for Paducah. Obviously, I’ve decided not to enter. Time got short and I don’t feel like rushing around trying to get the application filled out in time.
I’m considering the AQS Knoxville show which I missed last year cause I got the deadline dates wrong.
Update: The pattern for Winter Wonderland is now available in our Quilt shop!
Let’s go quilt!
Leah Day
This is a stunning design and the quilting is amazing. The photo can't do it justice. The wavy sashing is just right. I know it will be a show stopper.
It's beautiful!
What size is it, Leah?
Hi Leah – it looks wonderful! Re the sleeve — dont rip off the old sleeve – add another one then you can hang the quilt either way as you fancy PLUS it will help the quilt wear better as the stress is distributed evenly around the quilt over time. Great job though – love the way piecing and scallop border/
I've been following the progress of the quilt, and the results are outstanding. This is one I would love to see in person! Your work is amazing.
I'm so glad you're not stressing about your quilt being "sideways." As you've pointed out, nobody knows about it but you! (And us, of course… :D) Sometime you just can't sweat the small stuff.
I just finished machine quilting a baby quilt for my newest grandson. As I was putting on the binding, I discovered a wrinkle on the back. I decided I wasn't going to pull out several rows of machine quilting so I could fix it. Mama and baby boy sure won't care! This just goes to show that Granny ain't perfect!
Leah – what a beautiful quilt and I just love the curvy binding strips, I didn't realise that you could do these strips curved, another thing to try out, sometime
Congratulations! A beauty, I like the curvy biais binding very much!
Your quilt turned out beautiful! Love the wavy sashing and edges.
Your Winter Wonderland quilt is absolutely beautiful. Love it. Inpspirational. Thanks or sharing.
SewCalGal
http://www.sewcalgal.blogspot.com
It looks beautiful! I like your point of all quilts having flaws. All the labels on my quilts say "made with love, not perfection". To certain people it would be just fine, but you always know, don't you?
It's gorgeous Leah. It's been such fun watching you put this one together. I must admit I was skeptical about the wavy sashing, but it turned out beautifully.
Instead of ripping out the hanging sleeve, you could always just add another one going the other way. Then you can change the quilt's orientation as often as you like. 🙂
Leah, Winter Wonderland is absolutely stunning!!! I am in awe and I love how the binding became a curved one – I will not even begin to think about how many hours went into creating this quilt…
Brilliant job!
Leah,
What a beautiful job!! What size is this quilt? I know it feels good to finish a quilt with so many of your original lovely designs.
I too finished a quilt today, a fleece quilt. Because the fleece had squares as a design, I used different quilting in each square, some across four blocks, etc. What fun!! (even on a longarm…)
Congratulations on your finish! It looks great and I love the wavy binding. Can't wait to see what you work on next!
Super Thank you to everyone who commented!
The finished size of the quilt top was 48" square, so it makes for a nice wallhanging.
I'll definitely take some of ya'lls advice and stitch another sleeve on so it can hang the other way too.
I'll just add that to my list of "get around to its!"
Let's go quilt!
Leah Day
Wow, very nice.Happy new year to you.
Bianca
Very cute! well done!!!
It looks beautiful, Leah.
That turned out wonderful! I love the wavy edges to compliment the wavy sashing-connector pieces.
I think it will be hilarious if you add another sleeve going the other way, then when you enter it in a show you can watch the judges scratch their heads trying to figure out which way is "up" !
It's beautiful!
Amazing Leah!!
Absolutely beautiful, Leah! Good on you!