This is an exciting step seeing it all come together. Since I’ve already decided that I want to put this quilt on my bed, I’m planning to add some borders around the edges to make it the right size. I’m thinking I’ll use lighter fabrics, I may or may not scrap-ify them…or I may do something totally different. We’ll see once I actually audition some options.
I need to figure out my backing, no clue what I’m feeling like for that, but I did order some batting yesterday. Generally, I’m not wow’d by batting options lately, and so I’ve been fairly inconsistent in what I’m using. For this quilt I’ll use Quilter’s Dream Poly in their lowest loft. I’m kind of liking their poly lately, and I think the thinner option is what I’m wanting for this one. With some weightier fabrics in the mix, I feel like the thinner batting could offer a nice balance. Plus, I know it will be a delight to hand quilt.
Some tips on sewing the blocks together!
You can definitely sew them together by machine, although I’ve ended up sewing this one and all of my other Hunts together by hand. I like a slow finish on a longer-term project, and since it isn’t a ton of seams, I don’t find it to be a huge deal. Plus, it can make lining everything up a little easier, especially the seams that share the neighboring appliqués. To do this, you’ll need to draw the 1/4″ seam allowance on the back of the blocks. Then you just follow the line to sew together!
By next check in, I’d like to have my top finished and the quilt basted. Fingers crossed!
This Eads Jetty quilt is my third Eads quilt and a new approach to layout and color. (See the first version here and second QAL version here.)
Quilt making is inspiring; you can take the same design, but make it totally different by swapping out some of the variables.
In this project I wanted to sew up all of my Jetty and Collection CF fabrics into a colorful progression. My fabric collections are always intended to work well together, and these two groups relate especially well. The colors from one round out and complement the colors and textures in the other.
Fabric first…
Conveniently this project can be made from a Fat Quarter bundle of Jetty and a Fat Eighth bundle of Collection CF. You’ll also need a little bit extra of one of the prints–an eighth of a yard additional does the trick. (This one is my pick.) After gathering the fabrics together, I organized them into a pleasing array of colors. Then I cut the block strips (as described in the instructions.)
I can’t stress how much I enjoy working on a project in this way. It’s not only satisfying seeing colors beautifully arranged, but it’s also a thrill to work through new colors and combinations as you sew up your blocks.
Mapping out the color…
Starting with the darkest blues, I arranged the strips progressing to lighter blue, green, yellow, cream, white, peach, pink, orange, brown and black. Even with this same set of colors, I know you could graduate the colors in any number of other good ways.
One note on working with the colors…
While I ordered my fabrics by color, I did sometimes shift choices up or down when/if I wanted to give the block a little more contrast. In many cases I used neighboring choices as planned, but in some cases I offset a choice as desired. Since each block is made with 2 fabrics, it’s easy to plan out these choices. Here is what it looked like for me.
Above my strip pile is on the right, and my pairings are lined up in order on the left.
Approaching the layout…
Unlike my previous Eads quilts where blocks are mixed up and rotated as I wished, in this project I wanted all of the blocks to be in a repeated and symmetrical order. After prepping my fabric strips, selecting their color flow and printing my block templates, it made things easy to work down the block pile.
Because I know how some things can get shuffled, I numbered the back side of every block.
After the blocks were all sewn up, I couldn’t wait to get it all laid out. Again, this type of project is so satisfying to me, especially at this point.
Finishing the quilt…
After sewing the top together, I was eager to quilt it but not initially sure how I’d do it. I wanted something fairly simple that wouldn’t stand out too much, but I also wanted something to give it some nice texture and maybe even a little added color. I like the overall transition of color across the quilt and thought the quilting could be a great place to layer more of that in.
In the end, I did horizontal rows of big stitch hand quilting in colorful threads across the width of the quilt at the bottom of each row. Then I free motion quilted vertical lines across each row of blocks in colors that matched the fabrics.
It was really fun quilting this quilt. I quilted by hand and by machine and with many different colors.
I have 1 block to go! Although if you’ve been following along, in the last update I was sort of hoping to have this one done by this check in. Oh well! It’s been a crazy month, which I anticipated, and overall I am very pleased with my progress. There are 3 months left to finish this block, get the top sewn together and possibly get it quilted.
I did manage to get this final block basted and partially appliquéd; some progress for sure!
This month included a trip out to Austin last week for QuiltCon. I taught a Hunt workshop, and I thought it’d be fun to share some of the class photos here. Hope you enjoy! My students always make me see things in new ways and give me ideas for things to explore.
(Here’s where you can find a copy of the Hunt pattern or templates, and you can catch up on the full QAL here.)
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