Friday, February 13, 2015

Not-Just-For-Christmas Tree Quilt

With much relief that my mental processes are still largely intact,
I give you my completed

Not-Just-For-Christmas Tree Quilt.


For comparison, here's the model I was working from:


The quilt (above) was featured in Quilter's Newsletter's Best Christmas Quilts (2014 edition). 

In fact, I made two quilts from that particular magazine.
The tree quilt above, and this one I gave my sister:


But I digress...

This tree quilt was going to be a gift for a friend.
She recently moved from western Washington to North Dakota,
and I thought this might be a baby quilt
to remind her of her Evergreen State home :D

Turns out she had something else in mind,
which is fine,
but I had already cut the pieces...


and I'm one of those very linear people.

Some of you creative types have multiple projects going at once,
and GOOD ON YOU.


I can't do that.

First, my head would explode.
Second, I'd have more clutter than I already have, which is more than plenty.
And third, I NEED the completion to enjoy the process.


And this quilt was definitely a process.

Oh, those triangles...
those crazy isosceles triangles nearly drove me to the Cliffs of Insanity.

First, I cut them wrong, thinking I didn't actually need the pointy end at the top,
which would get swallowed up in seam allowance.
And maybe you don't, actually,
if you know what you're doing.

Which I didn't.

So I had to trim a half-inch off Every. Single. Triangle.


Then there was the way you have to line them up wrong  (offset)
to make them finish right  (even)...

I think I sewed the first row about seven times before I
kind-of-sort-of figured it out.
And even then I ended up with more like half-inch seam allowances
rather than quarter-inch, because my points met so far into the block.

The learning curve conspired to make the quilt finish a bit smaller than I had anticipated.
But FINE, I don't care about that.
Since it's not going to be a baby quilt,
it's going to be a wall-hanging :D

Even the back looks kind of interesting,
due to the quilting!


And now?

No more triangles for a looooong time!

6 comments:

sara mcd said...

I really really like this one. I like your color choices even better than the sample you copied. And I admire your determination.

But you need to make that quilt two more times. According to my grandmother, you need to do a difficult pattern like that three times to become comfortable with it. And apparently all the times you rip out and resew the same one doesn't count as doing it a bajillion times as I once suggested. She would be talking about fancy thread crochet but it applies as well to other crafts. So start cutting out more triangles! (I'm chuckling out loud here.)

Herding Grasshoppers said...

Oh gosh, thanks, Sarah! I'll do something with triangles again SOMEDAY (have some ideas I'm interested in) but NOT NOW! Your grandma is right about the repetition leading to competence, though :D

Jeni B Quilts said...

I love your quilt! I have never worked with this type of triangle before...after reading what you went thru maybe I will just stick to half square and quarter square triangles!

melanie said...

Love it. {big surprise - not}

Well DONE, you!

:D

The Hibbard Family said...

Oh my goodness - that's beautiful! I love the boldness of your colors so much more than the one you copied from. So pretty.

Traci said...

I love this Julie!! You did a great job.