This week, I finished Horsing Around, a quilt I started in 2011 to use the my collection of horse-themed fabrics. After my colossal struggle quilting the king-sized Forest Floor, I decided to “quilt as you go”, and machine quilt smaller sections before assembling the final quilt, even though Horsing Around is only twin-sized. While this approach solved some problems, it caused others.
My first challenge was the layout of this quilt. To pull together the various horse fabrics and keep the quilt from reading brown, I added lots of bright colors. Knowing that the disappearing nine-patch pattern needed high contrast to really shine, I did my best. But when I finally laid them out, I was dismayed. The pattern was evident, but I hated the quilt. What a mess!
Although I no longer have the photos of all my attempts, I tried lots of layouts before finally discarding the blocks that didn’t work and settling on a color wash.
The sections I quilted were two blocks wide by three blocks tall and I had to pick out backing fabric for each section so I could sandwich them. Since I needed small pieces, I used up as much of the leftover horse fabric as I could, including some of the blocks that didn’t make it onto the front. I tried to lay them out so they would look balanced, even though the back of the quilt isn’t seen much.
The quilting itself did go well, once I got the tension on my machine adjusted just right. It took me about 80 minutes to quilt one panel. I really appreciated being able to keep track of exactly how far I had progressed.
Once the panels were quilted, I had to choose the sashing that would join them. Since I didn’t want an obvious grid floating over my design, I color-matched the sashing sections for the front. It was easier and more successful than I expected, blending in so well it looks like it was my plan all along.
For the sashing on the back, I again used up the leftovers. I cut up some of the discarded blocks which helped add some spots of color.
I toyed with color-matching the binding to the front of the quilt, but I was tired by then, and eager to be done, so I just used some leftover black-and-white batik with zebras on it. Not exactly horses, but horse-adjacent in theme.
The biggest challenge quilt-as-you-go caused me was joining the panels together. Figuring out how to do that sashing without disrupting my design had me stumped for a bit. There was lots of measuring (which I don’t enjoy) and hand-sewing (which I do), but in the end, I’m very pleased with the result.
What do you think?
Great job, Kit. I like the idea of quilt as you go, but putting the quilted pieces together would be my worry too.
I did some text pieces first, putting together practice machine-quilting pieces to see if I had the right sash width. It worked like a charm, much easier than I expected! There are tons of different approaches, too, so you can do it the way that makes sense to you.
I love this quilt and want to see it in person!
That can be arranged!