The University Quilt

In spite of the distraction of the virus scarf (see last post), I didn't give up entirely on unpicking the broken quilting on the latest quilt I have been making for my son.  About three weekends in, I really did think it was never going to end though.  The problem is when you do a really great spray basting job, there's just no quick way to unpick quickly!

So, I finally set aside the seam ripper and gave the quilt another press before hanging it over the bannisters to contemplate my next move.  I ordered alternative thread and then sat down to play with quilting ideas.

The doodling was quite fun actually.  I considered the four designs above.  The top left diagonal cross hatch was ruled out just because it was too much work after all the quilting I'd already been through.  Top right is a square spiral set on point - I loved the idea of this one but thought that it might be a lot of switching and turning and twisting, and also I always think a spiral is best quilted when you can do it all in one go, which was just never going to happen here.  The two bottom options were my favoured choices.  Both section the quilting in quadrants and then echo the quadrant lines out.  Given the scales of the blocks,  I was able to afford to quilt a little wider apart than I sometimes can, so this suited my lazyitis / broken heart from unpicking previous efforts.  IG helpers seemed to like the diagonal quadrants best, which was handy because so did I and it made finalising the decision very easy.  So new thread, quilt design, chalk and ruler and off I went.

The quilting lines are approx 3" apart and look well on this quilt - not that you can probably tell from my pathetic photography efforts.  I have to say that the quadrant split was really useful when working on a small domestic machine.  You aren't having to haul and push as much bulk through the machine throat.  I'd recommend it.

So, although there were some metaphorical tears along the way, the quilt is now bound and beautiful and I think probably my favourite 'man-quilt' to date.  As I mentioned, DS wants to keep it for university (he's a little ahead of himself) which is grand.  I'm just chuffed he's happy with it!  And, also very chuffed that it's done!!

Another late/early quilt

I have finally made a start on a quilt that my lovely son requested two years ago!  In my defence, I spent much of that time waiting for him to decide on a pattern for the curated bundle of maths / chemistry / engineering types fabrics I'd been collecting for some time.

I managed to source periodic table fabric,

chemical equations (chemistry student),

musical notation (DS plays trombone),

little vintage engineering drawings - aeroplanes,

and motor cars, 

and some rocket science ;-)

physics, chemistry, (physics student)

geometry,  (maths and further maths student)

 bike chains (he loves cycling for fitness),

a feint script print which is about mapping, latitude and longitudes (super keen orienteerer)

all set in a mix of other tonal script fabrics and DS's choice of turquoise and orange fabrics from my stash.

Most of my pattern suggestions were politely declined so I waited to see what DS would come back with.

He never did, but, when I made this quilt (above) for a friend, I could see the pattern's potential for use on the bundle of fabrics awaiting our/my attention.  It also nicely fulfilled the "no fussy stuff" brief.  DS couldn't quite see it though.  I think it was hard for him to look beyond the florals of the quilt I was holding in front of him.

So, I doodled ...

and I played with colour placement and his lovely eyes lit up. Yep, he liked them.  The mix of his colour choices (far right) was his favourite of the ones I'd offered.

So, there was a plan.

But there was no time, and he wasn't in a hurry, and so it sat unstitched.  Until now ...

We did some laying out and re-arranging, including the extra row on the floor because neither bed nor floor was big enough for all of it.

We decided on 13.5" unfinished squares, so while not the biggest quilt at 78" square, it is generous and definitely enough for a strenuous machine wrangle come quilting time.

When DS saw it all laid out he declared it 'better than he could have imagined' and has asked if, rather than it being considered a 'late' quilt, could it be his take away to university quilt?  He's a wee bit ahead of himself, but I am secretly stoked that he likes it this much!

Unfortunately, I encountered a big problem when I was trying to quilt it last weekend.  Just over half way through the quilting, I moved the quilt out from under the machine to start a new line and heard lots of little pops as the stitching broke in many of the lines.  It was so discouraging, especially after a whole evening's worth of work.  The stitch length was good, the tension wasn't a problem and the quilting looked lovely from the front.

But, all the breaks unfortunately make a complete unpick necessary.  Having consulted better quilting brains than mine on IG, I think the issue may be that the Aurifil 50 wt thread is just not strong enough for the movement in the wavy line quilting on the diagonal bias of the quilt.    

So, when I eventually finish un-quilting, I will use a stronger thread and possibly straight line quilting on this lovely quilt.  Officially I  have (hopefully) another year and a half before it's required in student accommodation, but it would be awfully nice if the unpicking was a little quicker than that.  So, here's to not losing motivation by acres of unpicking stitches and hope for an early finish, instead of it being two year's late.  You never know ...