An update on the reverse mermaid quilt! I think this is the finished top.. I do wish I had made the border an inch or two bigger, it feels a little skimpy. I also originally planned to do another diamond border but its already quite large.

I will say I'm not not in love with this quilt. I don't hate it but I don't love it. I think its just not the direction I saw it going in originally. But the recipient is happy with it so thats all that matters!

A lot of people suggest a beach or water theme but the recipient didn't like that idea and wanted something more funky!

Patterns used: It won't let me post the links for some reason but they're all from etsy

Reverse Mermaids by Quiltcore Patterns (they're on sale right now!)

Disco ball by AmysQuiltCo (I bought the bundle with 5 sizes but you can also purchase it individually)

The star blocks are from Quiltcakes

Can we all just take a minute to join in my excitement and satisfaction of these points joining up so well!!??

I've wanted to make a silk quilt after being inspired on here, and I finally took the plunge with some silk that I had intentionally purchased for this project a while back.

I followed a pattern for the quilt top, and I decided to make the quilt backing by using the leftover scrap fabrics I had from the top. That was honestly a mistake, because that actually ended up being the most time intensive part (so much seam ripping and re-stitching to find the right visual balance, and a surprisingly large amount of math..). And it ended up looking so visually busy/chaotic. But I didn't want to buy more silk for the backing, so.. it is what it is I suppose haha.

Would I make another silk quilt again? ...Yes, but only because I ambitiously bought enough silk for 2 quilts when I originally purchased the material for this one haha. But will I be making silk quilts regularly? No, not just because of the significantly more burdensome financial investment, but also because it just takes so much more effort/time/energy. But I'm glad I finally made at least one (although I still need to baste/quilt it haha)!

It is literally just 8 shades of “millennial gray.” It’s for a Gen Z girl so I hope she’ll forgive me.

I know this gets asked all the time but for those of you who quilt on a home machine, thoughts on how to quilt? I could just take it to the long armer but it’s small enough I might be able to complete it myself.

Now for quilting and then binding!

I'm not seasoned, so I'll probably do big stitch. I'm tempted to do outlines to highlight blocks instead of an all over design. (Perle cotton 8 or 12wt sulky cotton). Thoughts, pointers and examples of outline/echo or big stitch quilting welcome! <3 Whatever I decide will take a while. It's more than a foot longer than me and was challenging to photograph! Still need to find a backing.

Would love to see example of using multiple colors of thread and how it looks on the back side.

Kind of bummed I have to put it down for a while, as I'm in the midst of a massive de-cluttering project.

I started this quilt almost 20 years ago. I didn’t know the easy way to make half square triangles so o have hundreds of triangles to sew together. I didn’t have a rotary cutter or quilt rulers so I made templates out of cardboard and cut out every one individually. I sewed some of them together. Sometimes I used a 1/8 inch seam allowance and sometimes a 3/8 seam allowance. No rhyme or reason for it. I forgot to include a seam allowance for the little triangles so now all the big triangles have to be trimmed down. I’m just feeling overwhelmed and feel like nothing is going to be precise or nice looking. And I don’t know how to press the seams so they look nice. Tell me it’s not going to be so bad. I’m just overthinking, right? Right?!

My mom, who is far braver than I, has finished the top to a Bonnie Hunter quilt! Emerald City is a beautiful pattern, and she did add an extra row of blocks to make it the size she wanted.

And it is 100% string blocks.

Well over 7000 pieces of fabric later, this work of art is finally in one piece.

Every single block, border, and corner has been lovingly curated from her bins of scrap stash!

I am impressed, and beyond proud to show you all with her permission!

I hope you enjoy “Creative Potential in Blue” by My Mom a variant of Emerald City by Bonnie Hunter.

Getting ready to hand quilt 96 inch square carpenters wheel quilt and was told the borders were too busy

I literally don’t have a space large enough in my apartment to lay it out for basting, but I think I can spread it out on my bed and make it work. But how do I jam this through my little Brother sewing machine 🫠 and then, what style of quilting can I even do? Advice desperately welcomed 😂😂

Whichever I use, the other will be used for the binding. The back will be a batik similar to the yellow suns in orange.

I posted the other day my first couple of blocks of the Koru Geese FPP temperature quilt (pattern by Sublime Stitchery) and a few of you wanted to see progress updates! So here’s January complete! 🙌 (It’s now 1 February in New Zealand for anyone wondering if I’m a time traveller 🤭🇳🇿)

I have making quilts since I was a child but I have never actually followed a pattern, besides a Bigfoot fpp pattern. Recently, I saw a pattern test call in a FB group and the deadlines worked so I decided to apply.

So far so good. It is definitely a change for me since I am so accustomed to doing my own thing but I am really excited to see it finished. This is the first block.

I fussy cut all of the stripes with the intention of having each of the four smaller squares going in the opposite direction of the center square at each point but I totally spaced it as I was putting it together. It is taking everything in me not to take it apart and rotate the ones on the right and left. I am going to sleep on it.

Finally have enough to add two more complete rows!

I spent a lot of time last week thinking about the fear of failure or fear of falling short of perfection, coming out of a conversation with my sibling about how their own relationship to the topic.

For me, learning to quilt has been an exercise in letting go of those things and seeing everyone’s amazing work on this sub has gone a long way toward making me feel more confident about learning-by-doing. I’ve only recently joined but the community here seems great and I’ve already collected so much good advice!

I wanted to share my current WIP - using the “Cozy Cabin” pattern by and fat quarters from Emily van Hoff’s “Groove” collection. This is my third project overall and I struggled with trying to use a new 1/4” piecing foot on my machine that messed up my alignment in a few key stages but I’m embracing the learning process.

If you’ve read this far, thank you. And let me know, do you think I should add sashing between each block? Or sew them together as shown?
I am even debating just making these out to individual wall hangings, so I can also practice finishing / binding on a more manageable size. What do you think?

I don’t know anyone who sews irl so any feedback is welcome. 🤗

I would gift it but no one wants it. It is not popular. 😩

Would you forge ahead and quilt it or put it away and try not to let the unfinished horror keep you up at night?

The perfect road trip craft to get your quilting fix. All scraps from past projects. All you need is a foam block, double sided tape sheets, scissors, fabric and a seam ripper

Making for a colleague who is retiring, I’ve had the pattern picked for a few years. She loves everything I make with Tula Pink fabric so I just rolled with it. Minky Bigfoot makes me laugh. Don’t try it if you’re aiming for perfection, it’s a pain in the ass. But if you just want something hilarious, go for it and embrace the wonk!

I'm so excited to finish this quilt top. I got all the fabric and pattern in 2015 as a BOM, but was so intimidated by it that I didn't start on it until 2022. I had to deconstruct and resew a few blocks and strip sets because either inaccurate seams or cutting. But there was one spot that I just couldn't get quite right... but still, I think it's gorge!!

I started working on this scrappy quilt 4 years ago as my first solo large project. Before this I had only done a couple baby quilts and one class.
I had no idea what I was doing, especially when picking fabric, and I am worried that the final result will be hideous. Most of the fabrics are super busy and up close the thing looks like a hot mess. A few feet away it all kind of blends together, so maybe that’s the saving grace?
I’m trying to maintain motivation to work on it but I can’t get over how ugly I think it will be, hence why it’s taking so long- it keeps being put in time out. Are there any projects you’ve completed that were “trust the process” the whole way? Or uglier quilts than mine?
First photo is as much as I can fit in one frame, then some closeups of the individual blocks. Ignore the construction issues, as I said, I had no idea what I was doing when I started.