The Escargot Quilt

January 2017 is when I started this baby, and here we are in August 2018 and I finally have a top.


To be fair part of the reason it got delayed is because we went jetsetting, and I couldn't take this with me, but still, we've been home for 10 months so this should very much have been done a long time ago.

The real reason I didn't work on it for so long is because that break away from it meant that when I got home and pulled out the box, I had fallen out of love.  It just felt very *brown* and bland and what the hell do I want snails for anyway?? And so it sat and made me feel bad while I avoided it.  I actually toyed with giving it away or just throwing it out.


Throwing it out goes against the hoarding I have in my nature so instead I tucked it into my stash of projects to take to Quilt Retreat and about halfway through the second day I decided to pull it out and just see.

Well, there were enough snails to turn it into a top, and I had 2 more cut and ready to go, so I whipped them out and that was all it took for me to fall back in love.  The snails are fun, guys!  They have a couple of small pieces but they're easy and bright and effective.

I only had one piece of the cream background, so with a little help from my quilty friends we laid the blocks out and tried to work out the best way to really utilise my fabric.

I really liked the off set, gappy layout, so needed to use some of my yardage for that, and then I was left with *just* enough to put a 1" strip along the top of each row.  Just to give a little space to the snails.


I was then laying the rows back down on the floor and we all agreed that the dark carpet they were laying on really added something, so to the stash I went to hunt down something I could add for my snails to crawl along. I came up with a piece of rusty brown that felt right so cut strips and added them to my snails bottoms.  I then laid the rows back down on the floor to keep them in order.

And once again that dark carpet showed throw and felt so right.  It added a little shadow and turned the "floor" into "shelves".  So then I had to cut 3/4" strips of a dark navy to add just that hint of shadow to the top.  I love the effect, but boy was it a lot of work.  I recommend doing all three strips at once and then adding it to the snails, because my way was a wavy nightmare.

Still.  I ended up with a finish that I really like.  I have no idea what I'm going to do with a snail quilt, but for right now, I'm on the hunt for a cute backing to get this moved on to the next stage.

Huzzah for a finish!! (well, a finished top is practically a finish ;-) )

E xx


Comments

  1. Yay for a finish!!! Snails move at their own pace, you just can't rush them :) I love the addition of the little navy strip. 3/4" strips...I think my eyes just crossed thinking about sewing that down. I'm sure it was a lot of work, but oh so worth it!

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  2. These are the cutest snails I've ever seen! How fun!

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