River City Round Robin 6 - Laura's Crosses

The last quilt in our Round Robin to tell you about belongs to the lovely Laura, Laura was one of my first quilty friends.  And I'm not sure how she puts up with me.  Laura is another quiet little worker bee.  I must drive her bonkers.

Laura's request for the robin was very simple.. Blue and green crosses please. And she did the quilt maths for us (always love that).



I kept threatening her that I was going to add big pink circles to it, just to mix it up, but when first one person, then the next made crosses, I realised I was outnumbered and needed to join in.

I did still toy with the idea of  throwing the whole thing off kilter ;-)

But, in the end, I made my crosses too. At one point, it felt like my sewing room was being overwhelmed with little blue crosses, there were so many.  And as much as I love Laura, I hated those little crosses.  Everyone else seemed to love making them, but I found them fiddly and annoying. I actively wanted them to go away.


And oh, Laura, if you didn't know that I love you before, the amount of my low volume stash that is in this quilt should be proof of my love.

Putting it together was both awesome fun and an absolute nightmare, and I'll tell you why.  It was great fun, because it was like having a big jigsaw puzzle, trying to get the right mix of sizes, colours and blank spaces.I spent days if not weeks shuffling it around to make it fit the way I wanted it to.  And everytime I'd think I had it close, I'd realise I needed, maybe another 5 little blocks, so I'd hoick myself back to my cutting table and sewing machine and make another couple, muttering under my breath and cursing at the stupid bloody things, and then I'd spread it all back out and re-place everything and think... hmm I need, maybe another 5 little ones... And repeat until insane.

The other reason it was a nightmare, was that there were so many seams!!!! And while I did my best to nest them, there were so many interlocking at went the same way, that it was an impossible task.  I've already told Laura, that I am not volunteering to quilt this, because it's guaranteed to be lumpy in spots.


You might notice that I went rogue and added some grey.  Not a lot just half a dozen spread across the whole thing. I hope Laura likes it, but for me, I just felt like it needed that to break it up a little bit. Also, because I was putting it together, I put my favourite of the blocks right smack dab in the middle - it's a big green one with bugs in jars.  I know it's not classy like the rest of the quilt, but I love it.

Once it was all together, it's quite a big quilt.  I'd say close to Queen size. And, in my humble opinion, it looks amazing. It looks like a grown up quilt, all cool and crisp and straight lines, but the placement is still random and haphazard and organic. I think it's a really happy quilt.

it's actually Ashley's favourite quilt that I've ever made.  When I was packing it up to deliver it back to Laura, he asked me where I was going with ti, and was all "but I *like* that one". So there may be another one of these in my future for my house... Only maybe not with those little tiny crosses ;-)

 


E xx


Comments

  1. I can actually feel your frustration and your happiness all at the same time! :) I can see why it might have gotten a little crazy, but boy is it crazy good!! I love the colors and all that delicious low volume scrappiness. It's a beautiful quilt!

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  2. I have a few quilts in my past that frustrated me no end while I was making them! The finished result of your crosses quilt is simply gorgeous!

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  3. The finished result is beautiful. I can understand your frustration with it. I made a mix and match, no planned layout quilt, and all the trips to the cutting mat to make 'just one more block', destroyed all the feelings of freedom I imagined not following a pattern would bring! I was pleased with the quilt in the end but never again!!!

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  4. Wow! Love this quilt, my favourite colour combination! So you add ALL these blocks to her centre?? A TON of work and all your fabric choices fit perfectly with her centre. Wow, fabulous low volume stash you have (er, had!) too!!

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  5. Thanks to Beth for highlighting this delightful quilt on Cooking Up Quilts. I really like the Greek Cross -- a nice alternative to the plus block. These are such wonderful colors.

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