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
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
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!
ReplyDeleteThese are the cutest snails I've ever seen! How fun!
ReplyDeleteExcellent post. Looking forward to reading more about embroidery and printing techniques in the future.
ReplyDelete