Half Square Quilt
I actually managed to finish sewing something. Been a while!
This is a half square triangle crib quilt for my new-ish second cousin (first cousin once removed? I have no idea). Aside from the backing and binding, it came entirely from my stash. The triangles finished at 3” square, and the entire thing measures about 43”x48”.
Material: The colored triangles are pretty much all quilting cottons; the solids are a mix of unbleached muslin (old garment toiles, washed and ripped), undyed linen (leftovers from a duvet cover and an upholstery project), and a couple random bits and bobs.
Things I did: This was my first run at straight line quilting; I stitched (more or less) in the ditch of the vertical seams, and then quilted in one-inch passes across the horizontal. That’s 2640 feet of quilting! Then I outlined each zigzag. The quilting looks great in some spots, and not so great in others—I need practice to get straighter and more even. But washing and drying has fluffed and puckered the quilt enough to tame most of the wonkiness into irregular charm.
I *love* the effect straight-line quilting gives (my straight line quilting idol, Red Pepper Quilts, always inspires and induces weeping fits of inadequacy), so I’m going to keep practicing. I did get a walking foot, and omg it helps SO much.
Things I wish I’d done: I ran out of pins about three quarters of the way through basting, and hand-basted the rest of the quilt. Sad to say, the hand-basted portion quilted much flatter and more evenly; is this the way to go?
Also, I put the binding on completely by machine; it looks okay but not great, and I think I’ll stick to sewing the front on by machine and slip-stitching the back side.
All in all, this is a sweet little quilt, very cozy and soft, with a wonderful heavy drape from all that quilting. I learned a lot, and it was fun to make. <heart>!
