Monday, March 25, 2013

Purple Zig Zag Quilt




Since it's March 25 and it's snowing outside and I haven't really gotten dressed in three days, I thought it might be high time to share this quilt I finished back in August. August 2012, a time when the sun was shining and I had enough life in me to finish things.

I made it for our best friends' ten year anniversary and finished it just in time to give it to them without taking pictures. I was too excited to take pictures, as I usually am with sewn gifts. Anyway, they liked it. I think they still do. It looks pretty good as a throw blanket in their stylish place. Then I stole it back from them last week and took some pictures, because when you blog you think you have a good excuse to do weird things like that.




I really love the colors of this quilt. I first blogged about my fabric selections and using "triangles on a roll" here. You put a cut of paper over the 2 fabrics you want to make HST's from and then just sew where the lines tell you. Cut them apart and you've made a lot relatively quickly and really accurately. You just have a bunch of paper to rip off now. Still worth it for a quilt that is made of them entirely. We have a class at Sewn Studio that teaches this quilt, so we were all kind of learning how to use the product together.




After all the HST's were done I put them together randomly for the most part. I think it turned out great that way, plus trying to control where everything ended up would not have been enjoyable for me. The only thing that worried me at first was if that navy chevron was too much with the rest of my low-volume prints. But once the whole thing was together, I loved the effect that chevron print made. Totally would have been a bore without it.




The top only uses 8 quarter yards plus 2.5 of the background solid I think. So for the back I just put together all the quarter yards of those prints I had left. (Since I usually stash half yards.) The quilting is a simple double diagonal grid. This was the quilt that made me realize my walking foot sucked. It's not terrible quilting, but after I shelled out the $70 for a good walking foot after this, I quickly realized it wasn't great quilting either. Sometimes it's a relief to know it was your tools that sucked ass and not you. 





The binding is that Moda pre-made single fold bias from Sewn that I loooooove to use so much. Makes that end-of-the-quilt-I-just-really-want-to-be-done-with-this part go much faster. 





This little sprite in Santa jams thinks it's pretty cozy. Maybe it's time to start on one for her near-future big girl bed?









18 comments:

  1. It's so cute! I am toying with doing a zig zag quilt! They are so fun!

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  2. Yes, leaving the chevron in was a very nice choice. Great quilt! Good luck getting dressed - pretty rough to muster that energy up. I got about 4 hours of sleep last night, so believe me, I'd be sleeping right now if I could. ;P

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  3. i love the chevron print in this quilt...its fabulous!

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  4. Love the little bits of chevrons in the quilt! And I'm glad you "borrowed" the quilt back to share pictures.;)

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  5. I love this! I particularly love how you quilted it, I've never thought of quilting a zig zag quilt that way.

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  6. hey Jess, Is this navy or purple, you mentioned both and it looks purple to me, and very gorgeous, love the fabric and the chevrons. You always get it right, I'm sure E and N love it. mom

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  7. Beautiful! I so would not have used the chevrons, but you are right! They add a nice bit of interest! Good going.

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  8. This quilt is so cool! Your friends are so lucky to have it! And I agree, leaving the chevron in was a great choice!
    ps. My daughter has the same pjs and I am so glad to see that I am not the only one that puts Christmas pjs on their kids after Christmas...in fact it'll be July and if they still fit my kids will be wearing them ;)

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  9. What a great quilt. I love it.

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  10. Love the pops of chevron too! Nice job lady.

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  11. It's so lovely...that purple is perfect! I have a roll of those triangle things and I need to try them out. I just haven't figured out what pattern I want to make using them. It's good to know they are pretty easy though.

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  12. Really eye-catching quilt, I love it! Funny about your walking foot, I've been wondering if mine is poor quality...I still get 'drag' with it even though I've tried lots of things to prevent it. It's sort of an 'off-brand' walking foot, so now I'm thinking maybe I should follow suit and spend the money on the walking foot made for my machine.

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  13. What an amazing gift, such a gorgeous quilt. Definitely works with the double chevron.

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  14. This is really cool, Jessica, and the quilting is perfect! I may have to steal that quilting for a chevron quilt I'm finishing up right now...

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  15. I really love the colours in this quilt. It looks really gorgeous. A fantastic present to give.
    Rosie xx

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  16. looks great!! yay us for both finishing our zigzag quilts ;)

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  17. I really like it! The chevron print looks awesome scattered through the quilt.

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  18. Oh, no... big girl bed. NOOOoooooo! Darn, they have to grow up.

    and, yes, the black chevron print was just the spice it needed. Turned out great!

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