Wow, so good job if you made it through my extremely haphazard part 1 post that makes me look like a complete ADHD freak. Here’s the part you really want: the finished product.
Need a little more work with my embroidery unit as far as getting things lined up and such.
So here are the nitty-gritty details for those who are going to ask.
Block pattern: Shoo Fly Variation (Pattern found here)
Size: Ummm, didn’t actually measure, but it’s on a double bed above and just barely hangs over the sides. I adjusted the pattern from being 6 squares x 9 squares to 7 squares x 8 squares because it had me making 56 square but only using 54. I wanted to use every single one of those darn squares. Each square is about 9 inches give or take a little so that’s about 63 inches (or 5.25 feet) x 72 inches (or 6 feet). Yes, plenty big to snuggle up in.
Cost: About $100. I didn’t keep track real well so that’s approximate. But I would expect to spend at least $75-$100 on a quilt this size if you are doing it all yourself. Some people like to send it away to be quilted, so expect to spend a good bit more if you are one of those people.
Time: Oh gosh, I always try to keep track of this too and fail. My estimate is somewhere around 60 hours. Yes, quilts are a labor of love as well. You have to be really high on my “people I love” list to receive on of these bad boys.
How easy is this block pattern?: I would say intermediate. The pattern isn’t really forgiving and no matter how careful I was, I still ended up with things like this:
I don’t really know how issues like that happened and sometimes I feel like I need to join a quilting guild or something. Yes, I know it will be all these little old ladies, but they’ve all been there and done that and maybe someone would have some advice on how to avoid and fix issues like that.
If you follow the exact pattern it’s also quite large and I would say it would be a little overwhelming for someone new to quilting, but especially sewing. The block pattern is fairly straight forward and easy to put together however, so I would definitely recommend just scaling it down a little if you’re a complete newbie.
Did you do the actual quilting?: One, for money sake, I do my own quilting, but also because I like to be able to say I made it all by myself (yes, I know, I sound like I’m five). I “free motion” quilt which I’ve learned is really quite simple, easy, and forgiving. Technically I don’t have a “free motion quilting foot” but I find that the foot that I use for embroidery works just fine. All I have to do is drop my feed dogs and I’m good to go.
Quilting something of this size took me about 7-8 hours and made me really, really want a long arm sewing machine. I strongly recommend doing something along the size of a baby quilt when you give free motion quilting a try for the first time.
If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.
