This quilt was not as simple as I thought it would be. The pattern is written for the lighter version of the quilt, and of course, I chose to do the dark version. Somehow this was difficult for me to wrap my head around when piecing the top. I loved the star blocks! Lovely... and not too hard to put together. The cross blocks were another story. There are SO many seams that it's tough to get everything to line up nicely. I used lots of pins and starch to get everything to lay flat. The pattern does show which direction to press your seams to as you work. For whatever reason, when I printed the pattern, none of the photos/diagrams showed up. I simply followed the pattern directly from my laptop screen, but I do like a hard copy to reference.
Overall, for my first attempt at this one I am happy. I do love the Scandinavian look of the pattern, much like the fair isle sweaters. One mistake was my choice in backing. I wanted this to be a warm cuddly quilt for winter. I chose minky with the dots in a snowy white. Minky is not my friend to say the least... it moves. I pinned and pinned and checked, but ended up with a hot mess on the back and ripping out a lot of stitching.... NIGHTMARE. I followed the many tutorials on line, including those from the Missouri Quilt Company to guide me when working with a larger quilt and cuddly fabric. I used a serpentine/zig zag stitch for the binding and for outlining the star blocks. I also sandwiched this quilt with a layer of warm and white batting. It was just too heavy for my little Bernina and I to get finished. I keep thinking about sending quilts out once I've completed the top. Perhaps I should just stick with a nice quilting cotton for backs unless I'm doing a baby quilt? Thoughts?
This one measures about 60x60 and is available on etsy as a pattern from Cora's Quilts.
Happy Holidays:)
Jen
