Thursday, June 29, 2017

COMPLETED QUILT: A Duct Tape Galaxy

Charm About You

I've found that one of the best ways to achieve my Q2 goals is to turn them into an external deadline. Like entries for quilting shows...


I submitted my Technicolor Galaxy (the 2015 Skill Builder Block Of The Month Quilt by Alyssa at Pile O'Fabric) to the Sydney Quilt Show, which put it on a timeline, and meant I had to get a move on my quilting. At the time, I'd only just started working on it, although it had been out since 2015.

Choosing a dark design with heavy, saturated colours was a bit of a risk - all the other versions I'd seen made were pale backgrounds.

WIP Wednesday mid Feb

But once I got moving with it, I really rather liked the bright colours against the black. It gives it…punch. Pop. Zing. That little something more.

Duct Tape Galaxy Quilt 2017

Rather than doing quilt-as-you-go, as per the pattern instructions, I decided to join everything together and make it a quilt top, then quilt it. It caused a few problems - mainly in fitting everything together at the end.

Duct Tape Galaxy Quilt 2017

Also, making the background ‘patchy’, and trying to gradate the colours around the arcs of the circle? Was a pain in the butt! So many fabric shades, so many delicate shifts of colour – and the blues and purples are particularly awful for this!

Duct Tape Galaxy Quilt 2017

Meanwhile the yellows are not very varied at all!

Duct Tape Galaxy Quilt 2017

Duct Tape Galaxy Quilt 2017

The thing is, once you start putting it all together as a whole, you don't really notice the fine details. However, I note that never stopped any quilter from angsting over fabric choices!

Duct Tape Galaxy Quilt 2017

Also, I didn't quite follow the order of blocks for the pattern. I'm not really good at English Paper Piecing, or turn-under applique, so I tended to leave those until last.

#IGQuiltFest with @amyscreativeside Day 31 - Work In Progress: Block 7 of the #ducttapegalaxyquilt is Hexie Flowers, and I'm doing it at #scquilters today.

Orange peels. Better get a move on! #ducttapegalaxyquilt

And then it got accepted for the Sydney Quilt Show, and the pressure was on!

Why did I do this again? Oh, that's right: because it's pretty and I'm a show-off... #ducttapegalaxyquilt

So, I thought it looked pretty good when I had all the 'arc' sections done, but once I started putting the background together, I was blown away.

#ducttapegalaxyquilt all the pieces done now to fit it together!

#IGQuiltFest with @amyscreativeside Day 25 - Unfinished Quilt. Only half a galaxy so far... #ducttapegalaxyquilt

I think it helps that I didn’t have the radial lines of the section binding interrupting the flow of the colour, too. In the QAYG version, the quilt is usually put together in a dozen ‘spokes’ and each spoke is joined to the others by a strip of binding. Which would be great if the background is one colour and the spokes match that colour (or are a deliberate contrast), but isn’t so hot when the colour changes around the circumference of the quilt.

#ducttapegalaxyquilt Nearly there! Just have to join it all together.

Unfortunately, in the process of quilting it, I stuffed up. The back ended up all wrinkly and wobbly and sewn-in. If I was really dedicated to making this a quilt-show worthy quilt, then I could have redone it. I decided not to bother. But I’m going to have to work on my quilting techniques. They’ve been really bad lately. And no, I don’t expect to win any prizes, but it would be nice to have a decent back.

Ah well, it still looks pretty good from the front, even in the not-so-great lighting of the Sydney International Convention Centre where the Sydney Quilt Show 2017 was held!

Duct Tape Galaxy Quilt

I called it the Duct Tape Galaxy, because, like duct tape, it has a light side (the back), a dark side (the front), and it holds the universe together!

3 comments:

  1. Wow, that is stunning! I think I prefer this to the version with spokes

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  2. A bit late to the FAL party... Your quilt turned out amazing! Great result especially for turning the class into a "top" project and then quilting it. Your idea with the external deadline is great. Have to think about that. No quilt show available, but this quilt is on my fal list still.
    xo Melanie
    www.mell-Meyer.de

    ReplyDelete

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