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Thursday, March 8, 2018

Churn Dash :: Bohemian Revisited

This quilt was one of my very first 'real' quilts I ever made.  By real I mean, one that was preplanned, one that turned out beautiful, one that really pushed my newly discovered quilting passion.  It's a quilt that to this day lives on my bed and is one I am still proud of.  


CIRCA 2010
78" x 96"
  
I made this quilt back in 2010 with my daughter.  Britt was by my side to guide and encourage me, and was actually my 'sou chef' who cut (prepped) all the fabric and held my hand throughout the process.

 
   

















I have always wanted to make this quilt again but never quite got to there.  That was until I was struggling with projects for our guild retreat.  I thought it was good time to give it another go.  At first I was going to reduce the size and make more of a lap quilt, but figured I may as well go for it.  This time around I would use solids instead of tone on tone for the background.

 

The more solids the better and it was the perfect project for my beloved Anna Marie Horner fabric stash.  I spent so much time piecing the blocks at the retreat that I was sure I would never get them done.  I had to finish up a good portion when I got home.  

Cutting 1/8" and 5/8" really is not my favorite thing to do and this pattern was full of them!  I'm just glad I decided to cut everything before I left!



There were four sizes of blocks for this quilt: 16", 10", 6" and 4".  When I decided to make this quilt again, I was so tempted to cut the corner squares larger, sew the diagonal lines and then trim to the correct size.  That's normally what I do with my HST's.  However, I decided to trust that I could do this without having to trim.  I'm so glad I did!  



I had to trust myself!  I won't say that every one was perfect, and I won't say that this quit will be perfect.  Points will be compromised!


It took a while to layout the blocks in just the right places.  I used my side by side design walls and it still wasn't enough room for the length of this quilt!  I found some amazing color combinations of prints and solids!  Out of all the blocks, there is only one block that I wish I had replaced.  Can you guess which one it is?  Look to the left...bottom...purple...brown.  


For now it will hang on my design wall.  It's big!  Like so big that I don't have the desire to quilt it big!  I know why I got my first version long arm quilted!  The more years that go by in my quilting life, the more and more I really don't like to quilt the tops!  Smaller one, sure.  Large ones, not so much!  I'll get it done one of these days!

LINKING:
TGIFF

24 comments:

  1. At first sight I thought 'How could she have already finished her Churn Dash quilt ?!'. Glad to see it was a previous version :-)) They are both gorgeous Jayne ! I know what you mean with the brown and purple block. Maybe you could use one of these fabrics in your binding for the balance.

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    1. I haven’t decided on the binding or the backing yet. Thats a very good idea to tie the binding with the darker block though! In truth…I wish this second one was already quilted…I’m waiting for the quilting fairy to come by in the middle of the night!

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  2. Absolutely stunning. I loathe cutting too so I really feel for you on this one. x

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  3. This new Churn Dash is as lovely as the first! I know you are a lover of solids, so it was nice to see you used them for all the backgrounds. I like that the one block kind of stands out from the rest. There is always one in the crowd. And if you took him out? Someone else would stand out.... I vote for leaving him in!

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    1. That block is staying right where it is!! I’m glad the piecing is finished. It seemed to take forever!

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  4. congrats on pushing thru. It might be time for you to invest in a right triangle ruler like Creative Grid's R45 or Easy Angle to avoid the 1/8ths.

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    1. Thanks for the ruler information! First, I don’t think I’ll ever make this quilt again. Twice is enough! And I will continue to avoid cutting anything that involves 1/8ths!

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  5. Both quilts are stunning! Lovely achievement. Thank you for sharing

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  6. Congratulations for getting the top pieced together. Do you think you might have this one longarm quilted or do you want to finish it?

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    1. It was much more work than I remembered!! The truth is I do not want to finish it…but most likely will do it myself!

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  7. I love this pattern! I made this back in 2008. In 2014, I gifted it to my niece when she went off to college - had to send my love with her. Love both your versions. The solids inspires me to do one with all black or gray backgrounds and solid churn dashes - rather Amish.
    Very cool! Thanks for sharing!

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  8. Oh, I don't know which one I like better!!! They are both stunning.

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    1. I love the original, but I really love how the solid background brings a brightness to the second one!

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  9. Your second churn dash is just as lovely as the first and I can definitely see why you would be proud of that first "real" quilt! Jayne, if you can afford it, why not send it out to a long armer? Life is too short to do things you don't really enjoy. What rule is there that says you need to quilt this yourself? Hmm? Or are you just imposing that one on yourself? :D

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  10. What a beauty! I love the AMH prints as the dashes. Or are they the churns?? In any case, I think even the darker purple/brown one is lovely. I often find that my least favorite block grows on me as the quilt progresses.

    Because there are so many different sizes of blocks, perhaps if you quilt it by size it will feel more managable? Maybe do a different motif in the smallest blocks, progressing up to more complicated quilting in the big boys. That way it feels like four smaller projects instead of one huge one :)

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  11. This quilt looks awesome with the solid background!

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  12. It looks great. Well done. I'd love to be able to send out all my quilts to be quilted.

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  13. Love all the bright colors in the newest one. I always enjoy quilts that use different size blocks.

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  14. Absolutely beautiful Jayne! Great job!

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  15. Both quilts are beautiful. It's amazing how each one has its own personality because of the fabrics. (You made the right call removing that brown and purple block!)

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  16. Beautiful quilts, both the original and the revised version.

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  17. Be still my beating heart! It’s magnificent! Worthy of being sent off for quilting!

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  18. I really like both versions, the original and the remake. Great colors in each.

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