Twiggy and Opal: square quilt

Friday, December 19, 2014

Vice Versa BOM ~ Finished!

Whew! I finished my first block of the month with a mere couple hours to spare! It isn't like I didn't have plenty of time to finish this quilt. That is if I had started earlier!

First of all, I loved making each of the blocks in this quilt. I really enjoyed my first BOM experience and hope to do this again.

Last year, Anne Marie at Gen X Quilters announced the Vice Versa BOM. It looked intriguing and fun so I decided I would jumped in! I could handle two blocks a month.

The hardest part for me was deciding my colors. In the end I went with some special hand dyed fabrics that my daughter dyed for me. They had been sitting in my stash for far too long and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to use them.

9" blocks

Let me tell you about the quilting. I thought I would throw caution to the wind and do a little free motion quilting. Believe me, I was stressed about that! With good reason too! My plan was to stipple the blocks. Side to side, end to end. I did just that on the center blocks. Seemed easy enough. Until I turned it over and saw it looked HORRIBLE! Since I rarely FMQ, it didn't occur to me to check the back. Now I know. Lesson learned. I spent 3-4 nights ripping out the stitches hoping I would be done in time.

I wasn't going to let that stop me from trying it again! Come hell or high water...I was going to FMQ and finish this quilt!

The second try was so much better. I felt good about this go around. Checked, checked, and double checked the stitching. To be honest, the stippling isn't perfect. I crossed over a couple times, the stitches are certainly not perfect to say the least!

Last night I finished sewing the binding and threw it in the wash. After pulling it out of the drier...I was giddy with joy at the results! It's amazing how a good crinkle can hide the inconsistency of my stitches!