Friday, August 16, 2013

An Arkansas Traveler Top Finish!

So I think I'm ready to declare that this quilt top is finished and ready to be quilted.  It was in the short stack that I shared for WIP Wednesday, and even as I posted that I still wasn't sure.


Sorry for the weird lighting, my only option was inside at night.  Still looks pretty good.

I really started making this top after seeing Faith's progress pictures on Instagram.  And her Arkansas Traveler quilt turned out awesome!  (Check out these pictures on her blog, Fresh Lemons!)  I just had a stack of fabric leftover from another quilt, and an urge to make something.


My son loved playing with the diamonds.  He needs some tangrams.

So I started piecing the diamonds, totally skipping the paper-piecing part and just going for it.  And it didn't turn out too bad, I just made sure that when I trimmed the squares, that my points were a 1/4" in from the seam.


Go little matching points!

After I put the all the blocks together, I hit my roadblock.  I couldn't decide if it needed borders.  And to really make that decision, I kind of needed to see it, but I didn't have any sizable scraps left to mock it up.


I don't think any of these are really working as a border.  They just take away from the awesome geometric shapes.

The only solution was to order yardage of a few of the colors I really liked, that I wouldn't be too heartbroken if they just ended up joining my stash.  So the top got shuffled to the bottom of a pile o' projects waiting for fabric.  And then when I got the fabric in, I'd totally lost interest in the whole project!  Ugh!


Really thought one of these two would be the winner.

But now I've seen it with borders, and decided that I didn't like how it looked at all.  So I just sewed on a thin strip of the background fabric so that the diamonds don't get lost in any squaring up that I might have to do after I quilt it. 

Not exactly finished, but out of the project stack and into the to-be-quilted stack!  (Now to get inspiration for the quilting design...)

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday!

11 comments:

  1. it's beautiful! i love your fabric choices and the dark background.

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    1. Thanks! It helped that I had almost the same fabrics in a quilt I made a friend to match her living room. She has really good style. So I just took out the warmer colors and added a few more cools.

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  2. love it! and what a sweet picture of child putting pieces together.

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    1. He's very helpful with my sewing. He's very good at putting colors together, and soon I hope to have him trained to press and trim. :)

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  3. Replies
    1. Thanks! This is currently the darkest background I've made, and I love it!

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  4. ooooh I can't wait to see how you quilt it, Mary! It's so lovely.

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    1. Me too, I've been staring at it trying to figure out what to do.

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  5. Do you pay someone to stitch tge quilt top? I've been looking for someone in the New England area

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    1. No, I do them myself. I got a Juki with a really deep throat, so I can quilt just about anything myself. I've never tried any bigger than a small twin, though, but in theory I could.

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  6. Great job on fabric colors. Your quilt will be wonderful finished!

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Go on! Comment! I love reading what you think! -m