By Ann
Finishing the assembly of Jim’s quilt top proved to be more challenging than it should have been. First there was the border problem. I cut the border strips and discovered that I had plenty of length for all 4, so I decided to ignore the standard instruction to measure the quilt top through the middle, cut the border strips to that length, and ease everything to fit, if necessary. Instead, I just pinned the strips with one end even with one edge of the quilt top, stitched, and trimmed off the excess border fabric. Big mistake. When I tried to smooth out the top in preparation for basting, I discovered major wrinkles and bulges in the borders. The major problem was that the borders on the long sides of the quilt were too long, so I took them off and re-sewed them properly. And I reminded myself that there are probably good reasons behind most tried-and-true quilting techniques. As you can see, the re-sewn top basted quite nicely.
But before I got this far, I had to deal with another problem. Apparently my math skills aren’t always as advanced as I like to believe. I miscalculated the amount of fabric I needed for the backing. I had plenty of width, but not enough length. So I had to resort to a modification of the Pellegrino Signature Pieced Quilt Back. Fortunately, I had enough border fabric to add the necessary additional fabric to both ends of the quilt. Since it is hard to be certain just how large the backing fabric needs to be (there’s always a fudge factor to allow for shifting during basting and quilting), I wanted the extra fabric inserted several inches in from the edges of the backing so the I would not end up with a wide strip of extra fabric at one end of the quilt and one narrow one at the other end. Here is how it came out. I hope it shows up in this photo.
Another concern I had was with the size of the finished quilt. During All Together Week, we all thought that it was wide enough, but it seemed short. So I tried it out on a twin bed, and here is what it looks like:
As we expected, the width is fine, but it is a tad short. There will not be enough length for it to be folded back and up over the pillow. I intend to deal with this problem by making Jim a couple of matching pillowcases. 🙂
I have quilted 7 of the 12 blocks. They go pretty quickly. Then there is the border, which I plan to quilt with a simple braid pattern that I have and like. I think the biggest challenge with that will be marking the quilt. Then there’s the binding. I will probably bring the quilt to the Thanksgiving gathering so that Crackpots who wish to can get their hands on it again. What thoughts do Crackpots have about a label??
