I bought this great dragonfly material at a quilt store in Dahlonega, GA last Christmas. (I believe the store is Magical Threads - an old house, a couple of long arm machines inside and lots of little rooms that have tons of fabric). I love this material. But I finished off the bolt and only got 2 1/2 yards of it. No more to be found, either. Believe me, I looked!
So, as a very newbie quilter, I found a window pane pattern in a book that looked easy enough and bought great matching material and set out to make my first "difficult" quilt. By that I mean using sashing and posts and not having an instructor to guide me.
Since I didn't have enough of the dragonfly material for all of the quilt top, my co-worker, Judy, came up with several designs where I could mix in the yellow so that most of the top that you would see on the bed would be dragonflies. I used the blue for sashing, purple as what (at that time) I considered the border, along with more yellow. The posts are bright green. All of the fabrics really bring out the colors of the dragonflies.
I really do love this quilt. It is a huge queen sized and the colors are so rich.
Meandering Mary did the quilting and it is outstanding. I love the dragonflies in the squares and the swirls in the posts and sashing. It was a lot of work for her and it paid off. She is awesome!
However, once I placed in on the bed and really looked at it I realized what I probably should have done. First, make the sashing the yellow or green material and mixed up the blue, green/yellow and purple with the dragonfly material. More of a "patchy" for mixed up look. At the time I made it, I really wasn't ready or skilled enough (probably too scared) to add a real border, but a solid border would have looked great.
For some reason, the yellow looks a little orange.
Oh, well . . .
I still love it. The sashing and posts really came out great. And, I am using it - making it the first quilt I have made that I have actually slept under.(Phil's snoozing on the couch under it doesn't count!)
It was a huge learning experience for me. And, I learned that I should stick to printed patterns for a while before I venture out to try my own designs.
4 comments:
I don't see any of the issues that you see. I think it turned out great. Honestly, there's no reason to stick to a pattern just because you're a beginner. The fact that you were brave enough to do this without a published pattern says a lot! You're turning into a quilt risk taker and it's working just fine. =)
That's pretty, Julie Ann, and you're right, there's such a satisfaction in actually sleeping under a quilt you have made.
Considering how many patterns I have now and the stash of material that goes with them, I don't have much choice but to sew them up and move on! LOL
It is all such a learning experience and so much fun along the way. The more I look at the dragonfly quilt, the more I love it.
As I have mentioned in the shop, I really need the color class. I had a lot of help picking out the materials for this quilt. But, then - that is all part of the fun, too!
I think it looks very pretty & fun to sleep under! And I think it's funny that *I* used to be the sewer - and I no longer have time - now *you* are the sewer!
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