The Quilt Skipper

quilting makes me skip for joy

Jenny K Lyon

Quilting makes me skip for joy

Saw Tooth Star-Lessons Learned

My little 3-block Saw Tooth Star hanging is done! I’ve been waiting to put up a post, waiting to get my camera back from repair. It’s going to be a  few more days, so this post has some pretty poor photos-Duct Tape Nikon and my i-phone are all I have.I finished my Saw Tooth Star 3-block hanging as a study for my larger piece. I’m glad I did the little study as I learned a lot from my choices on this one. I do like the finished product, but I see things I would have changed-I’ll incorporate this learning curve in the larger piece.You may not be able to tell from this cringe-worthy photo, but there are different colors of Aurifil 28 wt thread in the center of each block. I wanted the quilting in each block to be of equal prominance. I used a heavier thread weight than normal (28) and I’m pleased with my choice-I will definitely use the Aurifil in the final piece.Here you see the decision point where I decided to go forward and I wish I hadn’t. I feel like the quilting in the final piece shouts and I wish I had noticed that at this point. The quilting is a little showy for such a small piece.

There are 3 issues that make the quilting a bit off: the complexity of the quilting (I just really can’t help myself sometimes!), the strong color of the thread, and the fact that I chose to do a continuous feather in the border.

I think I could change one of those 3 parameters and the quilting would have enhanced the piece. It would have been so simple to change the feathers from continuous feathers, to several stand alone feathers. I love the way two feathers nest in each other, end to end.

And it definitely would have improved the piece to have either used a lower contrast thread or a less complex design. With both on such a diminutive piece, it’s just too much.

There is a lot to love about it too: I love the energy of the stripe surround and the biased stripes for the binding, I like the 3 blocks together and I really like the motif in the center of each block.

I really do like this piece but I also see how I could have improved it. Now on to the larger 13 block piece-I’m excited to get to that! I think I have worked out most of the kinks and it should turn out fabulous! Remember I wanted to finish the larger piece by Christmas…

Comments

  1. I love it when I am able to do a practice piece before I have the chance to mess up the real thing! Looking forward to your final decisions on the larger piece. It will be fun to see the two side by side.

  2. Your quilting is so exquisite so it must be hard to find the balance between the quilting and the piecing. I can’t wait to see the finished larger piece.

  3. I’m going to be working every minute I can-it will be interesting to see how long til it’s finished. I’m excited about plowing forward on this.

  5. The quilting is the first thing I noticed, then the nice striped borders. I didn’t even notice the quilting in the center of the blocks until you pointed it out! So, of course, you’re right…either simpler border quilting or less contrast in the thread, or maybe both. What is it that you truly want to feature–your quilting or the lovely blocks? Can’t wait to see the finished piece!