Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Grandpap's Cards Finished and a Review

I have been participating in a Civil War quilt along with a group of 11 other lady's we are all making a quilt from the book Civil War Legacies by Carol Hopkins (Publisher Martingale and Company The Patchwork Place) It is a great book and this is what I would like to talk about today.

I have not created many quilts from patterns though I have now 3-4 quilt books in my possession.  The real reason I have not created many is because my skills are still on the low end, but most the books I get are harder to do then I would like.  My first thing I would like to say about this book is that the descriptions, and instructions are great.  They are easy to follow and easy to use.  The quilt I was assigned to create was Grandpap's Cards.  When I first looked though this book I was thinking these quilts were much larger then they are.  (you can make them bigger and I think I am going to make a few others in sizes that are larger). My quilt had a bunch of HST that when completed was 1 inch view able.  I have big hands which made this hard to do.  But after completing the quilt I have to say totally worth the effort.


This is a picture of the first block I made.  As you can see it is any thing but square.  I was not accustomed to making things so small where small variances are a issue.  But one thing I am is a man and men don't unpick and they don't go back (Or at least that's what I believe we should do haha).  My wife has made me unpick from time to time,but I shy away from it.   My quilt consisted of 20 of these small 4 inch blocks.  Alternated with 4 inch dark blocks.


Here is a picture of the center of the quilt shortly after I sewed it together.  You can see on the bottom left the squares that need to be cut off.  The directions said to cut HST and sew in and not have to cut off but because of my nature to be off just a tad I opted to do full squares so that I could more easily cut the side straight.


Here I have the middle and the 2 borders and its basted ready to quilt.  I made only 1 mistake that I regret, but could have been fixed if I was not so anti picking.  You can see that 2 of my blocks (I had 20 blocks 2 of each of 10 colors) ended up side by side in my quilt.  Oh well.  When I was piecing these together each of my family members came into the room and said oh neat as they picked up the rows I was sewing together and looked at them and then sat them down.  Any way the pattern I was going for totally got blown out of the water.  All in all though it worked out wonderful.

Now for another pat on the back for the book.  One thing I liked is how it suggested ways to alter and add some interest to the quilt and one of those was to do some differences on the borders.  I like when patterns show where or how to make easy changes to add some spice.  I want to say I am new to quilting and that I have just always used whatever fabric fit's my fancy.  This is the first time that I have made something with a specific type of fabric.  This quilt was made with Civil War replica materials.  I have enjoyed it.  My son made the comment when washing my quilt that it is his favorite so far color wise. That is a huge compliment coming from him. He is an artist in his own right and much better at picking colors then my wife or I.


Any way the quilt is done its not huge but it is wonderful.  I was going to wait to take some outside pictures but I have not had time while it was light outside and it needs to be posted so here it is.


you can see the oops in the 2 side by side the same in this shot above.


And last but not least Julia in her Sunday dress (yes it was finished last Sunday) complete with her bib on so she would not spit up on her cute dress.  What do you think a tad small for a baby blanket but just right for a wall hanging.


Oh wait a blurry picture of the back too


June Finishes

12 comments:

Needled Mom said...

It turned out beautifully. I do like the CW fabrics and no one would see the "oops" if you had not pointed them out.

Vroomans' Quilts said...

I'm sure you added some great technique and learning curves to your 'arsonal' in doing this project. Now, we have to get you to hand quilt these heritage pieces. So worth the time.

Anonymous said...

If something is truly random, there's always room for two the same to end up next to each other. I think it looks lovely regardless!

Anonymous said...

Nice, Richard. Get the baby to cover up the blooper. =) It actually doesn't bother me a bit that the two pink blocks are together. I love CW fabrics and have TONS of them because I can't resist buying more each time I see them. Great project!

Rachaeldaisy said...

It's wonderful!! Those blocks are tiny at 4 inches - well done. I laughed at your no unpicking comment, fair enough, if you don't want to unpick you don't have to. :) The colours are beautiful and it'll make a great wall hanging!!

Cherie said...

That looks great! The colour scheme works very well. Great job =D

I'm having a giveaway on my blog. Feel free to stop by and enter (if you haven't already) =D
http://ibescheraldine.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/official-150th-post-giveaway.html

Jill said...

Just beautiful! Love all the colours together with the brown!


Thanks for linking to a Round Tuit!
Hope you have a fabulous week!
Jill @ Creating my way to Success
http://www.jembellish.blogspot.com/

Pattilou said...

What a sweet quilt and thanks for sharing the story of its progression!

viridian said...

I am doing jane stickle blocks which finish at 4.5 inches so I know small blocks too. Your wall hanging looks great - esp. with a sweet girl on it!

Connie Kresin Campbell said...

Gorgeous quilt Richard and Julia looks so cute on it! Thanks for sharing!
Quilting at the River Linky Party Tuesday

Etcetorize said...

Wow, great job! I'm not a quilter but I am a sewer. I think picking out stitches is just part of putting something together. Mistakes happen and it's better to take care of them right away than look back and wish you hadn't left something that could be easily fixed. So glad you linked up at Etcetorize~

Elizabeth said...

Oh my goodness! That Julia is such a little cutie, with her floppy tights and her thumb in her binkie and her super cute Sunday dress and matching brain squeezer! And you said something about a quilt? I was too busy looking at Julia. One of these days, I'm going to have to come over so I can squish her a little.

I love the colors you used in your quilt! I have a tiny suggestion for tiny blocks; anything that finishes at 2" or less (this would be your 1" blocks), press your seams open. And press in between EVERY step. It helps a lot.

Congrats on a great quilt and thank you for linking up.

xo -E

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