Saturday, January 25, 2014

The Too-Busy Churn Dash?

Last Sunday, I was able to travel between snowstorms up to Laconia, New Hampshire, about 26 mile one way, to get to Ellen Peters' quilting studio. I forgot the camera. But I remembered all the parts to the quilt; top, batting, and backing! Yeay!


This was the two year old Churn Dash Swap quilt from Block_Swappers. A big "Thank you" goes out to Charlene Higgins for her original design (which I tweaked). She presented this workshop in November of 2012 at the Golden Gese Quilt Shop at 22 Liberty Street in Concord, New Hampshire.
It might be a good "Concentration" quilt, to play the old quiz show game of finding a match. There are just a few repeats but most of the blocks are unique.


Certainly that sashing is unique! OMG, I wish that I had chosen a quieter fabric for the sashing. Everything in this quilt is so busy that the eye has no place to rest. Sigh. Hindsight is twenty-twenty!
On the other hand, the sashing is a turkey red Windham Williamsburg Folk Art pattern of decorative grasses, so what's not to love with all those other Civil War selections? Here is a section of the border, but I have yet to bind this one.


The quilting was a free style of loops and hearts on this queen-sized 82"X100" rectangle. I wish that I had better marked which end would be the top before we loaded it.


Unfortunately, it got loaded sideways, so all the hearts/ivy leaves run side to side the long way. That means that when it is placed onto a bed that the quilting is running the wrong way.



But it's like a bulldog puppy; it's so ugly it's cute. And I do love it, warts and all! It looks far better by the camera than it does in person.


The backing is a 108" wide piece that I found on a red tag special at Joann's for $4.95 per yard and there was just three yards left on the bolt. It's a nice floral tan tone-on-tone. Have I mentioned that I like florals? LOL!


I tried auditioning this beautiful Civil War black/tan for the binding, but Felix almost screamed his disapproval, LOL! "Too busy, too busy!!!", he said.


So I'm planning a brown paper bag solid binding like I did on the triplets three baby quilts. No picture but it will be a little calming, I hope!


I'm tempted to name this, "The Schizophrenic Churn Dash", LOL! But that's probably too harsh, right?

Stay calm and quilt on!

17 comments:

helen said...

LOVE IT!!!
And as there is no quilt-police, there is no wrong way.
It looks like an original from the Civil-War-era.
Congratulations!

Auntie Em said...

I did not know there was a right way or wrong way for the quilting on a bed quilt. All that matters is that you love it, and I think it sounds like you do. :-)

Needled Mom said...

Unless the pictures are really deceiving, it really doesn't look as bad as you are saying.

Kay said...

I LOVE your quilt!!! I think you're being to critical.

Janet O. said...

Only you know how you had envisioned this quilt to look in the first place, so you alone can be disappointed that it didn't live up to that expectation. The rest of us just see a great looking CW era quilt! What is not to like about a churn dash--and I think we are far pickier about "busyness" than "make-do" quilters had the option to be.

Unknown said...

It's gorgeous!!!
I love the Churn Dash pattern and the colours are perfect.

Greetings Karina

Melanie said...

I think your quilt looks lovely in the driveway photo, really like the sashing with the four patches. This might just be one of those quilts that needs a bit of distance to appreciate the pattern!

Helen in the UK said...

I do like the setting for the blocks as it creates a visual diagonal. If the hearts don't run north/south when it's on a bed it must mean that the hearts will face someone as they get into the bed :)

Feathers in my Nest said...

I Love your sashing fabric....The Red is so pretty & so is the quilt. You always do Lovely work..

FeatherDuster said...

I LOVE it!

cityquilter grace said...

i don't think it's too busy at all....i love it...nice job!

kathy said...

Love it and the sashing too

Beth in MN said...

Vic, I think you are too hard on yourself. It looks like a quilt meant to be loved and used and to keep a person warm at night. That is what it is all about. Nice job of quilting and of course, we always point out what we think are "mistakes." NO Quilt Police Allowed!!

Megan said...

I agree with Janet - those of us who don't have a picture in our minds of what you were hoping to create can just look at these pictures and soak up the quilty goodness. This is a wonderful scrap quilt, with loads to look at. I think the sashing is interesting - not overpowering, but a real feature, which is unusual for sashing. Doesn't make it 'wrong' or 'inappropriate'. Frankly, I think this quilt is a winner, even if it isn't what you set out to make.

Megan
Sydney, Australia

beth said...

Love this quilt.

Chris Jensen said...

I think the quilt is beautiful. You have done a great job on it and I think the colors are great!

Marge Gordon said...

Love love love it! And churn dash is on my to do list this year, I might just have to do one similar to yours!

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