Thursday 10 July 2014

Barcelona Strip and Flip Quilt...

Barcelona Strip and Flip Quilt ~ Threading My Way

I've finished my 5th quilt and I'm super thrilled with how it's turned out!!! Not only do I love how it looks, but I can see, oh, so much progress in the construction of this quilt.

Barcelona Strip and Flip Quilt ~ Threading My Way

My inspiration came from Cluck Cluck Sew's Strip and Flip Baby Quilt tutorial. I just loved Allison's quilt as soon as I first saw it. The design looked as if it would be relatively easy to piece and it was. 

At 47" x 78", my quilt is much larger and instead of cutting strips of fabric, I used a jelly roll - Barcelona, by Zen Chic for Moda, so my strips are slightly wider. Choosing a jelly roll definitely took all the hard work out of co-ordinating fabrics.


The backing fabric - White Ground Sunflower - was kindly supplied by Wholeport. Being 59" wide, there was no need to piece fabrics to make it the required size and it co-ordinates so well with the front of the quilt. 

Barcelona Strip and Flip Quilt ~ Threading My Way

The quilt label, hand written with a fabric marker, is stitched into the binding on two sides and hand sewn on the other two sides. It wasn't until I was taking photos, that I realised I'd made a mistake with the positioning of the label - it's upside down. Next time I'll remember to look at the direction of the fabric.

I've gone with vertical straight line quilting, roughly 6/8" apart, for the flipped strip, the sashing and the borders, while the bulk of the quilt has horizontal lines. On one side of the strip the lines are 1/4" apart, and on the other side of the strip 1/2". I could say this was a design decision, but there was a gap of a few days between quilting each side, and I simply forgot. I do rather like the effect, though.


The other thing I'm really happy with, is my progress with basting. This time I went down to my daughter's place, as she has more floor space. This allowed me to move around the outside of the quilt, without having to crawl on the quilt. I also took my time, taping the backing to the carpet and carefully placing the batting and quilt top, before pinning. 

Barcelona Strip and Flip Quilt ~ Threading My Way

It's not noticeable in the photos, but my stitching is not even in places, especially after turning some corners. The places where the stitches are longer or shorter, is consistent across the quilt. I'm assuming the shorter stitches were caused by the weight of the quilt when not supported properly. Why the stitches are longer in places I have no idea. It was particularly noticeable after turning some, but not all corners. If you can shed some light on this issue, I'd love you to leave a comment.

One of my taller friends helped with the photos by holding the quilt for me. We're shorties in our household. While over at my friend's place, I didn't notice any of the uneven stitching. I was extremely proud to show her my quilt.


This time I chose to finish the binding by hand stitching. Although the stitching took a long time, it does make for a very neat and even appearance.

Initially, I began this quilt in response to the Springwood Winmalee Bushfire Quilt Appeal. Unfortunately I didn't make the March deadline. Although disappointed at the time, it turned out OK, as there were actually more quilts made than could be donated at the time. And so I packed away the quilt top, knowing that I would find the right person to give it to, at some time in the future

On hearing that one of my relatives had recently been hospitalised, I thought a quilt would be the perfect way to wish her a speedy recovery.

After sewing the quilt top, I wrote a progress post, also asking readers their opinions on how to press quilt seams; open or to the side. I learnt so much from the responses that were written. I count myself as very lucky, to be learning to quilt in this day and age, with such encouraging and helpful people.

My Barcelona Strip and Flip Quilt will be joining the 180+ quilts in the ongoing Quilting & Patchwork link party here at Threading My Way.

.. Pam

25 comments:

  1. Wow! You are amazing! This is so pretty. I have started a quilt; I am doing one of those 1600 strip quilts. I think that is what it is called. I always struggle with thread color. What do you use when you are quilting all the layers together? Match to the front, match to the back. This is the part I always struggle with.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You did a great job! I am sure your relative will be blessed with such a wonderful quilt!

    ReplyDelete
  3. The quilt is a special way to wish a speedy recovery to your relative.:) it looks great!

    ReplyDelete
  4. that quilt is really beautiful pam. you should be very proud of yourself. one day I will tackle a quilt something like this and I know who to come to for advice ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Sherry. I know that when you decide to make a quilt, you'll take to it like a duck to water.

      Delete
  5. Absolutely beautiful! These are all great fabric choices, and the back is so much fun.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Love the backing fabric. Great job !!

    ReplyDelete
  7. It is absolutely fantastic. Love it.

    ReplyDelete
  8. The blanket is so stunning... I'd love to make one for myself, I just need to find the time and patience. Your work is beautiful, I've added your blog to my reading list :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. It turned out great! I put my iron by my sewing table to help support the weight. I need to do that quilting on one of my quilts, I like the look.

    ReplyDelete
  10. it's lovely Pam! I like the pattern and it works with those fabrics, great quilting too. I didn't understand the question about stitch length getting longer at the corners - do you mean whilst sewing the binding? Mind you, you've overtaken me in quiltiness now mrs 5 quilts!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I'm super thrilled too - it's gorgeous, and I love your prints (front AND back) :) That's a great design - cutting the fabric that way and then piecing it with the solid gives it extra dimension. I like that it's turned upside down so the strips don't match - more dimension :) I don't do very well at perfect matching, so I'm always on the lookout for designs that are n't perfectly matched - I do good wonky, LOL!

    BTW - I like your TWO design decisions - different widths of quilting on the two sides, and the label placement :D It's not upside down - if you turn the quilt upside-down to read the label - it'll be right side up! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  12. What a great quilt, such gorgeous colours/fabrics it was so interesting to hear your thoughts on the processes like basting and stitch length. I get different lengths, I think the longer stitches are where it's easy to push through the machine and its get sewn at a faster rate than other parts? I think thats what I do anyway. But I think your quilting looks great!

    ReplyDelete
  13. beautiful quilt! love the surprise of the one row down the side, so unique and fun!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Great job. I would have never thought to flip the rows like that! A great look! followed you from show and tell tuesday linky!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Absolutely gorgeous - love it!!

    ReplyDelete
  16. I just finished one of these as well! Love the colors, it looks great!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Great quilt! I love your quilting! It accentuates the pattern and fabric wonderfully! I wish I knew how to help with the longer stitches...

    ReplyDelete
  18. This is a beautiful quilt. I have completed a similar quilt top recently. Haven't started quilting yet. I found you on Let's Bee Social. Here is the link to my Strip and flip. http://15septemberarts.blogspot.com/2014/07/progress-wip-here-we-go-again.html
    Will follow you and would love for you to follow me back.!!

    ReplyDelete
  19. The quilt design really showcases the beautiful fabric. I have made 6 quilts now and have not quilted them myself so I love that you did the straight line quilting. I went to a quilting course this week so I will attempt straight line quilting on my next quilt project. It had better be small. Great result so well done! Visiting via Sew Cute Tuesday

    ReplyDelete
  20. Oh' I love it! I'm going to check out that pattern :)

    ReplyDelete
  21. Beautiful quilt Pam! If you want a ton of quilt inspiration go to my blog and link to my Flickr album of the 1300+ photos I took at the Sisters. Oregon Outdoor Show show I recently attended. So many great quilts.

    ReplyDelete
  22. The content you share is really helpful for me. I hope you will provide more great information.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for stopping by! I love reading your comments and try to reply to all of them via email. If you don't receive an email reply from me, check back here.