The quilt, at last

[zubeneschamali]

This summer I asked for help in collecting quilt patterns from shops around the country, and y'all got together and sent me about a dozen quilts' worth. Y'all are awesome. I wasn't able to use everything, but I did finish a quilt using ten of the patterns, and I could not have done it without you. I'm going to hang it on my wall and think of my fandom friends every time I see it. :)





The rows are from Bellingham, WA and Detroit, MI; Washington, DC, and Dallas; Plano, TX, and Centralia, WA; Utah and Illinois; and Illinois and Vermont. I made all of these using fusible web: you cut out the shapes from fabric and from this slightly-sticky web-like stuff (google Mistyfuse), layer them on the background fabric, and press with a hot iron. Then you stitch around the edges of the all the shapes with a tiny zig-zag to make
sure they stay in place. As you can see from the fraying in some of the closeups, I didn't always do a good job of that. >.<

The top left one was the very first one I picked up. I found out about this whole Row by Row thing while I was driving between Vancouver and Seattle this summer. I was stopping at a couple of quilt shops along the way (as you do), and I overheard a customer asking for the free pattern. Free? Wait, and every quilt shop has a different one? Ohhhhh boy.

I adore the one with the skyline; it doesn't show up too well in the picture, but the reflected buildings in the water are all wavy. The sunset fabric I found for the background was perfect. And I also love the Texas one; that was thanks to beelikej and tmn1966 on their road trip.

I love the penguins; that one came from juice817, who picked it up on her travels. Aren't they adorable? The first one is just chillin'; the second one is going a little wild; the third one has that expression that means he can't remember if he left the iron on; and the last one is me, keeping a very careful eye on her marshmallow so it doesn't burn:



The Illinois and Michigan Canal is featured with a towboat and the mule pulling it. That was one of only two that I got the kit for, not just the pattern, because I wanted those figures cut out for me in advance. The background block is my old favorite and namesake Storm at Sea. It was a serious pain in the butt to make, though; I might need to find a new favorite quilt block! The bottom one shows "Champ," the lake monster of Lake Champlain in Vermont. Isn't he cute?

Thanks again to everyone who helped with this. I have a bunch more that I still want to make, but in the meantime, I have to get back to my regular quilts, too! My best friend just announced that her second son is on the way, so that'll be first on the list once I get home from our winter break trip to the West Coast.

In the meantime, Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it, and Happy New Year!

Comments

[tuckercat2.livejournal.com]

WOW! I tried to quilt once.. yep, not one of my shining moments or hours or days. Oh well, I now appreciate even more when I see quilts like this! So very awesome!!

[zubeneschamali.livejournal.com]

Thanks, hon! I tried to make clothing once with not-so-good results, so I'm sticking to what I know.