This is a quilt I made to benefit Charlie's school. I donated a custom baby quilt to a silent auction, to be made according to the buyer's preferences. He said green was his favorite color, and he especially liked the frog fabric I'd used in one of my sample photos. So green and frogs it is.
I used Allison's Chain Reaction pattern from Cluck, Cluck, Sew. I like her version very much, and the pattern's nicely written and illustrated — no complaints there. But something about my version...doesn't...speak to me. I don't know if it's because I made a smaller version with fewer blocks — probably! — but the proportions don't feel right. It was improved by widening the edges so that the binding doesn't come right up against the framed blocks, but not solved entirely. I didn't have time to play with it more than that. I might make another quilt from this pattern and experiment, but, well, probably not. World enough and time.
Still, it's kind of cute.
For the binding, which is entirely machine-sewn, I used Rita's tutorial from Red Pepper Quilts. I haaaated the first side I sewed; there was way too much fabric left flapping over on the back. But I easily discovered my problem: I was pulling the binding far enough to actually fill the binding, which resulted in too great an overlap hanging over the stitching line. If I pulled it much less, pinning it just past the binding's seam line, the overlap was a lot neater.
This was obvious, but unsatisfying. I like my bindings to be nicely filled, and for some reason — technique? different batting loft? — this binding isn't great in that respect. I need to cut my strips much narrower than Rita suggests. (She uses 2.25" but recommends beginners use 2.5". I split the difference and used 2.375" and found it too wide.)
So this will take some more experimentation, but once I have my own preferences solidly addressed, wow, is this going to revolutionize my quilting life. It ends up looking very tidy and professional on the back, and I am nothing if not tidy and professional.
...Except on the back. I just don't know any good, easy way around this, the dark thread on light fabric on the back. It offends me, but I'm not enough of a perfectionist to do what's required to avoid it. In other words, my laziness eclipses my craftsmanship on a shockingly regular basis.
Nevertheless, it's finished, it's froggy, and I hope the auction winner will like it for his grandchild-to-be.
