Thursday, June 23, 2016

Angled Surprise ~~ a finish!

A finish! A finish! Last weekend I had a few hours of downtime in Iowa while Richard looked for (more!) rocks in the creek and river. I used those hours to sew up a small quilt that I designed and cut out before we left for the Great Lakes. 



I was not too thrilled with the outcome of the pattern. The blocks aren't perfectly square so they don't sew up easily or well. And the seams don't match. And the bias cuts stretch so there are those buckling seams. But I could do this all night: I'm bad about critiquing my own work. In the end, I decided to quilt it first (there are now eight tops lined up) and be done with it. I can give it as a gift or a charity quilt. 



I'm not so sure that I feel the same way about the quilt. I quilted it in a continuous circle that quilts up really fast. It was my first time using this quilt motif, and it's far from perfect, but I like the quilt more now that I've finished it. 




Even the uneven circles are okay. I don't guess a new baby is going to mind those. I hope not anyway. 



How about this cute back? I decided that since it's neither girly or boyish, I could make it a little more boyish by adding a racing stripe. The backing could almost be a quilt top. Richard was really impressed with the back. 



While I was taking pictures, I kept having to fight off the lantana and callas. They photobombed the quilt which gave me the idea to take their pictures also. It's amazing how much the flowers and plants have taken over. Three weeks of Louisiana rain and sunshine is much like the putting plants in the rainforest. In a couple of weeks we'll be in a drought and all of this green will be yellowy-brown. But for now, it's beautiful!



Don't you just love the variegated speckles on the calla leaves. And this yellow is both bright and soft. I love calla lilies and finally have some blooming in our yard. Thanks to my darling husband, who planted them last summer. The surprise is that they are in a deep pot and didn't freeze or rot from the heat. 


Linking up with
Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation
TGIFF which can be found at Whims and Fancies 
Crazy Mom Quilts

10 comments:

jenclair said...

None of your pics are showing up for me. :( I used to have some pink calla lilies that I adored--but can't hear or see the word without hearing Katharine Hepburn's line, "The calla lilies are in bloom again. Such a strange flower, suitable for any occasion."

Karen S said...

Hi Mary. I haven't been able to get your pictures on the last three posts. i would love to see the wildflowers.

Mary Marcotte said...

I'm sorry Karen and Jenclair. I don't understand this craziness. But I'm giving it another try. Basically, I'm taking the long way of downloading the pictures from Google Photos then uploading them directly into Blogger. Copy and paste is just too easy, I suppose.
Thanks for visiting!

Leanne Parsons said...

I think the quilt is beautiful! I love how the white strips almost, but not quite, meet up, giving the whole quilt a sense of movement. I love the circle quilting too :)

Kaja said...

I like the quilt; it has character and charm (and if you look at old quilts they are hardly every perfect). That canna is gorgeous: there's a place I used to go in France where all the roundabouts in town had cannas on them - it made driving a pleasure.

Janice Holton said...

I am a brand new quilter and the best thing I have learned in this new adventure is that "Finished is Better Than Perfect!" And I have embraced that with all my heart. So celebrate your finish and don't worry about the things you don't like. There is more to like, right?? Right!

Carie @ Space for the Butterflies said...

I think it's stunning! I love it as a twist on half square triangle quilts. I suspect we are always more critical of our own work then other people-when you've spent so long in such close proximity you can always see the flaws first!

Mad Cat Quilts said...

I really like the pops of white and the wonky diagonal lines!

Judy @ Sew Some Sunshine said...

Cute finish Mary! The flowers are so pretty.

Jan said...

The wonkiness makes your quilt so much more interesting! Perfection can be boring.