Crazy Eights for Blogger’s Quilt Festival

I am so excited to have finished this quilt. And it just happens to coincide with Blogger’s Quilt Festival. How is that for timing? I actually have never entered BQF before. I am entered in the two color quilt category.

In my previous life, I did mostly accounting type work. Think repetitive number crunching, and attention to detail. I know to some people that also means boring bean counter, but let’s not go there, kay? Well, maybe go there. I don’t know that everyone would love making this quilt. It was a whole lotta repetitive steps; Carefully sewing a zillion curved quarter circles, pressing said quarter circles, carefully trimming quarter circles and then sewing it all together.

 

I have always loved the Drunkard’s Path quilt design. It does seem a little limited by the space that is usually left outside the circles. I thought it would be fun to have a center circle, and then an outer circle that “kisses” it’s neighbor. No spaces here.

I will admit that the idea of perfection of this quilt did hold me back a little. I have been thinking about it for over a year now. I had to give up on perfection and go with done. Although, when it is all said and done, I do think it is near perfection to me. It makes my heart flutter.

I quilted it with cross hatching in the center white circles. I quilted around each large oval, and then I just echoed inside the remaining pointy diamond and triangle spaces.

This pattern did push me to get way out of my comfort zone. I did find a lot of satisfaction in the rhythm I got into when I was chain stitching the curves. No pinning for me, I got fairly comfortable with just holding the top layer taught as I stitched. I enjoyed pressing and trimming each quarter triangle. It made me so happy when stitching the quarter curves together and they all nearly perfectly matched up. The rows went together smoothly because of the careful precision of trimming each piece up. The best part to me (aside from finally being done with it) is the lovely texture of the quilting. I adore how it crinkled up.

I wonder if most other quilters take their pictures before or after they wash up their quilts? I also wonder if other quilters enjoy the crinkles the way I do, or if they prefer a less crinkly quilt? Either way, I’m in love.

 

 

Measurement:

Special techniques: Pieced curves

Designed, pieced and quilted by: Me

Thanks for stopping by! Oh and be on the watch for the tutorial for this.

Anjeanette