I finished the binding two days ago and now I’m ready to show you the quilt. I’m not gonna go into everything I don’t like :)

But I wanted to list a few things I learned and the overall experience I had with the quilt.

So let’s begin:

• Measuring is essential. Measure and  after that you, measure again, again and after that once more. Next time I know that I think about the size of the blocks first and then add the seam allowance, duh. 
• Tying and hiding the knot. I can do this now with my eyes closed. Boy that were a lot of knot to make and hide.
• Don’t use Prym (I think it’s called Dritz in the US) Aqua Trickmarker in white! This stuff is impossible to remove! I used the blue version on the yellow fabric with no problem but the white one just won’t go away.
• If using high-loft batting, add another 20 cm to the quilt top on all sides, because it will “shrink” if you quilt it.
• Buy a goddamn walking foot.
• Think about in which direction you quilt and what to quilt first. I had to quilt away from the purple squares, and quilt the squares after the line quilting, because otherwise it would pucker up (made the mistake twice).
•  Crafting with cats is fun - and annoying at the same time. Either Tuna was eating the thread, slicing up the fabric with her claws or sleeping on the quilt while I was trying to sew. And then she looked so cute and peaceful that I couldn’t wake her up. 
• Take your time. You don’t have to finish the quilt in a week.
• Sewing on the binding is actually quite relaxing and hand-quilting thread is godsend.
• Relax and learn to love it!

Ok, I guess that’s my list for next time. On to the Mermaid Quilt or as I like to call it the Underwater Mirror, because everything is mirrored from the middle strip even the direction of the fabric print. For better and more pictures, click on them and you’ll be directed to my flickr account. 

And finally, thank you lovely ladys out there for all your kind comments and emails after my ranting post!  It feels great to be part of such an amazing crafting community even if we live in different parts of the world, it feels like we’re crafting together - at least for me.

I finished the quilting yesterday night. What can I say, it’s a mess. I’m really upset even though Tony tells me not to be because, the quilt is beautiful and it’s my first real quilt and can you please relax? 

Ok the quilt feels great and it’s all soft and fluffy, but it just doesn’t look like it’s supposed to be. And it totally shrank. It was supposed to be 180 cm x 160 cm (that’s 71 x 63 inch for most of you guys) but with the high-loft batting and the puckering it’s only 160 cm x 140 cm (63×55) now. 

Before I show you the complete quilt I want to sew on the binding first, I’m somehow hoping it will magically change the whole thing. Sorry if I’m ranting but I spent so much money and time and it looks nothing like I imagined it. And in my head I was already planning the next one, but I’m not sure if I will ever make a quilt again, maybe I should just stick to bags and stuff. 

*Deep breath* Ok the rant is over now and before the Puckery Mess of Doom, formally known as the Mermaid Quilt, turns into a UFO I’ll start sewing on the binding and shut up.

I started quilting the quilt last night and I’m not in love, not at all. For some reason I bought a high loft batting and while I really like how it feels I absolutely hate how it looks and it’s a pain in the ass too sew.

My machine was acting up and for some reason I couldn’t pull up the bobbin thread, so most of the time I wasn’t sewing but cleaning the machine, fighting with the bobbin thread, the tension, the stitch length, the bulk of the quilt, you name it. I’ll definitely have to get myself a walking foot if I ever want to quilt again, at least it would help with the stitch length problem and the puckering. But I don’t know what’s wrong with my tension, because not only does the top thread show up on the backside, but the bobbin thread shows up on the top too, arghh!

Of course Tuna had to “help” again. I should send these pictures to Brother, I bet it would make a great slogan like: Brother - so quiet even a cat can sleep. 

I still have the goal to finish the quilting this weekend, but it’s hard with all the cuteness lying around. I’ll probably make some coasters and oven mitts in between and finish the quilt after that.

I finished the quilt top yesterday and learned another lesson, sigh. I was sewing the rows together and the seams from the blocks didn’t match up and I just couldn’t figure out why. Well, now I know that when you make a pattern you should not only think about adding seam allowance but to also to take it away!

The design is made of squares and rectangles, so in my little brain it went like this: One square is 20×20 cm including seam allowance, so a rectangle is made out of two or three squares so it’s 20×40 or 20×60 cm. WRONG!!

I should have calculated the blocks how they should be and then add the seam allowance. Oh well, another lesson learned and hopefully I won’t make this mistake again. 

And of course I had some helping paws to make sure that pining the border to the quilt top isn’t such a boring task. The mischievous little creature was running over the quilt and dashing into it every 30 seconds! We filmed it and as soon as I’ll find out how to edit it, I’ll post the video for you amusement.

But to be fair, she even helped sewing the top together, well kind of, at least she was looking dumb cute while she was lying next to me.

Just a little post to keep you updated on the quilt: I cut all the blocks, the border and the binding and I can officially say: I hate cutting and measuring! My back hurts because I don’t have a table that’s big enough so I had to cut on the floor, I really have a hard time cutting straight even with this great rotary cutter tutorial and I’m in constant fear that I don’t have enough fabric or I do something wrong. I’m deeply impressed with all the people out there who make these amazing quilts out of 1000 different pieces, but at the same time I think they’re just plain crazy :)

But I’m pretty happy how the quilt looks so far. Now I’m off to my little sewing machine and after a good night of sleep sewing I can probably show you the finished quilt top. After that I have to figure out how to quilt this little beauty.

<rant> Yes, I said dash and not stash. I started cutting the fabric for the mermaid quilt a half hour ago, and while I was sitting on the floor lining up the fabric with the ruler, concentrating to get everything right, the friggin cat waited until everything was in position and ready to cut and dashed, DASHED into the fabric, every friggin single time!! So I’ll pour myself a glass of wine now and try it again tomorrow - with the cat locked in the bedroom. </rant>

 The root of all evil! Don’t be fooled by the cuteness.