Tuesday, April 9, 2019

An older cheddar project



I'm working on the Cheddarback SAL on Setimental Stitches blog but I'll comment more on that at the end of this post.

I have been slowly replacing the squares in the quilt above.

I unpicked all the alternating white squares because there was just too much white.  I originally wanted to use cheddar fabric for the squares but I couldn't find any.  I settled on gold and then some fabric I thought looked like cheddar but it was just orange and some honey colored fabric.

It looks 100% better with the cheddar squares but that's 100 little pieces I'm having to replace.




I've come up with a new mantra. . . "Do not remake a finished quilt top".

I seem to age my tops for a few years before quilting them (having 20 tops waiting to be quilted might have something to do with it) and when I get them out again they get a labor intensive makeover.  Crazy, I'm just crazy!



I gave this quilt to my DIL but she liked another one better so we traded and this quilt went to one of my grandson's (top left).


Some mornings it just pays to get up early!



I'm working away at the handquilting on this quilt.  No name yet.  The whole quilt can be seen on my sidebar.




We've got another storm coming in.  In fact, it's already started to rain.  The snow is due tomorrow.  Hopefully the apricot blossoms can withstand the cooler temps.




And here is my Cheddarback progress.  I love the way the first set of blocks turned out.  I would smile at them every time I walked by my design wall.  But, this second set has given me fits, both with color placement and unpicking.  I made the center pinwheel too small in the block on the lower left and so I had to add a little border.  The jury is still out on whether to leave that stripe fabric in the corners.

Going clockwise - I kept cutting the backgrounds out backwards for the black block.  Argh!  The basket went together fairly well, thank goodness.  The lower right block has been made twice and I finally just decided to leave it.  And then I used the extra block that Gay gave the facebook group instead of a pinwheel block and I really like it.

Hopefully next month I'll be more focused so I can do these blocks in one day instead of three.

Skipping quiltfully along,
Robin

7 comments:

audrey said...

So much work, but the cheddar squares do look amazing!

Anonymous said...

A Quilter's Garden seems appropriate for your quilt. Beautiful. Dotti in CT

Janet O. said...

What a lot of work on the little cheddar squares! But it does look good!
You had me chuckling with "Do not remake a finished top," and "Crazy, I'm just crazy!" We all have to give ourselves a talking to now and then. :)
I was going to say having 20 tops to quilt isn't that crazy--but then I remembered you hand quilt all of yours. It is crazy! LOL

Karen said...

I would find replacing the parts to change to cheddar too tedious to be fun and interesting enough to stick with the project. Easier for me to start from scratch. I wish you a wonderful finish.

Nancy said...

The changes in your quilt with the addition of cheddar makes for great blocks, Robin. I burst out laughing when I read your new mantra, "Do not remake a finished quilt top," and your comment, "Crazy, I'm just crazy!" That's me exactly! I don't have as many tops as you but every time I open one to consider quilting it I find something I want to change: it's too long, or the border is wrong, or something. So I fold it back up and move on to whatever I'm working on at the moment.
That's a beautiful sunrise and the quilt you're quilting is beautiful! So much detail.
Your Cheddarback blocks look really good. The border on the inner square of the large one looks fine to me. It was a simple, creative solution. I think lots of us are having a few challenges with Cheddarback. My two large blocks are a tad too large so I have to decide whether to unstitch, remake, or leave them. (And I thought my 1/4" seams were just right until now!) Good work on all your quilting projects, Robin!


Wendy Caton Reed said...

Oh my you are ambitious. I don't think I would have the patience to unsew all those blocks to add the cheddar, but I must say the result is amazing. You just can't go wrong with cheddar! Your Cheddarback blocks are wonderful. I really like this one and have been so tempted, but alas - no more time!

Kaja said...

You are very patient to do all that unpicking but I agree that the change makes a huge difference - the cheddar looks fantastic.

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