For the
past two Novembers, I have joined my sister and one of her friends to
form the Titular Titans, a team committed to participating in the Susan
G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure, a three-day walk in support of breast
cancer awareness and research.
I didn't want to make the easy choice and make a quilt with pink ribbon fabric (although there's nothing wrong that choice). I had developed a fondness for Valori Wells' Wrenly line, so a while ago, I purchased a jelly roll of various fabrics from that line. It had been hanging around my stash for a while, so I decided this was a good use of the fabric.
I found yardage of some of the fabrics in the roll to use for the back, but since the line has been around for a while, the pickings were somewhat slim. Luckily, there were a number of fabrics that worked well with the colors and pattern.
I wanted to keep the pattern fairly simple, since I had a number of other projects I was working on (isn't that always the case?) and I wanted to be sure that I could finish it before the walk in mid-November. And as usual, I wanted to do it as quilt-as-you-go so that it would actually get finished!
I sorted the 42 strips and found that the various colors could be divided evenly into sets of three strips. Since I don't have room for a permanent design wall, I bought a large flannel-backed tablecloth at the dollar store and sewed a few rings on one end. Then I hung a few small clear Command hooks on the French doors between our foyer and living room. Once the doors are closed, I can hang the tablecloth on the hooks (which aren't noticeable) and I have a temporary design wall that can accommodate a fairly good-sized quilt.
I assembled the strips into the color sets and then prepared the back. After determining what I'd need for the back, I found that I'd have enough fabric to include a few solid blocks with the strips to kind of break the monotony of strips alone.
I went back to the design wall and worked out how I could place the blocks. Since I'd already sewn the strips into color-coded strips, I decided to cut the already assembled strips and insert a block in each row. It's surprising how much easier it has gotten for me to cut my work, although I do still feel a little anxiety.
Once I had the blocks and strips sewn together, I positioned the batting on the back and started sewing each color strip to the batting and back (sorry, I don't have any photos of this step). I knew this wasn't going to be enough quilting for the whole quilt, but it does help hold everything together for the rest of the quilting.
After everything was assembled, I went back and added linear quilting using a multicolored thread. I like how it turned out.
Our cat got attached to it while I was sewing the binding, but since she didn't make a contribution, she wasn't eligible to win the quilt.
I finished it before the walk and we were able to draw the winner's name at the finish line. I hope it helps keep her warm during the sometimes chilly Bay Area winters.
Here's the finished product, front and back.
Quilt front |
Quilt back |
And here we are at the finish line. Only seven months before I start training for the next one, but I'll plan next fall's quilt a little earlier to avoid the rush (famous last words).