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“I have given skill to all the skillful, so that they may make all that I have commanded you. “ Exodus 31:6


“O Thou who art the all pervading glory of the world, we bless Thee for the power of beauty to gladden our hearts.
We praise Thee that even the least of us may feel a thrill of the creative joy when we give form and substance to our thoughts and, beholding our handiwork, find it good and fair. “.
Walter Rauschenbusch


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"Come, and listen, all you who fear God; let me tell you what He has done for me.
I cried out to Him with my mouth; His praise was on my tongue.
If I had cherished sin in my heart, the LORD woud not have listened and heard my voice in prayer.
Praise be to God, Who has not rejected my prayer or withheld His love from me!" Psalm 66:16-20
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Saturday, January 8, 2011

Flowing like a river.........the new zigzag quilt-top

Well........it was MEANT to flow like a river.  There seems to be a boulder or two standing in the middle of the stream !
I love the look of stained glass here when it was hanging in the window partially pieced.
Here it is hanging above the couch, which already sports a zigzag (better known as ripple) afghan on the bottom portion.  The afghan was purchased at a yard sale.  I thought that it would be fun to add the zigzag quilt across the back top of the couch.
In this photo, I'm pointing out the fabrics that I had the most trouble placing.  I wanted a good smooth flow from light to dark through the middle of the quilt, but the color changes between greens, blue-greens, and blues was very difficult.  I settled on what I thought was a good value flow, ignoring the color, but I now see that the two blues stick out.   I tried placing them after the blue-greens, but when placed next to the blues down there, they wanted to appear purply.   Of course, when I tried to move them into the purple section, they appeared to be BLUE.

So, this is it.  The band of turquoise/blue-greens is a bit overwhelming compared to the other color bands, but in person, it's lively and pretty.  Overall, I'm pleased with the top, and may just want to hand-quilt this one.   I'm undecided on that yet.  I dread cutting off the points, but I'll probably draw a straight line around the top first, stay-stitch along it, and THEN trim the points.  If I had a little wavy stitch on any of my sewing machines, I would machine-quilt it like this quilt on Flickr  .......it's AWESOME !

By the way, I basically used this method of cutting and assembly, but with 2 1/2 inch strips, thereby subcutting to 4 1/4 inch squares.

Connecting Threads has offered to send a replacement set of strips, but I don't want them to bother.  There were 3 strips that were really badly cut, but I made them work, so I'm just happy to hear them say that this is not their normal quality, but just a quirk.  Be aware, though, if you have trouble with yours, that they will make it right.
And is it just me, or does fabric ravel more than it used to ?  That's probably a quality issue too, I guess, but wow, some of the fabrics I've worked with in the last year........including some that were quite expensive.........have been a real mess of threads after the normal amount of handling necessary to piece a top !

EDIT:  Connecting Threads has sent me a replacement set of strips without even waiting on my response to their email.......very good customer service !

5 comments:

  1. Great job on the quilt top. I love the look of it hanging with the light shining through.

    Sounds like wonderful customer service. I'm still waiting on the postal system to deliver my package from them....

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  2. That looks great! I think the flow from green to blue to purple is very subtle, and I honestly wouldn't have even thought anything about that middle strip being "out of place" had you not said something! Great job!!

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  3. So colorful and shimmery, I love it! Glad CT made it right with you, good to know they care:)

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  4. It looks great, me thinks you are too critical of your work. ;) I LOVE it hanging in front of the window. How nice of Connecting Threads to make things right, they know the power of quilting blogs and the word that is spread. :D Hey, now you can make a matching pillow to go with the quilt!

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  5. You have done such a wonderful job, I really like the color wash the zigzag shows. How cool to have Connecting Threads send you a replacement set! Let's see what you come up with next...
    :-}pokey

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Thanks for stopping by !