So, the top’s halfway pieced.
All the wide strips from the bottom of the logo panel up have been assembled and just need to be joined.
The logo looks better like this, I think, less lonely and apologetic. My original plan was to mitre the corners, but my brain is simply not up to the mental gymnastics it would take to get the chevrons to line up! I think the cornerstones look fine.
When I was selecting the fabrics for this quilt, it was a challenge to find prints which were a) the right colour; b) the right scale; and c) not too girly. As the quilt is for a bloke, it needed to be, well, masculine. While I felt OK about the large scale chevron and other patterns for the feature squares, too much of that would have made the quilt horribly busy. Conversely, small pieces of those fabrics will be very interesting when used as scraps.
Cutting the 5″ squares for this quilt threw up another interesting and not altogether helpful aspect of printed fabrics. Cheaper, no-name prints are not always printed square to the straight grain of the fabric. I have two examples of this in the quilt, the first being the dark blue on white chevron stripe & dot, which was badly off, and the other being the small diamond mesh print in dark blue on white, which is only slightly wonky. A decision had to be made: do I cut off the straight grain and get the pattern as straight as possible, or do I have wonky lines? I went for the former, but even then, I know the pattern ‘wanders’ a bit. The designer/named fabrics, on the other hand, are beautifully straight.
You can see how the pattern does not align with either selvedge
So if you see wonkiness, now you know why. I could have chosen not to use the cheap prints, but I like them, and they work well in the layout, so I’ll accept the consequences. It’s really only an issue with designs that have a strong linear aspect, and the other filler prints, cheap or dearer, are fine. But when buying fabric, it’s worth unrolling a length from the bolt to see if the design deviates along the selvedge.
And finally, today is my second anniversary of blogging. I’ve loved almost every moment of it! I’m grateful for the friendships I’ve made, the variety of people I’ve encountered, the creativity it’s encouraged in me, and the new interests it has helped me develop. So to everyone out there who enjoys visiting Chiconia, a huge THANK YOU 🙂
And now, onwards! The deadline looms….
talltalesfromchiconia 
I am dipping my Toes… read fingers, back to my round of blog visits just in time to congradulate you on the 2 year anniversary. The quilt is looking well.
Thank you, to both, and nice to see you back!
Happy anniversary! I’m up to just over 5 years, and the time has flown by.
I love your treatment of the logo square – it is exactly as I envisaged it in my mind’s eye. I agree about how irritating it is when fabric is printed askew: my scrappy quilt has some very skew-whiff parts.
love,
ViV
Isn’t it? I love stripes and linear patterns, and it’s so irritating when you have to mangle a perfectly good piece of fabric to get a straight bit. It’s wasteful too, which compounds the problem for me.
and of course, the straight bit is then “on the bias” and therefore stretches.
Yup. You *can* stay-stitch the edges, but what a faff!
I agree…the logo looks much better now! I´m so glad I came to know you 🙂 You are giving me so much inspiration! A big hug to you from me 🙂
Detsamma! XX
Happy Anniversary! Great fix on the logo. As to mitering the chevron, that would be harder to do than I can imagine. Even if you’d arranged the corners to meet nicely, likely you would have needed to tuck it in the middle somewhere, ruining the effect. Corner blocks work just right.
Thank you! I’m pleased with the effect, bold but not fussy.
Happy 2nd Blog Birthday.
Don’t point out the wandering lines and nobody will notice them or, if they do, they’ll just think they were meant to be like that as you are a quilt ninja and couldn’t possibly have done anything wrong! 😉
If only that were true… I commented about the wonky lines mainly because wonky fabric annoys me, it’s unnecessary and sloppy and just creates work for the poor quilter!
Congrats on the blogaversary! Have a party and celebrate. You are making this for a Bloke. Unless he’s an art major, he’s not going to notice anything but the logo square and appreciate the the coziness of the quilt. Sometimes I think we give too much attention to perfection and not enough to the creative love that goes into any project. It’s turning out wonderful. You do know the Amish always put a flaw purposely in their quilts. I like the idea myself so when I find one I just say it was planned that way. 🙂 Soldier on now. You will be done in short order. 🙂
‘Perfection is for the Almighty’, eh? I do keep reminding myself that it’s usually only me who can see the defects…
Yes, it’s only you that see’s them. 🙂
The logo fix is perfect. I’ve solved many a match-up problem with cornerstones too. Cheers for two years. Glad I met you.
Me too, you! I particularly enjoy the cornerstone solution because the fabric I used is called ‘Pebble’… Such a small detail, but fun!
Happy Blogaversary 🙂 When I think of all the quilting, stitching, cooking, gardening, life… you’ve shared, it’s testimony to truly generous and lovely efforts.
The logo looks great. I like the framing 🙂
I write what I hope to read… And my fellow bloggers do not, for the most part, disappoint!
It’s great! I love the blue and also what you’ve done with the logo. I agree with you about wonky prints being annoying. Actually, I’ve found several expensive brands that aren’t printed straight either.
Thanks, Avis, I’m really pleased with how it’s coming along. I suppose slips can happen anywhere when printing a long run, but it seems to be noticeably worse with the low-end stuff, where perhaps QC is not so strict.