Check out these fabrics!
Alison Glass Handprint fabric and neutral linen
A friend gave me the FQ (fat quarter) bundle of lovely Alison Glass handprint fabric and I combined it with a neutral linen fabric I’d been saving for something special. I started with Karla Alexander’s instructions for a quilt, but (as my friends all know) I never really follow instructions so it diverged…
The blocks were lots of fun to make. I followed the instructions for a while, then started cutting the blocks up and inserting strips. Then decided NOT to trim all the blocks to one size. I adjusted the sizes of the linen sashing so that all the rows came out the same length, and made the rows of different heights to allow for the different block sizes.
And I slashed the sashing and inserted some strips in that, too.
When I had the top all made, I basted it with spray basting as usual. BUT I didn’t have enough of the first can. Then the SECOND can was a different brand and almost empty as well!
Determined to get the doggone thing basted, I resorted to some spray-on stuff that was supposed to bond the fabric to the batting when I ironed it. This last stuff left SPOTS on the handprint fabric, which is light weight (almost like voile). YIKES!
Lesson 1: Be patient until you can get to the store for a can of basting spray.
Finally (after buying basting spray) it was basted and I started quilting. Enter Lesson 2: this linen is a loose weave of large fibers and doesn’t play well with a tight weave of small fibers. YIKES AGAIN! No matter how I changed the pressure on the quilting foot or otherwise fiddled with it, the quilting distorted the top and the backing.
The finished quilt
Now it’s finished and I like it. I appreciate the texture of the linen, but I’m not sure I’ll use it again. I took this to my last modern guild meeting and people were positive about it, but one of the more experience sewists told me linen is usually stretchy, so at least it’s not just me!
Here’s the quilt back–that column was straight when I started!
Well, I try to learn something new every day, so I’m calling this a SUCCESS! 😉
Zippy Quilts 
I love it! Who needs straight lines? Life is messy!
Good point! Life is indeed messy, and not meant to be perfect anyway 😊
I think it’s pretty wonderful. As an academic question, I wonder if quilting it on a long-arm would deal with the fabrics better, since the sandwich is not “fed” (pulled) through under the foot. The floating foot might not stretch the linen as much. ?? I don’t know. I haven’t used fabrics like that before.
I think lots of techniques are easier to do well on a long arm, so you may well be right. If I wander into a similar situation again, I’ll consider “quilting by check”!
Lovely project, I especially like the design of the back!
The only way to learn is to try but when in the middle of learning it’s hard to get to what we consider “success.” Luckily I’ve read this post and learned something without the struggle
And I learn lots from other people’s blogs, too! Thank goodness!