The Infinity Quilt is finally finished. I finished it last week and am relatively pleased.
I think it is an interesting quilt from a color perspective. I didn’t really try and arrange the blocks much. They came out pretty well when I laid them out. There is a quite a lot of variety in the fabrics and also a good balance of light and dark. There were a few places where I switch a couple of blocks so that a print was next to a tone-on-tone rather than next to another print.
Colleen did a great job quilting it. It is a little stiff. I can’t tell if it is from the Harry Potter panel I used for the back or if the quilting made it stiff, so I might wash it.
This photo is old news for you, but I thought it should be shown, so I could tell you that I have finished the back and you would know that the two of them go together.
I still have not decided what to do about the border. It is possible that I will leave the grey border and just bind it with the striped fabric that every liked best. I have time to decide; it is not at the quitlter yet.
Some time ago (years, perhaps), I bought some Harry Potter fabric. I bought it make something for the Young Man when he was in the throes of his Harry Potter mania, but then never made it. Renditions of beloved characters are never as imagined, though the Young Man didn’t seem to care. As this quilt will go to one of the nephews, I thought it would be a good opportunity to finally use it. He is just about to start reading the books, so I hope he will like the back. I spent Sunday (a week ago) making the back.
Infinity Quilt back
While I made the back, I tried to be calm about it. I didn’t want to make another back, but I also did not want to be angry about making the back. Angry when I am sewing? Odd, I know, but as I mentioned, performing the same parts of the quiltmaking process over and over gets tedious after awhile. I could have put this quilt away again and waited to do the back, but, instead, I decided to just making it and move forward. I really do see benefit in making up backs and bindings as soon as I am done with the top. It makes the finishing process so much easier.
Also, the pieces were large, so I didn’t have to fiddle too much. I was able to sew quite a lot of donation squares together in between sewing the back. That was gratifying.
My SIL kindly sent me some photos of the layouts she tested before putting her Infinity blocks together. It is interesting to see the use of color to create the layout. This type of layout did not even occur to me. I was thinking more about the wreath effect of the piecing.
CLW’s Infinity Layout #2
I am really glad my SIL sent me these photos so I could be reminded of the other ways to layout blocks.
This is the fabric I thought I would use for a border first. I have it in my fabric closet already, but I only have a yard, so I don’t think I would be able to add it lengthwise (the stripes running parallel to the edge of the quilt). I guess I should have taken a picture of the fabric oriented in the way I was thinking of using it.
Oh well, use your imagination.
I do like the color of it – actually the color feel of it. It has the right feel to go with the rest of the quilt. It is a very restful border. I am concerned that I don’t have enough yardage and I don’t want to be fumbling around trying to make it work. I usually buy enough of a striped fabric for bindings and not borders. A yard is usually enough for a bias binding and if it isn’t, I have no business making a quilt that big.
Blue & Yellow Stripes
I bought this piece at Quiltology. I tried to drape it so that you could see how it would look if I added it to the quilt as a border. How did I do? The colors aren’t quite right, but I do like adding a bit of yellow. One thing about adding these types of colors brings out some of the fabrics in the blocks that tend towards green.
I have to say that I am bit concerned about the grey border I added. I thought it would be the final border of the quilt, but then decided that the quilt needed to be finished off with something a bit darker.
My concern lies with the grey. It is very different from the white in the blocks, which is why I added it. I wonder, though, if it isn’t so different that it doesn’t work. I kind of like it, but I don’t want people snickering behind their hands at my poor judgment.
Blue & Green Stripes
This piece, also purchased at Quiltology, has much more green it. I didn’t realize that it had so much green until I got it home. I think that this is an issue of the type of light I live in. When I saw it in my workroom, I thought it had much too much green, but seeing it in the photo makes me think that it also brings out the blocks with green in them.
Frankly, in the end, I don’t care that much. I would like to be done with this project and I don’t want to spend much more time agonizing about border fabric. alternatively, I don’t want to look at it after it is finished and wish I had done something different.
Again with the artistic angst! I hope this isn’t becoming a habit.
I want to give up on the 26 Projects List and do something fun, but somehow after finishing the backs last week, I pulled out the blocks my SIL and I made and started putting them together.
These blocks are on the small side and I thought I would have to make more, but, as you can see, the blocks I have will make quite a large quilt.
My first idea was to just lay them out the way they came out of the box and, then, move them around. I didn’t have to do much moving around, though. They came out pretty well when I laid them out. There is a quite a lot of variety in the fabrics and also a good balance of light and dark. There were a few places where I switch a couple of blocks so that a print was next to a tone-on-tone rather than next to another print.
The adjustments I made were very small adjustments.
Pre-sewing layout
This is pretty much the layout I am using for sewing.
I did have to move the row on the far right to the bottom to make the ‘wreaths’ finish on the bottom.
I have not yet completed the borders as of this writing, but will do that later. I put on a Pure Elements Grey border, but will also put on another border of blue stripes as well.
Finished Infinity Top
I was amazed at how fast this top went together. I am also very pleased with the movement created by the different fabrics. My SIL has a different palette than I do and the combination of her floral blue-greys with my aquas and turquoises is a great combination.
This will be another large quilt, but will be good for a boy to grow into.
Here are the last blocks from my SIL. I got them from my niece who brought them back from Maryland (family-mail). I have had them around for at least two months and I haven’t had a chance to put them up here on the blog.
I still have enough white squares to make at least one more block. I still have to do that. I seem to be distractible lately.
I received another batch of Infinity blocks from my SIL in the mail last week. Here is the large group (about 31) that I received.
Blocks from SIL, August 2009
It is so interesting to see her fabric selections and the fabrics she has and compare those two points to the blocks I have made and the fabric I have used. I was also thrilled and amazed to see some of the fabrics that she owns/chose for this project. We get along pretty well, but, sadly, we don’t get to spend very much time together since we live on different coasts. See the bottom right, second block in? That is not a fabric I would have suspected SIL of having, yet I am thrilled that she included it! It shows me another side of her quiltmaking.
After laying these out I decided to lay out all of the blocks I had, so I gathered up the various stashes of Infinity blocks and laid them out on the floor of my workroom.
All Infinity Blocks, August 2009
The above group has about 80 blocks in it. WOW! I can’t believe that we have made that many. I realized that there are a few elsewhere that aren’t included. So, there will be at least one more photo of these quilt blocks for your perusal.
I am glad we are working on this project together. I feel like it brings us closer together.
The Infinity blocks had been languishing for a little while. I needed some test subjects for the tuned up machine, so I sewed a couple. The middle one is of the ones I made on Saturday and the others have been hanging around for awhile waiting for me to photograph them.
The fabric I used for the middle blocks is an old Jinny Beyer fabric and it is really crisp to press and sew. Lovely!
I have only a little bit of the white left, so the block portion of this project is nearing completion. I will have to see how many blocks we end up with, however. It needs to be some kind of normal number and not one that won’t work in putting a quilt together.
These are the blocks that my SIL sent to me via DH-mail. I think i will be interesting to take a photo of all of the blocks together.
I made another couple over the weekend, but am writing for an even number before I photograph them. It is more interesting if I have a few to show you.
I made about 8 of these blocks over the weekend. They are pretty fast to make and I get a big bang for my buck. The photo to the left shows all the blocks I have made to date. Actually, half of all of the blocks I have made to date. I make two of each fabric so I can send one to my SIL.
The weird thing is that I kept counting the blocks, periodically, and coming up with the same number. Not sure why except that my counting was obviously off! Two blocks aren’t in this picture, because I wanted it to be symmetrical.
