painted paddles

paintedpaddles

I’m so happy to have this one finished! It seems it was a long time coming, so I’m extra excited to see it completed. The blocks were inspired by an image of a painted oar, and I thoroughly enjoyed pairing colors and coming up with other designs that fit this nautical look.

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I’m reminded how much I love quilts made out of solids (in fact, I keep thinking about another quilt to use up some of my solid scraps, so maybe that’ll be up soon!). These solids are the Hawthorne Hues from Hawthorne Threads.

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Anyway, I made up a stack of blocks, then it took me forever to decide on fabric for sashing. I ultimately went with Carolyn Friedlander’s black crosshatch, which was one of my first options (isn’t that always the way?). I’m pleased with the decision – I didn’t really want to add in another solid, but I love that this gives the look of a solid from afar, but adds extra interest as you get closer.

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I used one of my other sashing options for a majority of the backing (a floral Lotta Jansdotter print), along with a pieced strip made out of the leftover solids.

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Things didn’t get easier/faster once I had the quilt top and backing finished. I got it sandwiched and ready, but then couldn’t decide on quilting. I drew lines for some diagonal quilting, then added lines for something else, and then thought I should change it all up and tried to draw lines for a vertical quilting design. After it all, I had no idea what lines I was meant to follow, so set it aside rather than try to figure it out. My sewing machine needs a trip to the sewing machine doctor (it sews fine, but starts to make an awful noise after any amount of quilting…probably not good). Luckily my mom has the same machine, which I borrowed in order to quilt my Umbrella Prints Trimmings quilt. Before returning it, I took the opportunity to get one additional quilt quilted. I picked the darkest quilting lines to follow (what a way to decide, right?!), which gave me this diagonal grid.

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Being forced to just go for it kept me from second guessing the quilting, which is good, because as I said, I’m really happy that it’s finally finished!

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23 Responses to painted paddles

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