Modern Quilt Along Update!

As promised, today I am posting a progress report for the "Unfinished Business" quilt I am working on as part of the Modern Quilt Along. For anyone thinking of tackling this project, I thought I'd comment on some things I've learned thus far. I know that these comments are a bit detailed (and maybe hard to follow!), so just ignore them if you don't plan on making this quilt. If you plan on making the quilt and these don't make sense, send me an email and I'll try to clarify...

• This is a very challenging project for me! Piecing all of the irregularly sized pieces is like putting a puzzle together, especially as I'm trying to keep pieces of the same fabrics far from each other in the patchwork. I might also be making it more difficult on myself because I'm trying to conserve fabric as much as possible - it would probably go more quickly if I just pieced randomly, without concern for potential fabric waste.
• Don't cut all of your fabric pieces at once. There are 2 basic shapes used for the pattern: irregular 4-sided shapes and fabric strips of varying widths. The instructions in the book don't indicate how much fabric should be used for each. I ended up cutting too many of the 4-sided shapes and not enough of the fabric strips. I recommend cutting just a bit of each of your fabrics to start, and then cut more as needed.
• Cut your 4-sided shapes at the larger end of the size scale given in the book. The book says to cut strips between 2" and 4" wide and then cut these strips into the irregular 4-sided shapes. However, if you like the overall look of the quilt shown in the book, you'll want these 4-sided shapes to be closer to 4" wide than 2" wide. Otherwise, you don't end up with a nice large piece at the center of your "blocks" - they end up looking like just another fabric strip.
• Leave ample room between your 4-sided shapes when strip piecing them. After you've cut your 4-sided shapes, the instructions direct you to strip piece them to the strips of fabric you have cut. Because your 4-sided shapes are irregular (not 90 degree angles), you could end up having to cut into an adjacent 4-sided shape on your strip set if you don't leave enough room between them when strip piecing. I learned this the hard way and some of my "central" pieces ended up getting trimmed down quite a bit.

Having said all of that, I also wanted to mention that I haven't gotten as far as you might expect because I have it on hold for a bit. I wanted to get as much done as possible on quilts for Katrina folks, and I also desperately wanted to make a Halloween quilt this year! So, I've been working on these other projects while Unfinished Business remains - errrrr - unfinished! Now, here's what you've been waiting for:

In case this project is new to you, I'm making the quilt in shades of grey. This completed panel is the darkest charcoal grey panel and was very tough to photograph. I had to take it into blinding sunlight and then lighten it a bit on the computer so that you can better see the patchwork. As a result, the photo is a bit washed out, but hopefully you can see how the patchwork and patterns are (or aren't!) working. I hope to pick this project back up as soon as I complete my Halloween quilt (yes, an FO should be coming soon!).

Comments

[kath]

looks intricate, thanks for the tips

[amanda]

Wow...I don't really know that much about this project, Kelly, but that looks REALLY freakin' challenging! Wow....a huge bravo to you for going for it! The colors and fabrics look so wonderful together.

[hannah]

it looks great! i think its funny that the projects that "look" thrown together or random end up being the most work! cant wait to see it progress, and the halloween quilt too. im trying to figure out how to make eliots halloween costume as noncomplicated as possible, but still look cool. we shall see.

[Kim]

I love it! And it looks hard and makes me feel like a poser. Thanks for all the tips.

[hillary]

wow Kelly it's beautiful!! you are so brave to take it on. great job!