Before I Took The Pledge*

On the day of the Great Sewing Studio Clean-Up, a couple of Saturdays ago, I unearthed this nearly-finished top. I'd started it two years ago this fall, when I admitted to the world that I'd never made a Schnibble. My good friend Pat lent me her sizable collection so I could make a selection to try out. I picked "Mon Ami" and got a couple of charm packs.

The experience was awful. These little blocks were far more complicated than I wanted them to be, and it turned out the fabric was way too busy. Charm packs will suck you in and, in this case, spit me right out. I found the borderless flimsy along with a bazillion HSTs I'd cut to make the intricate border that Mon Ami called for. I couldn't do it. I didn't like the top enough to go to all of that effort. Besides, this quilt project was from Before I Took The Pledge*. So I found some nice, really nice, go-with fabric, and put a plain border on. It's at the machinist's now for quilting. I'm calling it "Opium Butterflies" because -- not that I've taken opium, mind you -- these are what I think butterflies would look like to an opiumist. You can click the picture to  make it bigger, but I like it a lot more small! The fabric is just too large of a print for this kind of a project. But it is done, except for binding, and actually, truth be told, it makes a pretty cute quilt for a baby.

 Another Before I Took The Pledge* quilt, HSTs made from a charm pack and Kona snow. I had them all laid out on the design wall and Himself came along, took a look, and rearranged them so they were in more-or-less solid rows instead of how I'd had them. So I put them together that way, using a totally different fabric from the charm pack line for the setting triangles and border. Someone I know is expecting a little boy, and this quilt will be for that fellow. I then had to set to work with another charm pack or two to make another batch of HSTs to put together the way I want! That one is not photographed yet, but it has a not-from-the-same line border, too.

Of the three baby quilts, this one is my favorite. This charm pack is nice little prints in nice primary colors. I bought a totally different fabric for the cornerstones and the border and yet another different one for the binding.

*I Solemnly Swear I Will Not Make A Quilt From All One Line Of Fabric.

Comments

Jindi's Cottage said…
Wow you are on a roll with this sewing room blitz...go you!...I see what you mean about the big prints but I think you've pulled it all together nicely with that lovely pink border fabric...they are all lovely quilts...oh and I confess I've never made a Schnibble - maybe I'm the last one left standing!...
Pat said…
I like them all! Joe's arrangement is quite nice, especially for a baby boy. I even like the opiated butterflies. Scnibbles are deceptive. They kinds of bill themselves as small quilts that one can just whip out by randomly using all of the fabrics in a charm pack. Not so. They really require planning, and very often 2 charm packs (although not necessarily from the same line) to make sure everything works out in an aesthetic way. I might just start making some of my own charm packs up from various coordinating fabrics from my stash. Now that the albatross of the BIG wedding quilt is gone from around my neck, I can start on a couple of baby things myself. It will be fun to do some smaller projects. Petunia will be so pleased.
Janet O. said…
I confess, I've never made a Scnibble, either. I own one pattern I do plan to make someday, but I have resisted so many others.
I love your name for the butterfly quilt. Very funny.
I haven't taken any such pledges, but I don't often go with "collections" (other than KT). My Christmas Flurry quilt is my first use of a charm pack.
floribunda said…
I made one little schnibble, but I don't really see the attraction... I do kind of like your butterflies, though. And Joe's quilt arrangement. My hubby likes to come in and rearrange my blocks, too!

Nancy -- go water those poor basil plants right now!
howdidIgethere said…
IIRC, I was there when you first attacked the Schnibbles quilt (or maybe it attacked you...) I quite like what you've done with those blocks -- the solid white alternate blocks makes it light and airy!

The number of quilts I've made with one line of fabric can be counted on one hand, I think, so I've never felt compelled to "take the pledge". I'll just keep on mixing and matching as the spirit moves me!

TOTALLY envious about how productive you've been lately!
Deb said…
WHOA - see what you mean about the butterflies! You don't really notice it in the small picture, but make it large and WOW, knock your socks off!
Nann said…
I'm with you on that pledge.
I've never made a Carrie Nelson Schnibbles quilt, though I do have three of her Miss Rosie books. (I haven't made anything from those, either.) Another designer, Kathleen Parman in Wisconsin, had a jacket pattern she called Schnibbles--a very different concept from Carrie N's--I have often wondered if KP sued, or threatened to sue, CN for copyright infringement. I made a Schnibbles jacket that I still wear, and I like it a lot. (KP is known for her Herky Jerky applique technique.)
Salem Stitcher said…
I like them all but you can almost tell there was an architect involved in the HST quilt. Very cool looking!
Barbara Anne said…
I am impressed! The UFOs I unearthed two years ago mostly remain UFOs. Sigh!

I made the Mon Ami blocks as my 1st venture into a Schnibbles pattern, too. Mine is table topper sized, in pinks, for Valentine's day - and is totally scrappy. No two fabrics could possibly be from the same fabric line. I found the blocks to be more complicated than they seemed, too.

Hugs!