Drunkard's Path Quilt

Bet some of you are wondering if I've ever actually made a quilt - looking over my blog so far it's a bit lacking in finished articles - just the pram quilt to date.  So I've decided to start creating some posts highlighting quilts I made prior to becoming a technical specialist in HTML code blogger.

The first quilt I've chosen to share with you is a Drunkard's Path Quilt. I've no 'how-to' style photos because obviously at that early, naive stage in my quilting life I had no idea I'd ever be a crazy lady who loves to double the time it takes to make a quilt by:

• stopping to make step by step notes of what she's doing;
• taking numerous photos of her work at various ridiculous angles;
• roping the family in to take photos of her hands at work but with strict instructions that they must make sure no-one can see she's still in her pjs while she's quilting - oh and;
• doing a quick tidy round so the place doesn't look like it's the undusted, unhoovered hovel it's become because she's too busy blogging and quilting!

Fabrics Used:

Top Sheet: Michael Moore's periwinkle Firefly and Alice Kennedy's Marmalade Geometric
Back Sheet & Binding: Dear Stella Design's Confetti Dot Pink
Batting: Quilter's Dream Cotton Request

Handy Tools Used:

That Purple Thang

6" Quick Curves

That Purple Thang by Lynn Graves
An amazing little piece of plastic that you can use to push, poke, pull, thread.  It also has a 1/4" tab on one end which is very handy.  I used the point to crease mark my half way fabric folds on my curves and then to control the fabric all the way to the end of the curve under the machine foot which saved my fingers getting in the way of the needle.


6" Quick Curves Template from Elisa's Backporch Design
These make cutting those curves so easy.

Quilt Details:

Outline Quilting - also known as 1/4" Ditch Quilting and Next to the Ditch Quilting.
Machine bound front binding then hand sewn to back of quilt.

Top Sheet Completed

Completed Quilt - top and backing and detail

Quilting and Binding detail

So this was the first quilt I made that wasn't for my home or a family member or to be a gift and it was my first attempt at curves.  It took me quite some time to decide on a layout for the finished blocks -  and I learnt a lot about using directional fabrics when you're working with curves (basically, it would be a lot easier not to).  If you're interested in seeing other Drunkard's Path designs, I pinned all my favourite 'findings' on a 'Drunkard's Path' blocks board on my Pinterest wall.

I made the quilt as part of an Intermediate Machine Quilting class at my LQS in Manhattan with the fab tutor, Christine Janove.  Christine showed us how to create a Drunkard's Path block in the 1st class and, 7 days later, I turned up at the 2nd class with a finished quilt - which caused quite a stir!  Here I am on the store's facebook photo wall and I was thrilled with the comments others put up there about my quilt - even Christine's the quilt store's comment:

"Too bad there isn't extra credit for overachievers. :-)."

All in all, though, I'm quite pleased with the end result - let me know what you think of it and tell me about your own Drunkard's Path experiences, I'd love to hear from you.

Disclaimer: 

This post is for informational purposes only, no payment or commission is received on click-throughs and opinions are my own.