“Do the Math” – Facets QAL is done!

I finished it!  YAY!

As I talked about in this post, I joined Christa Watson’s Facets QAL earlier this year.  By doing this project, I was interested in learning/improving 2 things:  learning improv piecing and improving my machine quilting.  I accomplished these things, along with others!

Here it is!

finished 2

And I love it!

Here are some more shots:

finished quilt

more detail:

detail 1

detail front

and from the back:

full back

back detail

and the patch I added to the back:

label

I’m calling it ‘Do the Math’ because of the math/equation fabric that makes up the cream diamonds.

As I said, I did learn improv piecing and well as improve my machine quilting.  I’ve been machine quilting for a long time, but what I see people doing now with machine quilting really raised the bar.  Christa is so good at it, and inspirational, so doing this quilt helped me practice and up my game.  It is quilted much more densely than anything I’ve done before, and it is bigger than anything I’ve done in some time.  The quilting probably took me ~12-15 hours to do, which about killed my patience!  I had to just settle back, relax, focus on what I was doing, and remember I that didn’t have a deadline.  I also got to catch up on previous seasons of the Walking Dead!

Switchbacks were new to me, and when I do them again, I will do them closer together.  I have done a ton of spirals before, but never as dense and close together as these are.

Along with my stated learning objectives, I learned many other things:

  • 1. I have always used muslin on the backs of my quilts, and I’ve always used a bobbin thread color that matches the muslin.  I was able to get the tension on my quilting in pretty good shape, but I did have some problems with the cream thread pulling through to the front, particularly in the black areas.  Next time, if using a muslin backing, I’ll match the thread front and back.  This is kind of funny – I never thought I could do this and have the colored thread on the back!
  • 2. I used a Supreme Slider and Little Bobbin Magic Genies for the first time, and I liked both of these tools quite a bit.
  • 3. I have also always used one type of thread and was happy with it, but did this whole quilt using Aurifil thread for the first time.  I really, really liked it.  It was very smooth and very low in lint.  I think I will continue using more Aurifil.
  • 4. Binding this was interesting, trying to keep the points of the diamonds on the edges of the quilt.  I probably cut the batting down too much so it is too thin in some places, but the points look good.

I’m taking all of these as things to learn from and improve, and NOT being negative about my quilt, because I love it!

Some outtakes:

Auditioning threads for the green/blue facet area.  I thought I wanted the one second from the right, but I wound up with the one furthest on the right.  Good thing I auditioned them.  I like the one I wound up with much better.

choosing thread

Scrunching the big thing under my domestic machine…a good workout for arms and shoudlers!

quilting

And here is Maggie the Corgi photobombing the photo shoot!  She was looking for shade.

finished with Maggie

I really enjoyed this QAL and love my quilt. Thanks again to Christa for hosting it.

Finishing this quilt was one of my Q2 FAL goals (link to original Q2 FAL goal list), and I will be linking up there once the end of Q2 link opens.

10 thoughts on ““Do the Math” – Facets QAL is done!”
  1. The design of this quilt is just amazing. It just catches your eye immediately, doesn’t it? Your quilting is spectacular. Congratulations on a wonderful finish! On behalf of the 2016 FAL hosts, thanks for playing along.

  2. I love what you have done with Facets! I saw the quilt along, but knew I would not be able to take on another project. I love the addition of the blues, and the lone blue patch on the back. You’ve really made it your own.

    1. Thanks so much! It was a fun project to do. I didn’t exactly keep up with the QAL, but I’m happy I at least got it done in the same year I started it!

Leave a Reply to Cindy Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.