Thanks to Lee for hosting WIP Wednesday, where we can gather round and have a virtual quilt frolic. Yes. Quilt Frolic. According to the book Wild by Design, by Janet Catherine Berlo and Patricia Cox Crew:
“Numerous early-nineteenth-century diaries refer to the fun to be had at an all-day quilt frolic. We think of ‘quilting bee’ as the term for such an event, but in the early ninteenth century, ‘bee’ was reserved for prosaic tasks, like a corn-husking bee. ‘Frolic’ more accurately capture the excitement and high spirits of a quilting party.”
So, since I’m writing this at night and I’m in my jammies and I can only use a flash in my sewing room, I present to you my slightly less-than-wonderful photo of: Quilt Frolic! My husband left for a business trip and our school has a flex day for the full-time teachers, so I get a free day. And I used it to get this sewn up. My work in progress for this week. So glad to have it at this point. Part of the reason I’ve been sort of hem-hawing around about it is because it didn’t have a name.
Some thought about this “modern quilt,” titled Rubrik’s Cube in the magazine. I hate pressing seams open. Period. Unless I need to control for bulk or for seaming purposes (think “Y” seam), I’m going to go with pressing them to one side. Whether it’s an representation of the Modern Quilt movement currently in our lives or a carryover from dressmaking, I don’t know, but I can’t see the value or it, since it didn’t seem to impact my accuracy at all either. And I missed how the seams “lock” into each other while sewing it (pinning is a pain, but I did it). Since I have some blocks pressed seams to one side and some blocks pressed open I can compare their look on the wall. In this particular pattern I can’t really tell the difference unless I get up close. Can you tell I’ve lived through a lot of quilt cycles and fashions? Yes, I have.
The piecing of the 9-patch parts of the quilt were one demon short of a nightmare. Either there was something wrong in the printed directions, or else the way they were laid out was extremely confusing. Some sort of chart would have been more helpful. I’ll put one on the blog at some point, for those following in my footsteps.
And for those of you readers who skip over all the text and head straight to photos, here’s a close-up, still in “terrible nighttime picture mode.” I had been purchasing lots of Amy Butler and large-scale prints for a long while, and even after I piece the back out of that collection, I’ll still have. . . well. . . probably enough for another quilt or two. Anyone else ever over-buy fabric?
I’m sure that’s like asking if the sky is blue.
Here’s a good morning shot of the quilt–much better lighting.
Click *here* to return to Freshly Pieced Fabrics and Lee’s fab quilt-frolicky blog. Happy Piecing!
OccasionalPiece--Quilt! 
Yes. That is like asking if the sky is blue!! 🙂
Okay – I know it was a nightmare, but WOW!!! That top is SO awesome!! Way to go!!
Yes, I NEVER over-buy fabric. Ever! Not…
Anyway, I have always been intrigued by that pattern. Your quilt looks great! I really love all those big prints with the white.
That quilt is gorgeous! The prints are fabulous.
gorgeous quilt elizabeth – and what an outstanding word – frolic indeed – i like to frolic on occasion myself!!
Beautiful quilt – it really shows off those large-scale fabrics! And yes, I seem to always buy excess fabric 🙂
Congrats on your new quilt top, Elizabeth. I appreciated your thoughts on pressing seams and quilting trends, but the best part was that “quilting frolic” stuff. My husband would KNOW I was batty if I told him we were having a quilt frolic. Love it!
I personally did NOT skip over the writing and I LOVE the idea of calling it a quilt frolic instead of a bee! I’m not sure why but ‘bee’ always takes me back to spelling bees in school and makes me nervous! Love your ‘Quilt Frolic’! The colors are so beautiful!
uh oh. I have been wanting to start the Rubik’s Crush quilt for a while. I have the magazine opened to the page and sitting on top of the fabric for the quilt. Now you’ve got me wondering if I will enjoy making it….hmmm….
Yours is gorgeous! Very pretty!
Frolic. I love it. I’ll have to start using that.
I recently moved my sewing space into a slightly larger space than what I had before and realized just how much fabric I have. I’ve actually stopped buying fabric and started cutting into what I have now. After all, it’s just to beautiful to just sit there stacked up in the closet.
Over-buying fabric? Who? Me? I have no idea what you are talking about… haha!
Love that quilt top, looks fantastic!
Quilt frolicking oh yes. And I never, ever over-buy fabric. I under-produce quilts. Ha. I love those large prints – what a great way to showcase them!
quilt frolic! I LOVE that. I also LOVE the quilt. The prints are beautiful and the pattern is awesome. I was thinking “oh, that looks like I could do it” but then read the nine patch blocks were a nightmare, so maybe I won’t attempt it without a pattern, hehe. Lastly, pressing seams open is totally annoying and I much prefer the “locking” of side-pressed seams. Plus somebody told me once that open seams aren’t as durable. so yeah! i’ll stick with side pressing 😀