THE BROKEN QUILT

This is my Broken Quilt.  It's actually called a Color Block Quilt which features a rainbow of solid colored fabrics.  That beautiful rainbow is featured across 1840 tiny fabric pieces.  I made this quilt for our Florida neighbors, Dave, Sabrina, Ethan, Tyler, Dylan and Katie ❤️ whom we love and miss. Unfortunately, the pattern had more than a dozen errors in it, which is why I've called it my Broken Quilt.  The finished result was not something that I would take pride in gifting to someone, so,  I will have to make them another quilt.  

This blog has been my way of keeping a personal journal of all the quilts that I make.  But it's also meant for other quilters on my quilting boards to follow so that they can learn from my successes and from my failures.  To that end I like to document when something goes wrong. This quilt went wrong, which is why I call it my broken quilt.  In fact, if this had been the first quilt that I had ever made it would probably have been my last.  The problems that I encountered along the way all had to do with the pattern itself.  The pattern was filled with errors.  I don't know if I received an earlier version of the pattern that was later pulled and replaced with an updated version or if that's just how they left the pattern stand. I do know that there was no errata listed for this quilt on the internet.

Some patterns are easier than others to follow, but normally all the directions are correct.  Usually, a pattern has been tested by a handful of pattern testers before being published.  I actually applied to be a pattern tester for a series of Star Wars quilts.  The patterns were gorgeous!  I was very excited because I would be making and testing the Baby Yoda quilt pattern.  However, the company had to withdraw their patterns at the last minute because it turned out that the person who sold them the drawings did not have the intellectual property rights. I was so disappointed.  But even with a dozen or so pattern testers an error will sometimes get through.  One of my earlier quilts that I made had the templates marked wrong.  Once I found out that the quilt was not going together right I discovered the mistake.  I contacted the quilt's author in Australia and she apologized.  She said that the company that published it knew of the error and would not put out an update.  She gladly sent me all the corrections by e-mail.  So, this kind of thing does happen.  

With this quilt, however, there were many errors.  There was even a whole paragraph of instructions for one step missing.  You're told to cut out the wrong amount of fabric pieces several times. And after you cut out 248 squares of fabric to use to cut templates with, the templates given don't fit that size, leaving you with a mess to sort out. All of which meant that this quilt is not made with any precision because a lot of the pieces were simply off.  When this happens you can't really match your corners or square things up nicely.  I struggled to do so anyway.  I enjoy quilting and all of its processes but the mess that all these wrong pieces left me with took that joy away.  I toyed with the idea of throwing it out ...  several times.  But quilting is not inexpensive and so about a third of the way through I decided I would just donate the quilt.  Once I had decided to donate it I just stitched it up the rest as fast as possible not caring what matched and didn't match.  The object was to just get it done because it wasn't fun anymore.

There is a quilter, Angela Walters, of the Midnight Quilt Show fame, who teaches that "close enough is good enough".  Yeah, I get that.  But when I spend a month or more cutting and piecing a quilt and then a week quilting it on my longarm and binding it by hand. I want it to be my best effort, especially when it's a gift.  And even more so when it's a gift for someone you love.  And if I'm going to make mistakes I want them to be my own mistakes, not mistakes made because someone didn't test their pattern and left me with a mess to fix.  

The frustrating part is that I couldn't even contact the company because they went out of business this past May.  I still can't understand how this many mistakes got by.  Unless, the original pattern was pulled and I just happened to get one of those.  All in all, it just makes me appreciate those quilters who do spend the time and effort to successfully make a pattern and who go through the pattern testing process to deliver a well executed product.  

This quilt is made up of 1840 pieces.  That's a whole lot of pieces to cut out. 720 of those make up 80 nine patches.  872 of those pieces make up the half squares and squares and then 248 of those pieces make up the template pieces to make all the circles with.  All of those tiny pieces are sewn together to make twelve large blocks which are then sewn together to make the 74" by 92" quilt top.  I used Quilter's Dream Orient batting so that it would quilt up soft.  Quilter's Dream Orient is made up of bamboo, silk and cotton and is extremely soft and pliable.  Due to the Covid virus I had to wait a long time for the batting to come as batting was in short supply.  I had also wanted to go to the quilt shop and pick out different color matching threads to quilt it in.  It's very difficult to match thread to fabric online.  We have stayed home since March because my husband is at risk, so, even though they reopened the quilt shop I didn't go.  Instead, I made the decision to quilt it with monofilament, which is an invisible thread.  That way I could quilt across the colors.  

Putting a quilt on the longarm is always my favorite part.  It takes a flat quilt top and gives it texture and personality.  It can also take a less than perfect quilt and hide some of that "less than perfectness".  That's what I was hoping for with this quilt.  This quilt was such a mess, however, that I just quilted it quickly, again not caring if any points matched as I was just going to donate it. 

Although, this is the messiest quilt I've made it still is colorful and very soft because of the more expensive Orient batting.  When it was done it occurred to me that it might still make a good enough quilt to toss in the backyard when my friends fish in the lake behind their home. To that end, I think I'll make them another quilt and send them both.  

Remember to pick up a needle and thread and quilt some love into your world❣️ 

My Master Quilt Holder in action!