Skill Builder Sampler: the finale

Over a year ago, Leila announced she would be leading a skill builder sampler so we could all learn and grow our quilting skills, starting with the easy stuff and moving on from there to the more difficult challenges. I jumped on the chance and I am so glad I did. It was such a great opportunity to try a bunch of blocks that I never would have tried, and to tackle some skills that had previously seemed way too scary. Now I have a much better idea of what techniques I enjoy and can handle, and which I will likely never do again *cough*needleturnapplique*cough*.  It was a lot of fun and now, 36 blocks later (+1 challenge block), I have a completed quilt to show for it!

After quilting, washing and shrinking and all that, my quilt ended up about 84.5" square, so it shrunk quite a bit from the original 91" top. The back is made up of two flat sheets from target (only $11 each for twin flat sheets by the way) that I made into strips and then stuck my challenge block in. I love it a lot actually. Since I was using the sheets which are a higher thread count, I used a denim needle to quilt it and it worked really well. I had no problems with thread breakage or anything and it went through the thicker parts without issue.

I debated quilting for quite a while but decided since it was for our bed and would be used a lot, a pretty dense allover design would be best to make sure everything was secure. I am a bit worried about things like that; I especially don't trust my applique. So I went with a loopy meander, one of my favorites! And believe it or not, I am slowly getting better at it, more of my loops are loopy :)

For binding I used some quilters linen I had on hand and added in some of my few leftovers to make it bigger. I absolutely LOVE it. It's not really very scrappy, but just has some nice little surprises. It turned out to only take me 3 nights to bind it. I used thread heaven for the first time, and I think it really helped and made it easier and faster. Which is good because using a sheet on the back tends to slow me down since the needle doesn't go in quite as easily.

 I am happy to say that it is already at home on my bed keeping me warm at night. I love it and am proud of so many of these blocks. I am already trying to figure out how I can keep using it once we put the comforter back on, but I am not sure I can just lay it on top, it might be a bit weird and lumpy...maybe I can just keep it folded on the end....  Anyway, here it is at home in our little tiny bedroom.

And so ends my skill building journey. I am pretty sure I can tackle anything at this point, and that feels pretty good. With that, I am off to enjoy a {hopefully} beautiful weekend. After a week of potty training (which went incredibly well) we are going to try an brave a trip out of the house and hope for no messy accidents. And if I am lucky, much bag sewing will happen. Happy Weekend!