Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Quilt Reveal: Adinkra


My latest finish is Adinkra.


I took it outside to photograph since the sun is shining, but the pictures still came out dark and I had to correct them with the photo editor.  They are pretty close though.


I thoroughly enjoyed making this quilt. It was fun to make the blocks once a month. The blocks were easy to applique and the anticipation for the next block was fun.

The economy blocks had a problem with the size, but that made it easier because the sharp points were guaranteed.

As you can see in the picture above, even the join I had to make in the border worked well. The top of the head seamed nicely with the body on the next piece.

The doodle quilting was freeing and went on smoothly.  The fabric is busy enough that the flaws, if any, are easy to ignore.

Even the binding went on well, with four sharp miters in the corners.


Quilt stats:
size:  44" x 44".
pattern: 2016 BOM by Debby Kravotil. Thank you so much Debby!
fabric: variety of African fabrics, most of which are metallic
quilting: free motion echo stitching around motifs, doodle stitching throughout border and remaining blocks
what I learned:
  • Expanding the definition of what "matches". This quilt has lots of combinations I wouldn't have thought to use together, but my limited selection of fabrics made me stretch, and I think the result is fabulous.
  • I really enjoy combining applique with piecing. The applique and the quilting were my favorite parts.
  • When I first learned about free motion quilting, I thought it looked like doodling on fabric, but then I learned rules about not crossing lines, and saw lots of videos about proper quilting designs, and breaking the quilt into sections and choosing a different design for each section and lost the fact that I could truly doodle.  I truly doodled on this quilt and it was exhilarating!

I plan to make up a label that explains all the symbols on the quilt.

Linked to:
WIP Linkup at Silly Mama Quilts

7 comments:

Kyle said...

It's an amazing quilt with the awesome fabrics and symbolism.

Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson said...

Yay!! A finished quilt! I love the variety of fabrics you used in it.

Brooke said...

wow, wow!!
thanks so much for sharing!
thanks too for linking up!

brooke@sillymamaquilts.com

Lisa J. said...

This is a beautiful finish. I love the border.

Allie-oops Designs said...

This quilt is really stunning - what a fabulous finish!!! And I love love love the doodle quilting!

Tanya said...

You must be so proud of yourself! It is an absolutely gorgeous quilt!

patriciav said...

I love your quilt! I found an older calendar of Debby's with the symbols and quilting instruction for this quilt a couple years ago. I haven't started it yet , but it is on my to do list. I did enlarge my symbols because I would like a larger size quilt.
Thanks for sharing, all your tips and photos they are are greatly appreicated.
I wish the blog post were still up on Debby's blogspot. Anyway you have inspired me to get moving on this quilt! Thanks again for sharing!