Something a little different

After finishing Irtfa'a, I thought it would be good to spend a day focusing on some of my other projects that are a bit behind. (That, and I don't have anything worthwhile yet as far as sweater swatches; those will hopefully be out later in the week.)

I've been working on a stained glass window quilt for a couple of months, on the odd weekend day where I feel like doing something other than knitting for a couple of hours. I'm using the stack and slash method, and then just adding an extra little strip of black in between the colored pieces. I really love this method; it's fast and easy, no fussy measuring, and practically instant gratification as quilting goes. It's been a great stash buster (and yes, I do have quite a fabric stash...ask me how I know that I don't want a yarn stash...), which is what I wanted. I've been collecting bits and pieces of jewel-tone fabrics for years, planning to make a stained glass window design out of them. I had originally thought that I'd applique a vase of flowers or something artistic and complicated like that, but I decided last fall that I just wanted to get the project going. I picked the stack and slash method, and then did nothing about it until a few weeks ago. We have a guest staying with us at the end of next month, and I realized that we don't really have a quilt for the guest bed. I guess we could just use a normal store-bought blanket, but the need for a quilt gave me some incentive to get going on this project. I finished piecing the front last weekend, and Branden helped me lay it out for closing today.



As you can see, it takes up our entire livingroom floor, even with all the furniture moved into the other room. This, in my mind, means that it's the perfect size. It's about 90"x100", I think.



I just love the way the lines between the "panes" came out, and the apparent randomness of the design. It's surprisingly hard to introduce randomness into a quilt, and it's something that I really like when it's done well.

Aren't the colors just beautiful?





I still need to whipstitch the whole thing closed (it's currently more like a batting sandwich than a quilt), and then I get to do the fun part. It's funny; most quilters I know like the piecing and hate to quilt. I am just the opposite. I can't wait for the piecing to be done, and then it's the hand quilting that I really love. I'm looking forward to putting in a few hours finishing this baby off in the next couple of weeks, just in time to keep our guest snuggly warm.