Another Finished Practice Quilt

I took the class offered by my guild during our quilt show in February, this year.  The pattern is Canyon Dance designed by Tracy Trevethan, who taught the class.  Everyone brought their own fabrics and purchased the pattern and templates from Tracy.  Each block is made up of 5 curved pieces.  Everyone in the class had different color way and set their blocks as they chose.  My fabrics are from my stash.  The only rules I used in selecting them were that they needed to be pink or green and had to have enough to make several blocks.  Once the blocks were finished I did a number of different layouts and decided that I like this version the best.  Piecing this one was much easier that doing the Canyon Waves quilt (done in May and June of last year) because I used a curve master foot.  Even so, I would not say that I fully mastered this technique, and some pieces will probably be a little twisted after washing, but I enjoyed being with my quilting friends and making the blocks.

Quilting it was another adventure.  Recently I learned a lot more about using a pantograph to quilt, so as my third attempt on a larger quilt I did a panto called Watercourse which I purchased from Willow Leaf Studio.  It appeared to be fairly simple, but I had difficulties in keeping the curves smooth and the points sharp , as well as, out of other lines of the design.  Afterwards I discussed it with another quilter and came the the conclusion that I needed to go faster and stay smooth even if I can't stay right on the line.  If I were to use this panto again, I would make the points slighting shorter, as well so that I don't have the same problem with crossing the lines of the design.  Great learning experience and fun quilt. 

  Is it customer quality?  No it is not, but if I were to make it again, I am certain that I would make the corrections to make it be a piece I would be willing to sell.  I am practicing my skills, honing my craft, and making fun quilts that will be used by friends and grandkids.  These people always make lovely comments about my work and are not judging the parts individually.  They see the love and the coziness.