I finished putting together the Cheddarback blocks months ago but had trouble getting decent photos. These aren't that great but they'll have to do for now. (The one above was taken in front of a window with the curtains drawn and the one below was taken on a bed.)
This Cheddarback sew-along, hosted by Gay of Sentimental Stitches, took up a chunk of time every month for about 15 months. I loved this sew-along particularity because it was not a mystery. I knew up front what the finished quilt would look like (if I chose to copy the blocks as closely as I could). What I didn't know at the beginning was how very challenging some of the blocks would be.
The hardest challenges were the y-seams and paper piecing, neither of which I'll do again unless absolutely necessary. The creator of Cheddarback used lots of pinks, blues and reds, a little brown, some black, and occasional greys/browns. She also used plenty of stripes and clothing fabric, sometimes including the seams in the clothing. She must have been frugal. I really enjoyed trying to find similar fabrics to those used in the original blocks.
I posted about every set of blocks. This link takes you to all of them (not each of them individually). But if you want to see details about individual blocks, there's a search box to the right where you can type "Cheddarback Block" + the number (as in Cheddarback Block 18) to see a particular block and my comments about it. They were given to us in sets of 5 so search for Block 1 will get you Blocks 1-5; searching for Block 6 will get you 6-10; etc.
I don't know when I'll begin quilting this top but I'm looking forward to that challenge, too.
Thanks so much to Gay Bomers for creating this sew-along.
I'm linking this post to
> Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts
> Brag About Your Beauties at from bolt to beauty
> Peacock Party at Wendy's Quilts and More
> Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
> Off the Wall Friday at Nina Marie's blog
Thank you for hosting, ladies.
--Nancy.
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Stunning! So beautiful, so authentic. I loved following along as you analysed the blocks and searched for fabric. Thanks for sharing your progress and thoughts on each block. Truly a fabulous accomplishment.
ReplyDeletelizzy
Thank you, Lizzy. You've been so supportive of my blocks as I've gone through this quilt-along for which I'm very appreciative. Thank you.
DeleteYour quilt is beautiful! I downloaded the patterns, that's all the farther I got. Looking forward to seeing it quilted. Happy stitching!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, Gretchen. I loved making this quilt. I'd love to get it quilted soon but I hand quilt and am in progress with another quilt right now. Perhaps you'll make the quilt some time since you have the patterns?
DeleteBeautiful, Love the colours. I prefer sew-alongs where you see the finished project also.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to seeing how you quilt this beauty up.
Thank you, Karen. I'm looking forward to hand quilting it which I think may be just as challenging as making it was.
DeleteYour quilt is beautiful. I also did this sew-along and agree with your comments. Some of those blocks were definitely a challenge! I was able to use some of my mother's small stash of cottons, which was fun. I was originally going to hand quilt it, but changed my mind and had Baptist Fan done by my LAQ. It is now waiting patiently for the hand binding. This was by far the most interesting and challenging quilt I've ever done!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Kyra. I think Baptist Fans would look great on Cheddarback. I agree: most interesting and challenging quilt ever! I love its quirkiness.
DeleteCONGRATULATIONS!!;)))
ReplyDeleteJust a beautiful finish on this one!! I think your color scheme is perfect, too. I haven't tried these kinds of quilts; not only are a lot of the blocks way out of my abilities, but to figure out the colors in advance would seem to be really quite a challenge...
You really did a grand job on this one Hugs from afar julierose
Thanks so much, Julierose. About figuring out the colors -- I chose fabrics that were as close to the ones in the original quilt as I could find so I didn't really have to figure out anything on my own. I think that, too, one part of the appeal and fund of making this quilt. And I felt like lots of the blocks were above my abilities but I learned as I went. It was both challenging and fun.
DeleteFabulous job on a challenging quilt top. You surely met the challenge. Don't give up on paper piecing or y-seams. It gets easier and you have shown that you can do both.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, Elizabeth. I appreciate the encouragement to continue with y-seams and paper piecing and knowing that they get easier.
DeleteA beautiful finish Nancy! I know we all learned a lot of new skills working on this BOM!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Karen. I agree, and what a fun way to learn those skills! The ladies in the Facebook group were very supportive and helpful.
DeleteWow, that is a gorgeous top, so worthy of all the time and effort you put into selecting just the right fabrics and the precision piecing.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Pat. I agree that it was worth the time and effort, and what a fun quilt-along. Not so sure about the precision piecing, though. My best efforts are still a fail sometimes.
DeleteLove it'! This was such a fun SAL. I think it was the most satisfying group project I’ve ever participated in. Your quilt is beautiful. I look forward to quilting mine but it will have to wait while.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Robin. I agree, it was the best group sew-along I've participated in to date, though I've only done a few. I liked knowing the end at the beginning. I'm looking forward to quilting mine, too. Still deciding how, but I have a while to go before I'll have to decide. I'm still in progress with the Blue and the Gray.
DeleteYou did a fantastic job, Nancy! I really love the look of it on the bed.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Janet.
DeleteWhat an amazing job, Nancy! I love the care you took in trying to be as authentic to the original quilt as possible. And I love those tricky blocks with Y-seams and all, because those are the ones that you don't see being made as much anymore. They add so much to a sampler. Congratulations!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, Rebecca Grace. It was fun to search for fabrics as close to the originals as I could find, which sometimes weren't close at all. I was just thinking that making a sampler quilt and including a few really hard blocks is doable but I can't imagine doing a whole quilt with only those hard blocks. Maybe that's why we don't see them being made so much anymore -- fewer samplers and few who want to make a whole quilt with the hard blocks. (At least I wouldn't want to. Ha.)
DeleteFantastic! I enjoyed watching you build your blocks all along the way, and the result is gorgeous! Hooray for a tip-top top!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Gayle.
DeleteCheddarback is GORGEOUS!! I think you should start quilting it soon ;-) haha
ReplyDeleteThank you, Alycia. You are too funny. I would like to quilt it soon but I'm in progress hand quilting another quilt and not even halfway finished. Cheddarback's turn won't come up for many months!
DeleteWhat an accomplishment! Great quilt and your version is so beautiful. I'm sure quilting it will add even more dimension to such a special project!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Cynthia. I won't be quilting this for a while yet so I have plenty of time to decide how to quilt it. I think it may be a bear because of all the seams (which I'd love to avoid as I hand quilt but probably won't be able to).
DeleteCheddarback...a feast for the eyes. I like that you created a different color version than many have been doing.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Karen. I think the only real difference in color is that I chose a dark pink and off-white stripe for the outer sashing instead of the original blue. But maybe there are other differences I just haven't noticed.
DeleteAnd I agree, this is a feast for the eyes. Not just my version of the quilt but any version because of the huge variety of blocks.
Cheddar back is beautiful, congratulations on your finish!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Karrin!
DeleteGreat finish for a challenging quilt!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jennie. It was challenging but I'm so glad I participated in the sew-along. I learned so much!
Delete