Memory and Handprint Quilt Part 5

Can I just tell you how glad I am to have this frayed edge quilt project finished! After clipping it and resewing it we washed it once and it didn't look very frayed. I put it through the wash again.

When we took it out, there were clumps of string everywhere and some stuck to the quilt. I pulled them off and took hand loads out of the washer and put the quilt in the dryer.

I didn't let it dry completely but just wanted to get all the fuzzies and strings off. After about 20 minutes, I pulled it out and there were chunks in the dryer. I pulled those out and cleaned out a full lint trap. I washed the quilt one more time. I had to clean out the washer each time and collect piles of strings. I then shook it and left chunky strings all over the floor. I then put it in the dryer again and the lint trap was the fullest I have ever seen for just one load. However, with all that said. My daughter LOVES the quilt. It is really cute.

With the seams being sewed, it should last a good long time. But the downside is that I had to sew all the edges in and probably made the seam overly long which made the quilt much smaller than we wanted. When I researched it some said they did 1/2 inch seams and others did up to an inch. I think most of mine were 3/4 inch long. I would probably make the seam 1/2 inch and the second seam 3/4 making the fray only 1/2 inch and do a decorative stitch on the second seam making it "framed" but leaving the squares a bit larger.

Also, some didn't use batting, felt or anything in between if using jeans on one side for their quilts I researched. I used felt and cut it the same size as the squares thinking that I wanted it sewn into the seams to make it stronger and to last longer. That was my biggest mistake. It made the corners of the blocks way tooooo thick which made me spend hours sewing them and breaking thread and needles and cause one new machine to seize. If I do this again which my younger girls seem to think I will. (They have no idea how many times I wanted to throw it away!) :-) I will cut the batting down so that the 3/4 seams have no batting in them and will hand quilt them as we did to hold the batting in place but with the square of batting being smaller, I can sew it much easier and faster.

Right now, I don't think the quilt was worth it because I am tired and have string all over my house. lol But I know the smile on my oldest's face and the way she quickly folded it and rushed it to her room like one would with a treasure, that it was worth all the work. I am just sad it turned out so small. The hand-print thing was great, looked good. The hand quilting part was great and looked good. The frayed edge was the stressful part.

My oldest today told me she thought that instead of having a book to sign at a wedding, she thought a quilt with squares that people could write best wishes on would be great. I told her I thought it would be great as we discussed some similar ideas before but I told her I didn't think the ragged edge would be a good idea. ;-) She laughed. I think she thought I was joking.....

Over all it was a good project to spend time with my daughter, teach her to quilt, learn a new type of quilting for me and give her an heirloom with memories of her special day. I could tell it meant a lot to her. Now I have done it! I had better get started on the other four!