The Splendid Sampler 2 Quilt is finished at last!

I’ve just completed my third quilt finish on the Handi Quilter Moxie!  I’m going to be sharing the story of this quilt as well as another ‘Moxie Report’ on my long arm quilting progress.

This quilt was begun back in 2018 when I started to make blocks along with the Splendid Sampler 2 book and sew along. I wrote about it here and here. The Splendid Sampler 2 was hosted and authored by my quilting heroes Pat Sloan and Jane Davidson and followed on from the original Splendid Sampler a few years before.

I had been asked to design one of the 6″ blocks in the sampler, along with Jane, Pat and 80 quilt designers from around the world.  As designers we received about 20 block patterns ahead of the book so we could get started early.  I made all of these and then when the book came out I managed to keep up for quite a few months and enjoyed being part of the sew along and sharing my weekly block posts.

I had chosen this red, white, blue and aqua palette with vintage style fabrics as I thought this would pull the different blocks together.  There were a lot of needle-turn applique blocks, including my own flower bowl block (above – a mixture of curve piecing and applique) which of course I loved stitching.

There were even a few embroidery blocks and some that were made using EPP.  All these hand sewn blocks were wonderful for train journeys and therefore I have lots of happy travelling memories locked in with them.  I finished quite a few on the long journeys between Copenhagen and Aarhus on my visit to teach at Helene Juul’s retreat in October 2019.  There are so many gorgeous blocks in this book but, unsurprisingly, Irene Blanck’s bird block (above left) is my absolute favourite.

Back in 2019 one of my best pals and neighbours, Ali, turned 50 and of course I wanted to make her a quilt. I had a feeling she would really like the Splendid Sampler as I know she loves this sort of vintage look, and indeed, when I showed her the blocks I had made so far she ‘claimed it’!

Of course I did intend to have it ready for her birthday but that was the year I was working on my book New Patchwork and Quilting Basics and I didn’t have much time for finishing any other quilts. I told Ali she would have it soon but the months dragged on and when I tried to go back to making more blocks from the book I found I had lost too much momentum.  I had 49 blocks though (out of 100 in the book!) and that worked well for a 7 x 7 grid so I decided to just get on and make the quilt with these otherwise it would never be finished!

So I used my left over red and blue fabric to border each block and bring them up to 9″. I then sashed them all with a cream fabric and the finished quilt is now 75″ square. I actually think setting the blocks this way has added to the scrappy look I was going for, and at least it is now a finished quilt that can be gifted!

I had a chance to practice another of my easy overall quilt patterns on my second Moxie quilt, this one is for a magazine so you will need to wait a while to see it.  As everything has been going so well with the Moxie I decided to push myself a little more with this one and try outlining the applique and embroidery motifs and to use a spiral patterns in between.

This definitely proved more challenging!  Luckily I was using a cream thread (one of my Glide stash that comes with the Moxie Mentor offer*) so you can’t see all my imperfections. And I got better as I went along and gained more control. I believe this really is the only way to learn, you have to allow yourself to make mistakes and not worry too much. And when the quilt is finished you have to look so closely to find the imprefections that you realise they weren’t worth worrying about in the first place.

But the Moxie certainly takes away so many variables with the amazing stitch regulator.  I was taking this completely for granted until I accidentally knocked the control from it’s socket and my stitch length was all over the place! It took a while (and hubby’s help) to work out what had happened but it made me realise what a difference this had been making to my quilting, making it look perfect with very little effort!

I was really expecting issues with tension using a long arm as it’s something I’ve heard other quilters complain about but so far it’s been spot on every time and the only time it hasn’t it was down to my cackhanded threading and a simple re-threading solved the problem.

I’ve been trying to film myself at the machine so I can share useful video tutorials here and on IG/FB but I’m struggling to position the camera phone. However Liz at Pinhole Quilting has given me the name of a tripod that clips on to your handlebars and makes this possible. Once I’ve got hold of one of these I will have another go.

Meanwhile the Splendid Sampler 2 quilt is now ready to gift and even includes a hand embroidered label (being a special quilt for a special friend). Ali is one of the few people I have been able to see IRL during lockdown, due to her being a neighbour and therefore accessible for walks outside.  This winter lockdown has been very hard and I can only imagine how much worse it would have been without her friendship.

I’ll leave you with this image snapped yesterday. Yes we have a lot of snow! The most snow we’ve had in 10 years and though it’s been very beautiful to look at I am happy it is now on the melt as the temperatures are finally rising.

Spring is not far away folks!

*More info about my Moxie Mentor offer: this is a very special offer only available with my code.  Simply head to the website and sign up here for more info and insert code JA101 when requested. If you go on to order a machine you will be sent all this beautiful thread worth £100!*