Prior to today, other than choosing my fabrics, nothing much had been accomplished on my Regatta quilt. I’m participating in Roseanne’s quilt along over at Home Sewn By Us. She started the quilt along at the first of this month. The quilt along is a go at your own pace kind of project. There’s no pressure to share updates and no etched-in-stone deadline.  Although I believe she may have given us a suggested deadline of December 31, 2018.

The Regatta quilt, according to the instructions, measures 57″ x 74.” Not wanting to make another large quilt right now I decided to cut the size in half by only using strips that are 2 1/2″ x 21″. In the pattern the author used varying shades of blue for her color choice. While I thought her quilt was beautiful the blue just wasn’t something I was interested in. Instead, being the vibrant color lover that I am, I selected a rainbow of fabric strips for my project. I’m also swapping out the white filler strips and blocks with black fabric. White is also not on my top ten list of colors. By making these adjustments I have exercised my right to add my own flair. 🙂

Day two of my experience began with converting the patterns template to fit my strips. I am fortunate to have tubs of pre-cut 2 1/2″ fabric strips. Just about every time I purchase a piece of fabric I cut a 2 1/2″ strip from it and stash it away in my color coordinated strip bins. Then when I have a need for random strips of fabric I already have an inventory to draw from.

The first thing I did was to read through the instructions. I can’t tell you how many times I haven’t, only to find myself confused and making mistakes. Of course, even if I do this step, it doesn’t guarantee my project will go perfectly. Who never makes a mistake! LOL! Included in the instructions a page with a grid of the quilt diagraming the measurements per strip. I found this to be soooo helpful!

After reading through the pattern and seeing how they assembled the individual rows I decided to calculate how long each segment should be and cut them accordingly.

As you can see from the photo above I first calculated the measurements as prescribed by the pattern and then refigured them to fit the size I wanted to make. You can tell from my scribbling that I had to readjust my numbers several times. I’m so glad I did these calculations because I knew before hand exactly how long to cut each 2 1/2″ strip. Cutting them to size meant I would not have to trim them at the end. It also made for less fabric waste.

With my plan all mapped out it was time to cut my strips and begin sewing. Before calling it a day I had all of my colored strips cut and laid out on my table. I also cut the black filler strips and blocks. I was even able to stitch together eleven of the colored rows with their black filler blocks.

Day three was the grand finale. After picking-up where I had left off I chained pieced the remaining rows.

The rows of colored strips were then joined together with the black filler strips. Thankfully I only made a few mistakes while stitching them together. A couple of the sections were sewn together in the wrong direction. With this pattern those kind of mistakes are easily spotted. No big-deal though. 🙂 All I had to do was remove the stitching and turn them around.

By the end of the day I had my Regatta quilt top assembled and pressed.

Here’s my finished quilt top.

With my quilt top already to go it is time to cut the backing, batting and binding, then get busy and do the quilting.

Looking back over the process and the outcome I achieved I am pretty pleased with the quilt’s appearance. If I had it to do over again I would make a few changes in the arrangement of the colors. I probably also would either reduce the number of strips used or cut the strips narrower. If you remember my original goal was to make a smaller quilt. I did achieve a smaller quilt by cutting the width of my strips in half. However, I failed to consider the length of the quilt and therefore didn’t reduce that size at all.

So, that’s where my Regatta quilt top is at. The next time I share an update I will be finished with the quilting.

Thank you for sharing your time. I look forward to our next visit. 🙂