Goodnight to the Mandolin quilt

Ah, another Mandolin quilt is completed. The EPP portion that is, lol. Not that the rest of it is going to be complicated, other than adding to the fleece backing so it's large enough. No batting, as an English paper pieced quilt top is heavier than a machine pieced top, or mine are because I use wide seam allowances, adding to the heft. I'll stitch the top's perimeter onto the fleece, then do some hand-quilting, and BOOM, there's a completed cozy.

However... I want to make some notes, just on the very obscure chance I ever start another EPP project. Seven await my attention, ahem, so even pondering another is ridiculous. But I learned A LOT in making this quilt, much of it upon studying the photo above. How chaotic it appears to me, sigh, because I used two different fabrics in constructing the joining blocks, not including the center hexagons. Yet the last Mandolin quilt I made looked, well, dull, what with white joining blocks edging hexagons from a sunflower print. I wanted this Mandolin to look more exciting. Alas, be careful what you wish for....

If I ever make another, not only will the joining blocks be of one fabric, but the edges of every medallion block will either be light or dark, but not a mix. That too troubles me, but when I was plotting the fabrics for those blocks, I wasn't planning very well. Maybe this quilt suffers from not enough attention paid to ONLY IT. It was thrown together haphazardly, held in check by a couple of very different fabric collections, Art Gallery in autumnal hues and Karen Nyberg's Earth Views. I wanted the clash of Nyberg's earthy vibes against the more classic, and a few not so classic, Art Gallery prints. Too much clash on various levels seems to be the lesson learned.

Oh, and before I forget, no more Art Gallery fabrics for EPP! It's too thin and stiff, why I stopped using batiks for English paper piecing. I want soft, supple fabric for hand sewing. Fabric that doesn't resist a needle. Fabrics from manufacturers I won't name, but suffice to say I think I've finally grasped that important element of happy hand-stitching. Use fabrics that don't feel like they're going to break if you bend them.

Any other lessons that immediately come to mind? Small Mandolin quilts are preferable, the twelve-medallion block size. The kit I have includes papers for up to twenty blocks, but that's too much for this sixty-year-old to even consider theoretically. Twelve blocks is a nice number, plus those joining blocks, half-blocks, and quarter-blocks. If I was sewing right-handed all the time, I might just start designing another Mandolin quilt. However.... I'm using my left hand as much as possible, and all that folding and maneuvering is still awkward for my non-dominant hand. If I improve greatly in my left-handed sewing, well, we'll see. I have so much remaining in the seven EPP quilts on my list, who knows how competent I'll become left-handed?

From October 2022, my first Mandolin quilt top. The medallion blocks OWN this version, and that's FINE.

Every quilt is a learning experience. However, it feels like learning so much on a quilt that took SO LONG to make is, well, not a waste, but wasted time. Odds are VERY SLIM I'll make another Mandolin quilt top, so all this blah blah blah is straws in the wind. Or maybe it's good information to pass along in case someone else is mulling over any of these issues. If you are, well, here's my take on it. Plan wisely. Don't use stiff fabrics for hand-sewing. Don't go overboard trying to make it dynamic in the joining blocks but let the medallion blocks do the heavy creative lifting. And most of all?

Enjoy the process. Which I did. So in that, this Mandolin is a huge success. I had to set it aside a year ago, thinking when would I return to it? Less than a year later I did just that and now it only needs to be basted to the backing, after I alter that backing ha ha ha. Then it will be draped over my lap for the next several weeks or however long the hand quilting needs. Then it will go over a chair in my bedroom, maybe before Christmas? Before Christmas would be fantastic, spend the last bit of autumn under an autumnally coloured handmade, slow-stitched blanket that isn't perfect but is pretty. And it's steeped in gentle lessons of love and crafting and always moving forward.

Have a lovely night and morning and afternoon. It's just about bedtime here, can hardly keep mt eyes open. Forgive any errors and know much peace.