Batman!

This is Brittney’s Batman quilt and since the focus of this quilt is her piecing I used the Ebb and Flow pantograph to keep the quilting simple.  I used medium grey So Fine thread and Quilters Dream Blend batting.

She used an image by Eric Dufrense to create her quilt, no pattern.  Here is the image she based her quilt on.

I asked her if she wanted to share her story of how she made this quilt and she was very kind to write about her year long process.  Here is her story which I will add between the photos.

“This quilt is made for my husband, Will.  When he was completing his journeyman in April of last year, I decided to make him a quilt for his graduation; which lucky for me was a whole year after he finished school (between graduation, moving, starting a new job, and getting married I didn't have a lot of free time haha).
When I decided to make Will a quilt I wanted something that would have meaning to him. Will is a comic book and Lego fanatic so I started looking for quilt patterns that related to these. I had already decided that I didn't want to make him a quilt with comic material, as he is a grown man and I wanted something more mature, so the majority of patterns I came across were paper pieced. Having never done paper piecing before, I decided now was not the time to learn (but the joke ended up being on me, as I would not only paper piece while making this quilt, I would have to design them myself!). It was during this search I stumbled upon Eric Dufresne geometric batman. After having been mislead that this was a quilt pattern, and scouring through Web to find it, I decided I would design the pattern myself! How hard could it be, right?”


“I started designing the quilt in April 2016. Planning cuts and Fabric in October. And started sewing in November. The biggest challenge for me was designing and mastering paper piecing. After designing and sewing the first block I encountered  my first problem - the image had to be mirrored so the finished product appeared the right way. My second problem was that some of the pieces could not be sewn the way I designed the block. This led to me cutting the block down to be able to sew the block and subsequently led to my next discovery... remember to add your quarter inch! After these discoveries I was sailing! (However, I think every paper piece had at least one rip out if not more; I still struggle with estimating the right size of fabric required). After almost finishing the quilt I discovered my third big mistake, which was to design the block for the final size, then add a quarter inch all the way around. I designed my blocks with the seam allowance already present, which caused problems with lining things up. Now I know for next time!”


“Of course paper piecing wasn't the only problem I ran into. I ran out of fabric, on more than one occasion, and luckily Shari Dyck at Road 17N is a wonderful human and would often send out my order the same or next day, and it would arrive 2 days later. I also had originally designed the background to be geometric as well... but as soon as I started cutting I decided I couldn't be bothered with that and changed my plans to what it is now. The v and Co ombre worked so fabulously for the background I'm not even upset about this change. However, if I were to make this quilt again I would not use v and Co ombre for the grey and yellow, but rather buy three solids that suit my needs. It made my cutting difficult and there are a few pieces I'm not overly happy with because of it.”


I finished Will's quilt at the beginning of February, just in time for his grad. I, of course, had to present him with the unfinished product, but I was so proud of it, it didn't bother me and I'm so excited to have Kathy quilting it! I had the support of my mom the whole time; although she would not touch it and often reminded me that I'm crazy and stubborn. Will is over the moon about the quilt and can't wait to the it back so he can start using it”

Thanks Brittney for sharing your story, I think many of us can all relate to your process of making this quilt!

As you can see the lake ice has very cool patterns right now as a result of some really warm days. It is still very safe to walk on just the top layer is starting the candling process which only goes down about 8 inches.  I’m sure there is still a good 30” of ice on the lake.