Wednesday, December 4, 2013

My Gypsy Wife: Part 1

My newest obsession is Jen Kingwell's Gypsy Wife. I knew I had no other choice but to make it when the BOM came out last year, but I could not afford a BOM that was shipping from Australia. So I waited. And waited. And waited. And finally, the BOM finished, and the pattern was released! I snatched it up super fast from Westwood Acres and almost fell over with glee!


Needless to say, I got started right away! If you follow me on Instagram, you have seen the progression of this quilt already. Block 1 won my heart. I was in love. Love love love.


It was on this block that I noticed the first error. When I follow a pattern, I look at the cover, look at the diagrams, and then read the words. Its kind of like cross checking that it all flows correctly. Well the diagram for this block has a shading error, and if you only look at said diagram, you will leave off one of the little triangles.

For all those following along with #gypsywifealong or who decide to make it after my blog posts, I am probably going to post a list of errata that I found. I have already seen some people on Instagram making the blocks wrong, and it makes me sad because they are just following the directions. It is not their fault. If you are making this with me on IG and you think you have found an error, post it to #gypsywifealong. I want to make sure I capture everything when I write this up for my friends who are following along. I also want to shout out a little bit to Alyssa and say thank you for all of the rigorous revisions that you do for our Aria Lane patterns. Months of checking and testing go into those puppies.

So anyway, semi-negative stuff aside, I am still painfully in love with this quilt. It touches my soul because I see so much of myself reflected in the design. The chaos of the pattern, the saturation of all the color, the inability to take it all in on first glance. I love this quilt.

I chugged through what I call the 'main blocks' pretty quickly. Here are a few more.





 
I'll save the rest for my next post! What pattern touches your soul and reflects everything you are? I am interested to see what quilts people see themselves in. Happy quilting!

14 comments:

  1. I have really enjoyed watching the progress through instagram! Looking fabulous! - Kate

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  2. This looks gorgeous! Totally inspiring. Swamped with a zillion and one projects right now, but I may add this to the queue. Can't wait to see your progress!

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  3. this looks amazing :-) I want to have a go at this too ..one day!

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  4. I'm making this too and didn't realize there was an "along" happening. I'll join in over on IG so I can pick up on any mistakes, I haven't noticed any so far but I've only made a few blocks. Yours looks great so far.

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  5. I'm not sure how I found you... (maybe through the Triangle Modern Quilt Guild though I see you're in Charleston). Anyway, LOVING your gypsy wife progress! And I'm looking forward to your list of pattern improvements... Thank you for being so helpful in sharing them!

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  6. Aren't her patterns wonderful?? Your quilt is gorgeous

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  7. I love the way Jen Kingwell uses her fabrics. The color combinations are so scrappy and fabulous. Are you using her color scheme or your own? Because I love yours just as much. Any hints on successful fabric choices for her quilts?

    I'm working on her current BOM and am way behind!
    Ramona

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  8. Ooh I like this pattern. Too often her patterns use templates which puts me off, but this one I like. The saturation of colour gets me too. I'm sure if you emailed the author the errors she would be thankful and possibly add them to her website.

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  9. This one caught my eye awhile back too. The stripping is what does it for me. Such a great idea! Will enjoy seeing yours.

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  10. Thanks for posting about this! I was thinking of joining a BOM but there's not a lot of info about the actual quilt. Is this one hand pieced at all or can it all be done by machine? I appreciate any info on that! Thanks!

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  11. Have you had any problems with the Pershing block on page 6? I've made it 3 times. Says it finishes at 9", but my unfinished is 9". Haven't had any problems with the others. I'm perplexed and wondering if anyone else has had problems with this block being 9-1/2 inches unfinished?

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  12. I just bought the pattern and I love it... want to get started on it right away but I am a bit confused on the cutting...in the booklet it says cut the long strips wof 1.5" and 1.0" but on the back it says it says cut sixty strips wof at 4" and 2"...are we talking about two different cuts for different purposes? want to clear this up before I cut...thanks

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  13. Oh these yummy blocks just remind me that I really want to make this one day!!

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  14. I'm with you love, love ,love.....

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