Wonky Wednesday

First up, something I started even though I told myself I wasn't allowed to start anything until I'd finished the back of Ruby's quilt.  I used a charm pack (Lario - 3 Sisters) to have a go at wonky cutting and a bit of improv piecing and came up with this:

I'm really happy with how it turned out, I think it is balanced but random.  I think some of the balance comes from using one collection and some of it from the technique I used.  I was (and still am) a bit apprehensive about wonky cutting with this collection, I'm not sure if the style of quilt I have in mind will suit the fabric.

This is my first time using a charm pack and the pinked edges really threw me, which I wasn't expecting.  Here's a close up of wonky loveliness ...

Next up - a finish, yay!  I have finished the brown bag doll's quilt that Ruby helped me piece ...

I edge-turned the binding and quilted it with randomly spaced horizontal lines, and by 'randomly spaced' I mean I couldn't be bothered marking out any lines and thought I'd be able to just get it pretty close to equally spaced by eye.  Turns out there's a very good reason for marking out your quilting.  Here's what I learnt with this quilt:

• you should mark out your quilting, even if you are doing something seemingly straightforward, especially if you're a beginner (like me).
• my machine is horrendous for quilting (with and without a walking foot), I struggled to get the tension right (and still couldn't get it right), it skipped stitches. 
• If you are edge-turning you need to consider start and end points for the quilting because the quilting won't end up running under the binding rather it goes with the binding.
• I need a lot more practice with binding, I still hate doing it even with edge-turned binding.
• Despite all of this the girls love playing with it and from a distance it looks lovely.

Linking up to:

WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced
Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts