Wednesday, January 12, 2011

To finish or not to finish

I have been contemplating whether or not to make more blocks for my spiderweb quilt.  In its current state, the quilt is 5 blocks by 6 blocks.  This makes it roughly 50" x 60".

Please excuse this horrible photo.  My condo has terrible natural lighting
and on top of that, it's dreary and snowing outside.  Sadness.
The plan is to make the quilt a lap quilt to give as a gift.  I typically like a generous lap size quilt, which this is.  However, it's really only a one person lap quilt.   If I add 2 more rows of blocks, it would make the quilt roughly 60"x70".  That would make it a better two person snuggle quilt.  It would also require me to make 12 more blocks.  Although I do enjoy making these blocks, I'm not sure I have 12 more in me.  That's a lot!

So, here is my question to you: what size do you make your lap quilts?  Would you call it quits now and finish it up?  Would you keep going?

12 comments:

Leslie said...

i would go ahead and finish it up while you still like it. it can be snuggled under as is and 12 more blocks might feel like a chore

Sunshine said...

Borders!
Whenever my quilts fall short, I add wider borders. I usually add borders, anyway, gives a nice finish. You can have fun with those (e.g. background fabric strips with interspersed perpendicular strips you might have left over from making the blocks. It would keep the theme going and give you the added width!)
My lap quilts are generally between 40x50" to 60x80" depending on requests (my mom wanted a small one), preference and coincidence. Definitely don't make it smaller than you like them - you'll regret it, even if you give it as a present.
It looks great by the way!

Unknown said...

Can I be honest? If it was for me, I'd forge ahead and do the extras. But for a gift.... Eh. It's generous enough to make a quilt in the first place. I'm making a dear friend a quilt right now that will be 48x60 and it's a fine size. I swear.

And BTW, yours looks great - can't wait to see it finished up!

Jennifer said...

I encourage you to just go ahead and finish it. Besides, if two people are snuggling under a quilt, they should get CLOSE!

Elena said...

For myself, my house is super frigid, so lap quilts don't work for me. But on the other hand, how many people actually snuggle under the same blanket on the couch? Don't keep going if it'll burn you out.

Donna said...

Lap quilts............Nah! If I can't get the husband, two kids and two Jack Russells under there then it's not worth it.

Your quilt could be tent sized and it would still look fabulous.

I love it.

Kelly said...

I have to say I'm not a fan of "standard" (if there is such a thing) lap-sized quilts, but then I like to wrap myself up like a mummy and a small quilt just doesn't work for that. That being said, I agree with Sunshine. Slap some wide borders on that puppy and call it a day! That way, you won't get burned out by making more blocks, but you'll still get a nice quilt-for-2. Either way, it's going to look great!

Anonymous said...

I don't like to share. Finish it like it is. It's precious!

Anonymous said...

P.S. I have terrible natural light in my house, too. I've been experimenting with ways to capture my quilting work in progress. In the end, I determined that indoor flash can work well for photographing quilts IF you diffuse the flash. I take a white paper napkin and hold it in front of the flash, and it seems to do that trick. You can see my indoor flash pics on my blog at http://dotscharm.wordpress.com/

C said...

I love this spiderweb! Spiderweb is on my 2011 to do list. I think it is perfect as is - let yourself off the hook! If you make it for yourself you see it all the time and may wish it was larger but your friend will never even know larger was a possibility...

Angie said...

I like my lap size to be approx 50x70. I've made them smaller, and they are ok. A little longer is nicer to me, though. However, these blocks are really a lot of work, so I am not sure that I would be willing to make that many more. I'm keeping the spiderweb quilt I'm making :)

Shelina (formerly known as Shasta) said...

I try to ask myself how I will feel about it years from now. A few blocks now won't hurt me, and my future me will appreciate it. However, if my present me won't bother finishing the quilt if the work is too much, then the future me is going to have to compromise, because a finished quilt, even though it isn't exactly to specifications is better than no quilt at all.