Monday, January 7, 2013

Dad's Quilt Finished and Ready to Give

Wow - I think this is the absolute fastest time I have ever made a quilt, from start to finish - one week! (It's about ready to snow outside, so this is the best I could do for photos.)


Let's see. I started cutting it out on Dec. 30 and got it pieced together soon after. Added the borders.


Then I quilted it with this luscious copper thread by Glide, but I'll be darned if it didn't give me fits on my long arm machine. Kept breaking! I rethreaded, adjusted tension, changed the needle twice, rethreaded, adjusted tension. Screamed a fair amount.  But finally I got it finished. I believe it is just a two-ply polyester thread, so I tried to slow down in my quilting because perhaps it wasn't strong enough?  Anyway, don't look too closely at the quilting, because it has a fair amount of stops and starts all through the darn thing.  Anyone with any suggestions about what was wrong, I'm all ears!


For the backing, I found a really nice dark blue fabric with faint trees. With leaves in the border fabric, and trees on the back, I decided to quilt a leaf motif throughout, and I think it worked well.  Dad's favorite color is blue, so the backing will definitely give him his blue fix.  I've been working on hand-stitching the binding to the backside of the quilt this weekend, and just finished that up last night, so I guess technically it was 8 days. Whew!


For those of you who are new here or may have forgotten, this quilt is for my dad who is going blind due to macular degeneration.  I wanted him to have it while he could still see somewhat. He sees better at a distance, so I can show it to him from across the room and he'll enjoy it.  My daughter is coming home for a visit at the end of the month (yes!), and so we'll pay him a visit then and give it to him as an early Valentine's gift.


This was definitely a quilt made with love.

Barb

P.S.  This is my Finished Quilt for A Lovely Year of Finishes sponsored by Fiber of All Sorts and Bittersweet Designs. Check out all the other great creations that quilters are working on this month.

A Lovely Year of Finishes
 
 
Fresh Poppy Design
 
 http://marciascraftysewing.blogspot.com/

17 comments:

  1. Yeah! Congrats on the finish. And it is so very lovely! Your dad will treasure it!

    I have not used the Glide thread yet. I am an all cotton girl. Did you use the magna glide bobbins with the thread? I think they have a magnet on them to slow the spin/backlash on the bobbin(?)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Beautiful job Barb. I love leaves so I love the quilting pattern that you used! Congrats on the finish!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Barb I love the quilt and I am sure your Dad will appreciate the colours, so bright. Susie x

    ReplyDelete
  4. It is absolutely beautiful! I am sure he will be so surprised and love it. Thanks for sharing your journey with us. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Beautiful quilt, Barb. Just love it from start to finish.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Beautiful - full of love...he will love it! And I really like your leafy-loop quilting! I haven't tried the Glide because it's so much lighter than my Signature - I just stick with what has always worked!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I Can Feel The Love- And Know That He Is Going To Too!.. I could not find one Stop and Start! and I tried really hard. It turned out Beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Beautiful quilt Barb and wow did you finish that fast! Your dad is going to love it! Thanks for sharing.
    Freemotion by the River Linky Party Tuesday

    ReplyDelete
  9. Holy buckets you are fast! Congratulations on a beautiful first finish in 2013! Wow! I just love the colors too!

    ReplyDelete
  10. What an amazing quilt and completed! Eeep!

    Congrats on your first finish of the year. I adore adore the quilting and may try that myself on a quilt. ♥

    ReplyDelete
  11. That is just fantastic. I love the colors they are fantastic. Thanks for linking up.

    Richard and Tanya Quilts
    Track My Shows

    ReplyDelete
  12. I like the way the copper shows up on back. Great finish!

    ReplyDelete
  13. I use king tut and so fine....so will have to look into that thread. Our quilting always sparkles from the back doesn't it!! Is you dad just loving the quilt??

    ReplyDelete

I always love to hear your thoughts!

Remembering All The Little Things

I have let my blog side away in lieu of posting photos and updates over on Instagram. For me, it takes less time, and is a faster way to doc...