Thursday, September 27, 2018

The Wedding Is Here and The Quilt Is Ready!

It is with great honor that I present to you the wedding quilt for my son and our soon-to-be daughter-in-law! If you've followed me here or on Instagram, you are no doubt familiar with this quilt. It was my personal challenge quilt, and one that I am pleased to have made!


The wedding is Saturday, but the quilt is not really a surprise. They personally picked out the pattern, and have seen my progress photos online. This was truly a labor of love!

A monster king-sized quilt

It's a king-sized quilt, which will fit upon their queen-sized bed until they make the change to a larger bed. So at least for now, there will be plenty of drape for cozy comfort!


The quilt measures 108 x 108 inches. The pattern was for only a throw quilt, so I doubled the blocks, and then added even more. Then added 11 inches of borders all around. It just kept seeming to grow and grow and grow, lol! The pattern is Cacophony by Tina Lewis from the Winter 2016 edition of Modern Patchwork.


After stitching up 81 curves for these blocks, I now feel confident handling curves. I found I just needed to take my time, and the fabric fit together quite nicely. I don't know what I was afraid of! I actually learned a good lesson with this: "To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong." by Joseph C. Pearce. True, that!



Quilting for this became an ongoing debate for me. I truly wanted to do the entire quilt with custom quilting. But time was not on my side. So I made a compromise with myself. I custom quilted the outside and inner borders, and did a pantograph within the interior of the quilt.


The pantograph I used is Gatsby by Sarah Ann Myers and sold by Urban Elements. It's a very modern panto for a modern quilt - perfect. It's definitely my new favorite!



Since the top is all solids, I wanted to add a little pizzazz for the backing. But what? I had some of this great fabric in my stash, the woodland motif was perfect for this couple, and the colors blended well. I did have to order more fabric because I didn't have that much in my stash, lol! But who can complain about 'having to order more fabric', eh?


I used Hobbs 80/20 batting with So Fine 50 thread, and it quilted up nicely and has a nice drape. It will wash up well over time, but how you wash a king-sized quilt is beyond me. Even my enormous size washing machine tub may not even be big enough for this one!  It was interesting in the photo above to see how the light from the bedside lamp made that triangular block look purple. No purple is involved in this quilt! It's actually a dark blue.

There's a down comforter beneath this quilt, so that's why it look 'lumpy'!

The only thing that can make this better is to know that Scott and Lauren will love it! It will definitely evoke a smile when they enter their bedroom, it's so bright and cheery!  Best wishes go to the two of them as they embark on this life-long journey. I'm so happy to be a small part of their celebration! 

Quilting with a smile,
Barb

P.S. This was also part of my September One Monthly Goal, and for my quarterly Finish-A-Long!

Linking up with:
OMG
Needle & Thread Thursday 
Linky Tuesday 
Oh, Scrap! 
Monday Making
Main Crush Monday
Midweek Makers

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

Outside Quilting

Fall is in the air! Here at our mountain cabin it's getting down to 32 or lower each night. And September is rapidly churning toward October! The hummingbirds have gone south already - smart birds. And the squirrels are busy as can be gathering pine nuts for the long, cold days ahead.

A hike to Fishhook Creek - a few snow fields remain on north side of the Sawtooths!

But the gift that follows those intense nights is the heat of the day. 75 degrees with cloudless, smokeless blue skies. It's the perfect recipe for a hike to a mountain lake, or to relax on the deck, visit with good friends, and hand stitch a binding to a favorite quilt. Heavenly!

A butterfly takes advantage of the Rabbit Brush in bloom.
The Bible Back Fire behind our cabin early September. It's slowing down now, thank goodness!

Sloe Gin Fizzes in memory of my mom's birthday

The Sawtooths easing into winter (photo courtesy of Sawtooth Association)

Home again, home again.

Slow stitching in a serene setting. With friends and family. Just doesn't get much better!

Quilting with a smile,
Barb

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