Monday, October 27, 2014

It’s Show Time!


AmysCreativeSide.com
Once again, it’s time for the Blogger’s Quilt Festival.  And I’m excited to participate again … with my chevron quilt.  If you remember, there was a bit of an uproar last spring when originally there wasn’t going to be a Hand Quilting category … since I had been one (of many) who’d beseeched Amy to include a Hand Quilting category, I felt a bit of an obligation to participate … and even though we were on vacation and even though I had limited number of photographs to include, I did.  I didn’t win anything (I didn’t expect to), but I enjoyed the process so much that I’m entering the Fall Festival. 

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I expected to hate this quilt.  After all, I don’t do gray, I don’t do solids, there were a couple of last minute design changes, and I had nothing but trouble with this quilt:  broken and skipped stitches during the piecing, triangle points that wouldn’t cooperate, a whole lot of frog stitching, extra-wide backing fabric that shrank 10% and had to be pieced (not to mention a wait for the replacement backing fabric).  Had this quilt not been for my daughter and son-in-law, I’m not sure that I wouldn’t have just scrapped it all in frustration!  But when I was done, I was surprised to see how much I loved this quilt … no, it’ll never be a favorite (after all, I don’t do gray or solids Winking smile), but I ended up being especially pleased with how it turned out.

DD chose two shades of Kona gray (Steel and Silver) for a herringbone quilt she pinned on Pinterest.  Here’s the inspiration.
In order to make the quilt large enough to fit their large queen-sized bed, I knew I’d have to cut a lot of HSTs.  I chose to make them 6” finished so that I could use my cutter.  Even with large HSTs, I still had to cut 512 HSTs … can you imagine cutting 512 HSTs with a rotary cutter?  Surprised smile 
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After I’d cut the HSTs, DD decided that she wanted a chevron quilt, instead of the herringbone.  Thankfully, she decided while I was piecing the HSTs into squares which meant that all I had to do was change the setting from herringbone to chevron.  She also asked for borders, so I chose Kona Pepper for the small inner border and finished with a wider border in the Kona Steel used to make the chevrons.

I’d never been so glad to get a top ready to sandwich and baste as I was this quilt … of course, it was large enough that I had to get a third folding table to be able to lay it out properly for basting.  It took me 11 weeks to reach that stage … but in my defense, I had a two-week vacation, a four-day retreat, and plenty of swim meets/time with my favorite people in those 11 weeks.  Winking smilephoto (2)

And then came the fun part … the hand quilting.  DD wanted a simple quilting design, something that would accentuate the geometric pattern.  I used YLI 40/3 hand quilting thread in a medium gray.

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gripper
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It took me 4 weeks to quilt this … I didn’t realize, until just now, that it took me almost three times as long to piece this as it did to quilt it.  Granted, there were plenty of road blocks to the piecing … while the hand quilting went fairly quickly since hand quilting is my favorite part of quiltmaking … and the quilting pattern was simple.photo 3
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Details:
Finished size: 99”x99”
Fabrics: Kona Steel, Kona Silver and Kona Pepper (top); Moda Bella Gray 108” (backing)
Thread: YLI 40/3 Gray
Machine pieced and hand quilted
Time: April 27, 2014 – August 19, 2014
Category: Hand Quilted





28 comments:

  1. And it is gorgeous! I'm so glad you persevered - it was worth all of your work! ~Jeanne

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  2. glad to see you entered this one! love it

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  3. Your quilt is beautiful and it looks good on the bed!
    Best of luck with your entry!

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  4. Well now I know first hand all about some of those frustrations, but I am soo glad you persevered, as the quilt is soo good, and I am quite sure your daughter treasures it! I really admire the fact that you HAND quilt your quilts as I honestly can't imagine that. I have a hard time just hand sewing the binding on the back of it, lol I have one I hope to finish today. The fairy Christmas quilt! Goodness what a difference the quilting made in this one. I just keep finding blocks, quilts, patterns and techniques I want to try! Sooo addicting! Have a good day!

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  5. It is wonderful. You did such a nice job. I remember thinking when you started this quilt before I knew you had that cutter, I just couldn't imagine cutting all of that by hand.
    I bet if I got a cutter like that I would get over my fear.
    I think that is such a huge accomplishment. It looks wonderful.

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  6. Beautiful quilt! I hope your daughter will always treasure it.

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  7. Very striking, Kathy. Can't believe how quickly you quilted it!!

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  8. The quilt looks lovely and the hand quilting is gorgeous too!

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  9. So happy you have such a great "in use" pic too with that great quilt and pillows on the bed... you did a wonderful job on that and I can't imagine having to rotary cut all those hst's.. glad you had the cutter! Kathi

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  10. Just as pretty as can be, Kathy! You did a phenomenal job!

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  11. Such a wonderul quilt. I can't believe how fast you quilted it. Good luck!

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  12. I like the simplicity and effect of this one.

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  13. Hi Kathy, This quilt is beautiful! Your piecing looked perfect to me, but I know how we can be when we look at our own work. Does your cutter make everything more accurate? I don't know much about them. You are right, it would have taken forever to cut with a rotary cutter. O.k. so as much as I love this quilt, I have got to say your quilting is perfect. All your stitches are the same consistent length and space apart. I'm not sure how your perfected your technique but wish mine looked as good as yours.
    Sending you warm hugs today.
    Noreen

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  14. Kathy, what a wonderful job you did on this!!!! It is truly beautiful. You are SO a better man than me. ;)

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  15. The quilt came out beautiful and it looks great on the bed!

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  16. Beautiful quilt and so wonderful that you hand quilted it. Well done!

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  17. Well, I think that quilt is a sure treasure! It is just so pretty and I do love Chevron. Good work!

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  18. Of course it turned out beautiful Kathy - everything you do does!!!! Great job sticking with this "problem child" and forcing it to mature into a beautiful quilt :)

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  19. It's beautiful and I remember the troubles you had along the way which makes the finish even more of a great accomplishment ! :)

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  20. What a wonderful quilt!

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  21. How interesting that it took longer to piece than to quilt because it is usually the other way around! The quilt is beautiful and it looks fabulous on the bed. Good luck with this entry in the Festival!

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  22. I like this one! So simple and sophisticated. Good luck.

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  23. Love it! It's very serene but modern.:) The hand quilting is perfect!

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  24. Amazing! Your hand quilting is wonderful. So even and straight.

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I am SO glad you stopped by! No proving that you're a robot here ... I want to hear what you have to say! ;-)