Strings and Threads

 

That's the name I am giving the wedding quilt for my son and his wife.   Why? .....it is made up of strings and threads only (not counting the batting....lol)

 

 

It's been a long time coming.  What with issues with my long arm (shame on me for not getting to fixing that quicker), work, illnesses, broken arm, work,  baby shower and baby born to our family, wedding shower, baby,  wedding, baby......(sigh), makes me tired thinking of it all, but I sure have enjoyed that baby and the wedding was great, too.    Next year is going to be a better year for sure..  No babies being born and no more weddings in the family 

 

Anyways, you can read more about the planning of this quilt here

 

http://mimispassions.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2013-11-05T21:33:00-05:00&max-results=7

  

Here is a picture of the backing. 

 

 

Love this fabric. 

 

Here's a close up of the front and back. 

 

 

 

I did a wavy line for the quilting and I think it softens up the hard lines on the front and for the backing I think it gives a wood grain look to the trees. 

 

We will be delivering the quilt tomorrow.  So glad I could finish this off, even though it is after the wedding, I still got it done before the end of the year. 

 

Now I can start out 2014 with my pile of quilts that "aren't deadline motivated".  

 

Looking forward to the New Year! 

96 inches to a finish

I can almost taste it. 

 

If my fingers hold out, this 97 x 96 wedding quilt will be done before the new year.  

Doing some measuring....

Ok, there is no place in this house that I can lay out this whole quilt to get good measurements. 

 

I am going to have to measure it folded in half (which I haven't done yet), but #1 I did want to make sure I had enough backing fabric; and #2 I don't see any blatant misshapen edges that will need major trimming to get it squared, so maybe my measurements per section have served me well.  

 

So here is a better look at the left side of this quilt.

 

 

close up....

 

 

Flipped over to see the right side...

 

 

close up....

 

 

And here is the backing....a full three widths.

 

 

Just ordered some stencils to help me make my straight line quilting along with some chalk and pounce pad; and I am leaning towards an orange-y thread to quilt this one. 

 

Next time you see this quilt (unless I can find somewhere to lay out the whole thing) will be when it is on the long arm and/or quilted.  Wish me luck. 

 

 

Crazy October and quilts.....

October could not have been busier.

 

Baby Jude was born to my youngest daughter.

 

 

My son was married two weeks later.

 

 

So, as you can imagine, between visits to the hospital, staying with my daughter for a week after the baby was born, dinners with out-of-town family/friends prior to and after the wedding, rehearsal dinner, the wedding and throw in a funeral for the bride's grandma who passed away two days before the wedding, I was behind on getting the wedding quilt done.

 

If you remember, my son and his fiancé had given me a picture of a quilt that they wanted me to replicate.

 

They chose these fabrics for their quilt (oranges and grays)

 

 

Prior to retreat in June, I cut up all of the 11+ yards into strips and while at retreat I stitched all the strips together.  

 

 

I made a grid to lay on top of the picture of the original quilt.

 

 

 

and then on a piece of paper, I worked out the sizes for each of the sections for the quilt plus I added one more row to make it a queen-sized quilt.

 

 

As I got a section done, I scratched it out.

 

Tonight I finished the top, but it is so big and the edges should probably be stay-stitched so that my seams don't open up, but for now, it is folded and hung on my sewing room door.

 

 

So, this picture just gives you a sneak peek. This is probably just about a quarter of the quilt.

 

Now I have to say, I have very little fabric left over. 

 

 

There's a few loose strips and I have 13 butt end strip sections that I "maybe" could get out 9" cuts that could be used for pillow case edges.  We will see though. 

 

I will have to do some measuring to make sure my quilt top is square and then I have to piece the backing fabric and once that is done, I am going to put it on the long arm and get this thing quilted.  I am debating whether to use a solid orange of a solid gray for the binding. I may ask the bride for her opinion on this and I am thinking of using an orange thread to quilt straight line stitching to give it an even more modern look. 

 

So stay tuned.  I am hoping life slows down a bit here but with the holidays coming, I may just have to wait until 2014 to come around. 

 



Wedding day was June 17.....

....and everything went off without a hitch.  The weather was gorgeous, the bride was beautiful and the groom very handsome. 

The flowers were more beautiful than expected.

We had cupcakes rather than the traditional cake, but there was a small cake for the bride and groom to cut.

....and of course, I presented them with their wedding quilt today, the 18th, when they came to the house to open their gifts. 

I think they were very happy with the quilt.

Once I get some more candid pictures from the wedding, I will post a picture of me in my dress.  So far, no one has any.  Oh well.  It was a great day!!!

Now, on to things for me.  The wedding was the final thing on my long list of commitments.  Hopefully nothing pressing comes up too soon as I want to enjoy my freedom.  So...I am heading into the sewing room.  See  you when I come up for air. 

Now.....my time is my own

Wedding quilt (Triple Irish Chain) and more.....

It was no easy feat to get my husband to figure out how he was going to help me display this quilt so that I could get some decent pictures.  I think he nixed the idea of having to "hold" it up.  I had even suggested getting one of the neighbors to help him do that. 

After some thought, he got out the clamps and we clamped it to the eaves over the garage door. 

I had to be quick and get a couple good pictures between gusts of wind.  I think we have some storms moving in, but I was determined to get these pictures today.

I don't see any glaring mistakes, so if it is not popping out at me now, I am satisfied. 

Here's a little closer to see the quilting. 

My quilter did feathered wreaths in the open areas and continuous curves in the patchwork areas.

Here's just a peek at the backing.  It's nothing fancy except for what I think is a very pretty fabric and I am glad I have some left overs of it, too.

Now that this quilt is out of the way, I am getting busy on some of my other projects.  I had to catch up on my birthday exchange blocks and these two are the last for June.

Red - white- blue

Blue and cream

Oh....and remember this?

My moldy glue?

Well, thanks to Colleen over at http://www.quiltsomething.com/, she sent me a new bottle, a beautiful fat quarter and a Marti Mitchell corner trimmer.  She said she had never heard of any of her glues going moldy before. 

All-in-all, this was a very productive and satisfying weekend.  Hope you all got to get some stitching in.

The end is in sight.....

I have been binding for the last four evenings.  One side a night.

The end is in sight.  This was my last side to do.

Just a few more stitches.

Thank goodness for my handy dandy  needle threader or it would have taken me longer.  So glad I picked up that little wood needle threader rest while I was in Paducah.  It sat so nicely on the arm of my chair.

Done!!!  Every square inch is bound.  Just need to do something for a label.  May even think of washing and drying it to get that great "crinkly" look that I love and my daughter loves. 

You will have to wait until I get a couple big guys to hold this baby up so that I can get a truly great picture of it.  It will be the first time for even "me" to see the quilt as a whole, too.  It's just so big...104" square.

Ah...I can relax a little now.  I won't have to be stitching the binding down at the reception.  LOL



Procrastinating kind of day....

My plan was to go into the sewing room and get busy on the binding for the wedding quilt, but there were some things to move and put away so that I could even get to the sewing machine for a queen-sized quilt.

So, I thought I would punch out some circles for a couple Cherry Tree blocks that require a few cherries.

From each Hanes Pantyhose cardboard insert, I got a good 60+  of the 3/4" circles and around 85 of the 5/8" circles.  I think I am ready to get busy making some cherries and grapes.

Then while I was in Paducah for the AQS show, I stopped at Hancocks and bought yet another piece of the French General fabric which I used to cut out a couple more backgrounds.   I traced out the pattern and then transferred it slightly to the fabric. Now I just need to make the applique pieces and then #20 will be prepped.

Upon digging deeper in the mess that I had on my sewing table, I realized I had a couple more birthdays coming up, so I needed to get my blocks made for the "birthday star block exchange". 

Purple and chartreuse and black

Another black and white one.

I do have a couple more to make for June which I probably should get to as things will be getting hairy in June because of the wedding, but they will have to wait for another day. 

Speaking of the wedding.  I did plan on working on the wedding quilt today.  It was just one of those kind of days when it is cool, windy and rainy all day, so where else would I rather be?  Right?

Ok....I would have been mad at myself if I didn't get to the binding on that quilt.  That was why I went in the sewing room in the first place.

So, here I am getting it started.

and here it sits on the floor with the binding machine stitched on and all trimmed. 

Now I will be sitting in front of the TV for the next few nights handstitching this thing down.  It's a big one, so it will be a few days, but at least I did what I set out to do today and some extra stuff, too.  All-in-all....it's a good feeling. 

Hope you all got to put in a few stitches this weekend. 



This is not an April Fool's joke.....

The wedding quilt "top" is DONE!!!

I said I wouldn't post anymore pictures of it until it was done and my goal was to have it done by the end of March, so I am thinking April 1st isn't too bad.

Anyways, yesterday there was a pile of blocks.

Doesn't look like much, does it?  There are 25 blocks but each of them will finish out at 20".

Then I sewed the rows and got them all pressed.

With no one here to hold it up for me, this is the best that I can do to show you the quilt.  It measures 100" square. 

Now I am off to look for a backing. 

If I can get this quilted and back sometime in May, I should be able to get the binding on (which is made) and have it stitched down BEFORE the reception, not AT it.   

I will post pictures of the totally completed quilt hopefully before June.  

Yeah....I can finally start  something new.