The Hand Quilted Swoon is Done!

Hooray!  It's pieced, it's quilted, it's bound!  But it's not washed and dried yet!  Usually that is the first thing I do when I complete a quilt.  But I wanted to take some pictures before it crinkles, as I have never made such a large piece with hand quilting, and with linen....I just don't quite know how different it will look!  But I will let you know.

Final dimensions (before shrinkage) are 107" by 90".  I have also resized these blocks, you might remember if you've been following me, to about 3/4 the size of the pattern.  So the original pattern has blocks that finish 24" and mine ended up at about 16.75" (please don't ask me to explain how that math works!  I have no memory how I arrived at the numbers I did, but it worked out.)

Piecing this one began in March 2013 and the top was finished in October.  I began hand quilting in January of 2014 and completed it at the end of June!  It works out to roughly about a block a week plus the borders and sashing in another 2 - 3 weeks. 

I love, love, love this backing I used which is a Denyse Schmidt print, from her line Greenfield Hill.  Unfortunately, as is usually the way things go, I did not have enough for a king size quilt and so I stuck in a panel down the middle of a Shelburne Falls floral print which I also love.  So yay!

What a joy to look at each of those stitches and feel a bit more connected to them, as each one constitutes a moment in my day, a precise movement of my own hands, a bit of my own concentration to make it just right, and so really... a piece of me!

(The size of the quilt is ample enough for our king size bed, but I've pictured it on a queen size bed as it was easier to take pictures in this room.)

And finally all the details to sum it up:

Pattern:  Swoon by Camille Roskelley for Thimble Blossoms (resized to my own dimensions)

Print Fabrics for Blocks: Various Denyse Schmidt lines, including Katy Jump Rope, Hope Valley, Shelburne Falls, and Flea Market Fancy.

Background Fabric for Blocks: Essex Yarn Dyed Linen in Flax

Binding: Chicopee Simple Plaid in Black by Denyse Schmidt

Backing: Greenfield Hill Preservation Peony in Blueberry and Multi Floral from Shelburne Falls by Denyse Schmidt

Piecing Thread: Aurifil 50 wt. in 2325

Quilting Thread: Aurifil 12 wt. in various colours, DMC perle cotton

Batting: Warm & Natural

Dimensions: 107" by 90"

Swooning in Progress...

So I'm now hand quilting my king size Swoon!

Since the summery picture above (did we REALLY have grass out there?!  It's now under 3 feet of snow and ice) I added a border in October. (And bear with my iPhone pictures below...for some reason I can't seem to manage pulling out the real camera until the quilt is done).

Finally, after a monster basting job which used up all my pins and all my floor space...I am quilting! I am using heavier threads, such as DMC perle cottons in size 8, and Aurifil in size 12, in a variety of colours and I'm liking it so far!

The blocks have all finished at 16.25" square, a reduction from the pattern's original 24".  If you haven't come across this pattern yet, it's Swoon by Camille Roskelley and can be found here.

For more Swoon inspiration, be sure to look at the Flickr groups of fellow Swooners.  And again, join us, won't you?

Still Swooning

I'm just about finished my gigantic Swoon top! You may remember a few posts ago that I joined up with Fairy Face Designs and her Swoon 2013 Quilt-a-Long!

Here is what has resulted so far:

I've run out of Essex Yarn Dyed Linen in Flax, AGAIN, so will have to postpone adding my final sashing strips around the outside of this beauty. And yes, I had to enlist at least 4 boys to hold up this quilt top for photographing!

Swoon Along 2013

Quilty people on the internets are still Swooning Along, and so am I. I joined up with FairyFace Designs and her Swoon 2013 Quiltalong to make my second Swoon quilt. (If you haven't seen this very popular pattern yet, it can be found here at the designer's own site.)

Last year there was a very successful quilt-along led by the very persuasive Katy Jones of I'm a Ginger Monkey. I added in my Swoon which had been completed the year before, now in the possession of my father-in-law, but I was still itching to make one in a fresh, modern palette. And I wanted to try scaling down the blocks.

So I started another one in March of this year, and put it on hold when all the shops ran out of the Essex Yarn Dyed Linen I was using for the background! I finally was able to get some from Mad About Patchwork (which I see is sold out again!) and start up again late this Spring when this new Swoon-Along began. Here are my blocks so far:

 

I decided to make mine king size, gulp! (Ask me how that is going in a few months... lap size quilts are nice too!) And since I have scaled down the blocks to 16" that means I can get away with 25 total with a border and all. I have all the fabrics cut out too!  I decided to use up all my Denyse Schmidt fabrics I have from a variety for her lines: Flea Market Fancy (old and new release), Katy Jump Rope, Shelburne Falls, and Hope Valley.

The only issue I find is that if I let too long of a time elapse between putting the blocks together, I'm all kinds of mixed up and sewing things together all kinds of crazy ways. I just can't get my head wrapped around the block unless I sit and do a few at a time. I did 2 last night, the first took me about an hour and the second about 15 minutes. I need a whole day with nothing else to do to get this one whipped without frustration, I think. Oh well. We will see if that happens!!

 Don't get me wrong, it's really not a hard block, I just don't concentrate very well, I guess!! Oh, and you need to go take a look at all the lovelies that the Swoon 2013 participants are making at the Flickr Group! And join us, won't you?

My blocks so far, and my son's feet :)

 (Edited 07/07/2013) ... PS.  OK, 15 minutes might have been an exaggeration... I didn't time it, but it felt fast!  I don't want to discourage anyone :)

Hope Valley Table Runner

A little finish today with some scraps! Made from 2 inch strips and squares I had left over from my Hope Valley Quilt, and 2 inch strips of Essex Linen in Putty I pulled from my 2 inch strip bin. I also was able to bind it in 2.5 inch strips I had left over from binding my Swoon Quilt way back in the fall. It's a woodgrain print from Timeless Treasures, I think. The backing was from an old sheet!



I have been using Bonnie Hunter's system for storing my scraps and I really love it. Whenever I am done a project, I cut the scraps into useable pieces: 1.5 inches (strips and squares), 2 inches, 2.5 inches or charms. Then they are ready to go for whatever I want to make. Like this postage stamp table runner!

Hope Valley Log Cabin Finished!

I finished the Hope Valley Log Cabin quilt yesterday. I so love to curl up on the couch and hand sew the binding on. MMMMMM. So cozy. And I LOVE the binding on this one. Would you believe I found some Flea Market Fancy in a fabric shop in Hawaii last month? I was so excited, inexperienced fabric store shopper I am, living in the boonies of Canada. I bought all they had on the bolt which wasn't much, but I got a discount! There were two more prints besides the brown. PLUS. I got some Katy Jump Rope. Yes, I am a follower of modern quilty fanaticism.



Anyways, today is windy and snowy, but my hubby braved the snow to hold up this very long quilt for me to photograph in the dimness. I originally thought to make it for a tablecloth quilt.. but it is so crinkly it won't look right. I used old flannel sheets for batting, thinking it wouldn't crinkle as much as new cotton. Oh well, I love the crinkly look. It adds to the vintage feel I was going for with the Hope Valley and the linen.

As we were walking out to take a picture, hubby asked his usual question: "Who is this quilt for?" And usually they are for me, or us! Is that wrong? A couple of quilts I have parted with after having them with me for several months...I think you know how I feel.

Quilting Hope Valley

Hope it works out! I'm doing straight parallel lines on either side of the log cabin seams and then across the sashing... Not sure about it but I am pretty committed now! I'm sure it will look great when it comes out of the dryer right???!

Needle Turn Fishies Quilt Top

He likes it! Yay for scraps! Now to quilt it and make it cuddlier for the little darlin'.

Needle Turn Fishies

My 2 year old is absolutely nuts about fishies. We put together a LONG videos of clips from our visit to the aquarium in Maui he will sit and watch for hours. It is especially nice because it includes my voice and daddies and occasionally our faces, too!

Anyways, back to sewing. I decided fishies would be a fun way to try out needle turn appliqué, if not for the practice, but for the enthusiasm and joy my son gets at each finished fish! Makes me feel good about myself that they are recognizable as fish by a 2 year old too! I'll probably make these into a little quilt when I have enough, and maybe I'll try some other creatures if my little guy is enthusiastic about them!