Happy, Happy, Happy!

I received an email this afternoon from Amy Ellis at Amy's Creative Side, host of the Blogger's Quilt Festival!  My quilt was a winner in the Hand Quilted Category! Hooray! Thanks to any of my friends and blog followers out there who cast their little vote for me.

It was such a lovely surprise to come home to after a little getaway celebrating 20 years of marriage to my handsome fella. Our anniversary was on November 6.  Here we are on our 2 day date to Banff.

Blogger's Quilt Festival Fall 2014

Welcome to my blog and my entry into the Hand Quilted Category in the Fall 2014 Blogger's Quilt Festival at Amy's Creative Side.  I present to you my king size, hand quilted, Swoon quilt for your consideration, and hopefully your enjoyment....ta da!

If you follow me on Instagram or here on my blog, you will have seen this quilt before.  If you have been watching VERY closely, you will remember that I postponed washing this epic mass of quiltiness.  Not sure why I did that.  I premonition of evil, perhaps?*  Well, folks, I've washed (and dried) it.  And here is a close up of the results...

Well, nothing evil in *this* picture!  Just mounds of soft and squishy, beautiful fabrics, textures and stitches on my bed!  Would you believe my first experience touching with my own hands the exquisite smushiness all over hand quilting produces was with own hand quilted quilts?  I live in a virtual world, people.

Shall I tell you a little bit about this quilt?   I began with a well known pattern by Camille Roskelley called Swoon.   The blocks in the original pattern are 24" square each.  I reduced mine to about 16.75" square.  I used Essex Yarn Dyed Linen in Flax as background fabric, and used my little collection of Denyse Schmidt prints.

I've used prints from several Denyse Schmidt collections in the quilt.  You'll see one print from Katy Jump Rope, several from Flea Market Fancy, Shelburne Falls, and some from Hope Valley.  The binding is from Chicopee and the large scale blue peonies on the backing are from Greenfield Hill.

The final dimensions are 107" by 90" and it fits nicely on my king size bed.  I added the border of 3" square scraps to use up all that pretty goodness, and make the quilt larger. The border was not original to the pattern.  I do love a scrappy border.  

And as I mentioned above (um, a couple of times, I'm so proud) I hand quilted the whole quilt.  This wasn't the first quilt I've used hand quilting in.  There was this one.  It was a lap quilt and I quilted it very minimally with big perle cotton stitches in several straight lines.  And this one.  A baby quilt.   And just as an accent on a few others.  This Swoon quilt was a bit more of a challenge!

I learned quickly that hand quilting across seams is tricky. I had originally intended to quilt a line around each star and each outer ring...and...well, it wasn't a fully formed plan.  As you can see, I ended up quilting the inside of every piece of every block, except for the narrow points in the ring, where I did stitch across seams and "united" the two pieces (you can see in the block above, in those orange "points" in between the blue sections).

This photo above was taken while quilting was in progress.  For thread, I used primarily Aurifil thread in a 12 wt.  This is a rather thick thread but not as thick as perle cotton which is an 8 wt (which I did use in a couple of blocks).  I used a variety of colours and just matched them to the block I was working on.  If you could look closely, you would see orange, aqua, stone, green, brown, blue, coral and white threads in the quilt.

Here is the back.  I didn't have enough of the lovely blueberry Greenfield Hills peony fabric, so inserted panels of a multi-floral from the Shelburne Falls line.  Can you see all the dots of the stitches showing on the back?  Don't look too close.  I also learned that it is hard to make the back look as pretty as the front does when hand quilting!  

This photo was taken this summer as soon as quilting and binding was done, and before washing and drying.  And if you want to know how long it took me to hand quilt it, I spent 6 months from start to finish.  I figure it was about a block per week, and then a couple of weeks to do the sashing and border.

Ok.  I think I've blathered on about this quilt long enough.  You probably could have scrolled straight to this section and have been done with it!  Here are the stats in a nutshell:

QUILT STATS

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"

LINKS TO MY PREVIOUS ENTRIES:

Fall 2013 - ROYGBIV category

Fall 2013 - Baby Quilt category

Spring 2013 - Bed Size Quilt category

Fall 2012 - Quilt Photography category

*Oh!  Now to the aforementioned premonition of evil.  Go look at the third photo above (the one of the whole quilt on the log wall).  See the block in the first column, third one down?  The one with the aqua star and orange print?  See the discoloured orange squares?  Go ahead, and look close, I'll wait....  Hmmmm, right?  It seems the navy backing nicely shared its excess dye with *some* of my pieces of orange/red medallion fabric and not some others.  (I bought that orange fabric from two separate suppliers, but I have no other explanation).  You can see problems elsewhere in the quilt.  One star that has the orange/red print (3rd column, second down) was entirely stained with the blue dye, one was entirely NOT stained (upper right corner).  There is more: the white flowers in the Katy Jump Rope fabric took blue dye, as did the checked Shelburne Falls print, and the multi- floral Shelburne Falls as well.  But the white flowers in the Flea Market Fancy print is as bright as ever!  So weird.  And yes, I did use colour catchers.  Four of them to be precise!  But no, I did not pre-wash any fabrics.  I have never done so before, and I have never had a problem before this quilt.  Anyways... I shared my woes on Instagram, as one does.  I received some great and hopeful advice of some product to try.  Well, life has been busy and I haven't tried it yet... and I might not even bother ordering it.  The little "flaws" are kind of growing on me... :)

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"

Swoon, Swoon, Swoonedy Swoon

Still hand quilting this one.  Just a quick update and some pictures.

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 :)

Quilts in Action

I am pleased and honoured to introduce to you the recipients of the "Shoo-Fly" Baby Quilts I made last month!  Here is a picture they sent to us from the hospital, thoughtfully including the quilts.

These twin baby boys were born yesterday, July 31st!  They are healthy and beautiful and would you just look at their mommy :)  She looks great too, wouldn't you say, for just having delivered over 15 pounds of baby!?

I was honoured again to make these little guys' acquaintance on their way home from the hospital today.  They peed on my couched and baptized my quilts with their wee leaky selves and I got to change a meconium teeny weeny bum and it was awesome!

Here is one of the little men (and since this is a quilt blog, that's my swoon quilt he peed on just before this picture was taken!  Love.)

Just thought you'd like to see some quilts in action rather than staged for a change.  Till next time!

On a Whim Quilt

One of the most popular quilts, it seems, out there in the online quilting world is "Swoon" designed by Camille Roskelley.  In January, here was a flickr group set up for folks to "quilt along" this lovely, lovely quilt.  I wanted to join but I made my version last fall.  Here it is:

The groups continued on, quilting along with some of Camille's new patterns, "On a Whim" and "Hopscotch".  Many are still doing "Swoon" and that is okay, it is a very easy going and relaxed group.

I decided I wanted to try "On a Whim". I had grabbed a few Civil War Reproduction fat quarters last fall after viewing some beautiful quilts made entirely from reproductions at a quilt show. And my LQS carries a lot of them, so the repeated exposure was doing its magic on me. "On a Whim" has a real antique feel to it, so I thought it might look nice in these fabrics. I just needed some more fat quarters to round out my collection for the quilt. I made a trip (on my own, wheeee!) to a friend's place a few hours from here in the spring and stopped at quilt shops along the way (squee!). Got some more fat quarters. Then I went to another quilt show and a local shop there was having a humongous sale. They had several selections of reproductions in yardage for super cheap. AND at the show itself, a wonderful little shop, Prairie Quilt Mercantile, was offering little plastic bags we could stuff with reproduction scraps for $5!!. And it wasn't just scraps! There were half meters and fat quarters and strips.... I made that little bag stretch and probably managed to get almost 2 meters in there! So that is where my little collection of civil war prints came from if you cared at all! And here is what I turned them into:

 The top.

After quilting.  I took this picture in the afternoon in the shade, so the colours aren't very true.  The one above it is most accurate.

So I stippled it. I know, I am *so* creative! But it is a big quilt, biggest I've ever free motioned! I do have a few wee puckers on the back. But I used a white sheet, so no one will look at it anyways right? I AM happy with how the top turned out. And I LOVE the texture allover stippling gives!

 And yesterday I finished binding! Love a stripy binding. This fabric was from Prairie Quilt Mercantile.

And now it lives on one of my couches.