One of the great things about the Christmas holidays is managing to tick off some items on my ever-growing to-do list. After everyone had gone home after Christmas and New Year, I pulled out my UFO (un-finished object) of many years standing and decided THIS was the year I was going to finish it.
And finish it I did.
According to my records, I began hand piecing this quilt on July 25, 2002. That's a long time ago. Granted I have made and hand quilted at least three queen-sized bed quilts as wedding gifts, two cot quilts, and two single bed quilts, made a number of quilt tops and machine-quilted quilts, and finished off a variety of other projects (some of similar long standing duration) in that time, but fourteen years is still a long time.
However one advantage of taking so long to make the quilt is that it contains scraps from many of the quilts that I made during those years, making it a memory quilt. This was also my first attempt at trapunto, and I'm happy to say I learnt from my mistakes.
Without further ado ...
Almost done on the hand quilting ...
Quilting complete ...
Binding attached but not yet slip stitched to the back. (I had to take photos at this stage because after so many years of lying around it was rather dusty and I wanted to wash it before I went any further but I was very, very nervous of dyes bleeding as one or two pieces had done just that when I used cold water to remove my quilting marks. Thankfully dye sheets work incredibly well.) ...
And finis ...
Well, apart from it finding a place on a wall ... which could take another fourteen and a half years!
Since placing the last stitch, I have sewn a hanging sleeve onto another quilt so that it can also be hung. Somewhere. DH is of the opinion that the sofa we bought last year (or was it the year before?) does not suit quilts. He prefers my hand knitted blankets thrown over the arm rests. They're snugglier too. So if the quilts can't go on the sofa, and there's more than enough on beds, and two is probably sufficient for the back of the rocking chair, then the only place to put them is on the wall, right?
Except that it takes a lot of convincing to get DH to make holes in the wall.
Now that I've finished this quilt (and I'm happy with it) there was nothing left to do but start another one ...
This pattern is also one I drafted a number of years ago (2007) and why I decided to make it now is as much a puzzle to me as to anyone, but I had the scraps, and it is summer, and I shouldn't really be spending my evenings knitting even if it's cool enough, and I needed a project, and, well, why not?
And finish it I did.
However one advantage of taking so long to make the quilt is that it contains scraps from many of the quilts that I made during those years, making it a memory quilt. This was also my first attempt at trapunto, and I'm happy to say I learnt from my mistakes.
Without further ado ...
Almost done on the hand quilting ...
Quilting complete ...
Binding attached but not yet slip stitched to the back. (I had to take photos at this stage because after so many years of lying around it was rather dusty and I wanted to wash it before I went any further but I was very, very nervous of dyes bleeding as one or two pieces had done just that when I used cold water to remove my quilting marks. Thankfully dye sheets work incredibly well.) ...
And finis ...
Well, apart from it finding a place on a wall ... which could take another fourteen and a half years!
Since placing the last stitch, I have sewn a hanging sleeve onto another quilt so that it can also be hung. Somewhere. DH is of the opinion that the sofa we bought last year (or was it the year before?) does not suit quilts. He prefers my hand knitted blankets thrown over the arm rests. They're snugglier too. So if the quilts can't go on the sofa, and there's more than enough on beds, and two is probably sufficient for the back of the rocking chair, then the only place to put them is on the wall, right?
Except that it takes a lot of convincing to get DH to make holes in the wall.
Now that I've finished this quilt (and I'm happy with it) there was nothing left to do but start another one ...
This pattern is also one I drafted a number of years ago (2007) and why I decided to make it now is as much a puzzle to me as to anyone, but I had the scraps, and it is summer, and I shouldn't really be spending my evenings knitting even if it's cool enough, and I needed a project, and, well, why not?
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