I wrote about this quilt here and here. In the latter post, I wrote how I had decided to utilise big stitch quilting to get this quilt done. But then a new grandbaby and a wedding meant that other quilts were more urgent, and this one got put on the back burner.
But with lockdown (even though I am now back at work and finding I'm as busy as ever) unfinished projects have been dragged out of storage and goals have been set to see some of these unfinished works finally done and dusted. In the seven or more weeks since New Zealand went into lockdown I have quilted two quilts (a wall hanging and a lap quilt), made two lap-sized quilts (including the aforementioned one that was quilted), and finished this big baby.
A few days ago, as I was nearing completion I commented to DH that it had taken me almost twenty years to make this quilt. His reply was that it was a shame it had taken so long because it deserved to be finished. High praise from him indeed!
But now it's done and it's time to reflect on the making that went into this quilt.
As mentioned in previous posts - and as is likely obvious from the quilt - many of the fabrics were scraps. Pieces from all my early quilts can be seen as well as a small piece that I cut from the first pillowcase I sewed when at school (back in the 70s) and have treasured ever since. There are also pieces from a favourite dress of mine, and a piece from a shirt that DH used to look particularly handsome in, as well as scraps from my mother's dressmaking and another piece from my grandmother, who was a great seamstress and from whose estate I managed to obtain only one small piece of fabric (granted, she did a lot of wedding sewing and the silks and satins and trims could have been better utilised by other members of the family, if indeed there were any such pieces left - and I did get an old handstitched tablecloth that I put to use as a quilt here).
Not being a huge collector of fabric and, especially at the time when this quilt was started, not having a lot of spare cash due to raising a largish family on one and a bit incomes, I would look for offcuts and bargain bin sales to add to the scrappy look. When I needed larger pieces of fabric, I would buy all that was needed at that point in time, hence the reason the blue borders do not all match.
According to my records this top was pieced between 2003 and 2005. It began with me hand sewing small squares together, perhaps in anticipation of one day making Tennessee Waltz (a pattern I have loved for a long time and still haven't gotten around to making). The centre Dresden Plate had been made prior to 1996 and used as practice for machine quilting (very badly, too, I might add). As I started playing with ideas for this quilt, looking at several patterns that I liked, I decided to remove the applique from its background and use it as the centre medallion in this quilt. I replaced some of the pieces to give it a more scrappy look and found a fabric on sale that was perfectly suited for the background. (From memory, I had to buy a minimum of half a metre since it was on sale which gave me enough leftover to use in the first round of pieced blocks.)
From that starting point, I started adding borders, one at a time, and, as mentioned previously, buying just enough of a fabric to complete the next round of borders, until the quilt top was eventually completed circa 2005.
At some stage, perhaps soon after finishing (although I can't be sure) I sewed a lining to the top and then added a backing and used it as a cover for our featherdown quilt. Fast forward ten years or more, and some random urge had me removing the lining and backing (having first cleaned the quilt) and then storing the quilt top amongst my sewing stuff to be dealt with at a later stage. To this day, I don't know why I took this step. Perhaps I'd been surfing the 'net and had fallen in love with so many quilts (happens all the time) that I decided that such a large quilt shouldn't live its whole life unquilted.
In January 2018, enjoying several weeks' break from work, I pulled the quilt top out with the idea that I would machine quilt it. By this time I had acquired a new sewing machine and a new level of confidence - the latter which lasted until approximately three minutes into trying to quilt by machine. I then turned to big stitch quilting. And was progressing nicely until Son#4 announced his engagement and I decided another big quilt - a wedding quilt this time - was in order.
Wedding accomplished pre-lockdown (only just) and other quilts completed during the early stages of lockdown, I again turned my attention to this quilt. Being my first foray into big stitch quilting - and not knowing whether this would become another passion or not - I had started with DMC Perle#8 threads and had quilted approximately three-quarters of it before I put it aside to take up other projects.
[Having since discovered Aurifil 12wt threads (I used them on Son#4's quilt and immediately became a convert) I think I'll be choosing these ones in future. The thread is wonderful to work with (although it does break after repeated friction from the needle - but so does quilting thread), and the colours are incredible. I especially love the variegated ones. The downside is that they are expensive and hard to obtain - where I live anyway.]
But back to the DMC Perle#8. Along with the choice of wadding, it gives definition and texture to the quilt, causing the quilting to stand out on the back (something I wanted), and resulting in a new obsession for big stitch quilting.
The wadding is a discontinued line of 50/50 cotton/polyester (and was lovely to quilt and gives it a vintage look when quilted) and the binding I bought some time prior to lockdown (which meant I could completely finish the quilt now). One edge of the quilt is badly faded from repeatedly being at the head of the bed and being handled most (the reason why I prefer quilts that can be turned and not directional - and this one will now be able to be turned) but I decided not to remove or replace it … after all, it's all part of the story.
I have always loved bar quilts but with so many ideas and plans in my head knew that I would likely never make one. Therefore I decided to do alternating strips of white and blue of varying widths for the back to recreate the look of a bar quilt. I love how it turned out and am tempted to use a similar idea for the back for most quilts from now on. (In fact, I have a large scrap quilt on a black background that I think would look great with alternating strips the same width on the back and even quilted from the back rather than the front … perhaps another project in the immediate future coming up?)
This quilt holds so many memories - not just the stories in the fabric - but what I was doing when I was making and quilting - and even sometimes what I was watching or listening to as I spent hours on the making of this quilt. I can remember being sprawled on the floor in our sunroom measuring and sewing - a room that no longer exists due to renovations that took place in 2011 - with my young family involved in pastimes nearby. I basted this quilt on our huge table tennis table in the front room - which is also a totally different room thanks to renovations 2018/2019. Wintry Sunday afternoons spent quilting in a quiet sunny corner and then putting it aside when The Most Adorable Granddaughters came to visit. And now, finishing it as so many nations of the world experience lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Frustrations, sorrows, joys are sewn into the quilt. Stories of the last twenty years - and beyond. Memories of other quilts, other sewing, other people. Links with the past - with our lives.
The story of a quilt.
But with lockdown (even though I am now back at work and finding I'm as busy as ever) unfinished projects have been dragged out of storage and goals have been set to see some of these unfinished works finally done and dusted. In the seven or more weeks since New Zealand went into lockdown I have quilted two quilts (a wall hanging and a lap quilt), made two lap-sized quilts (including the aforementioned one that was quilted), and finished this big baby.
A few days ago, as I was nearing completion I commented to DH that it had taken me almost twenty years to make this quilt. His reply was that it was a shame it had taken so long because it deserved to be finished. High praise from him indeed!
But now it's done and it's time to reflect on the making that went into this quilt.
As mentioned in previous posts - and as is likely obvious from the quilt - many of the fabrics were scraps. Pieces from all my early quilts can be seen as well as a small piece that I cut from the first pillowcase I sewed when at school (back in the 70s) and have treasured ever since. There are also pieces from a favourite dress of mine, and a piece from a shirt that DH used to look particularly handsome in, as well as scraps from my mother's dressmaking and another piece from my grandmother, who was a great seamstress and from whose estate I managed to obtain only one small piece of fabric (granted, she did a lot of wedding sewing and the silks and satins and trims could have been better utilised by other members of the family, if indeed there were any such pieces left - and I did get an old handstitched tablecloth that I put to use as a quilt here).
Not being a huge collector of fabric and, especially at the time when this quilt was started, not having a lot of spare cash due to raising a largish family on one and a bit incomes, I would look for offcuts and bargain bin sales to add to the scrappy look. When I needed larger pieces of fabric, I would buy all that was needed at that point in time, hence the reason the blue borders do not all match.
According to my records this top was pieced between 2003 and 2005. It began with me hand sewing small squares together, perhaps in anticipation of one day making Tennessee Waltz (a pattern I have loved for a long time and still haven't gotten around to making). The centre Dresden Plate had been made prior to 1996 and used as practice for machine quilting (very badly, too, I might add). As I started playing with ideas for this quilt, looking at several patterns that I liked, I decided to remove the applique from its background and use it as the centre medallion in this quilt. I replaced some of the pieces to give it a more scrappy look and found a fabric on sale that was perfectly suited for the background. (From memory, I had to buy a minimum of half a metre since it was on sale which gave me enough leftover to use in the first round of pieced blocks.)
From that starting point, I started adding borders, one at a time, and, as mentioned previously, buying just enough of a fabric to complete the next round of borders, until the quilt top was eventually completed circa 2005.
At some stage, perhaps soon after finishing (although I can't be sure) I sewed a lining to the top and then added a backing and used it as a cover for our featherdown quilt. Fast forward ten years or more, and some random urge had me removing the lining and backing (having first cleaned the quilt) and then storing the quilt top amongst my sewing stuff to be dealt with at a later stage. To this day, I don't know why I took this step. Perhaps I'd been surfing the 'net and had fallen in love with so many quilts (happens all the time) that I decided that such a large quilt shouldn't live its whole life unquilted.
In January 2018, enjoying several weeks' break from work, I pulled the quilt top out with the idea that I would machine quilt it. By this time I had acquired a new sewing machine and a new level of confidence - the latter which lasted until approximately three minutes into trying to quilt by machine. I then turned to big stitch quilting. And was progressing nicely until Son#4 announced his engagement and I decided another big quilt - a wedding quilt this time - was in order.
Wedding accomplished pre-lockdown (only just) and other quilts completed during the early stages of lockdown, I again turned my attention to this quilt. Being my first foray into big stitch quilting - and not knowing whether this would become another passion or not - I had started with DMC Perle#8 threads and had quilted approximately three-quarters of it before I put it aside to take up other projects.
[Having since discovered Aurifil 12wt threads (I used them on Son#4's quilt and immediately became a convert) I think I'll be choosing these ones in future. The thread is wonderful to work with (although it does break after repeated friction from the needle - but so does quilting thread), and the colours are incredible. I especially love the variegated ones. The downside is that they are expensive and hard to obtain - where I live anyway.]
But back to the DMC Perle#8. Along with the choice of wadding, it gives definition and texture to the quilt, causing the quilting to stand out on the back (something I wanted), and resulting in a new obsession for big stitch quilting.
The wadding is a discontinued line of 50/50 cotton/polyester (and was lovely to quilt and gives it a vintage look when quilted) and the binding I bought some time prior to lockdown (which meant I could completely finish the quilt now). One edge of the quilt is badly faded from repeatedly being at the head of the bed and being handled most (the reason why I prefer quilts that can be turned and not directional - and this one will now be able to be turned) but I decided not to remove or replace it … after all, it's all part of the story.
I have always loved bar quilts but with so many ideas and plans in my head knew that I would likely never make one. Therefore I decided to do alternating strips of white and blue of varying widths for the back to recreate the look of a bar quilt. I love how it turned out and am tempted to use a similar idea for the back for most quilts from now on. (In fact, I have a large scrap quilt on a black background that I think would look great with alternating strips the same width on the back and even quilted from the back rather than the front … perhaps another project in the immediate future coming up?)
This quilt holds so many memories - not just the stories in the fabric - but what I was doing when I was making and quilting - and even sometimes what I was watching or listening to as I spent hours on the making of this quilt. I can remember being sprawled on the floor in our sunroom measuring and sewing - a room that no longer exists due to renovations that took place in 2011 - with my young family involved in pastimes nearby. I basted this quilt on our huge table tennis table in the front room - which is also a totally different room thanks to renovations 2018/2019. Wintry Sunday afternoons spent quilting in a quiet sunny corner and then putting it aside when The Most Adorable Granddaughters came to visit. And now, finishing it as so many nations of the world experience lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Frustrations, sorrows, joys are sewn into the quilt. Stories of the last twenty years - and beyond. Memories of other quilts, other sewing, other people. Links with the past - with our lives.
The story of a quilt.
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