I was super busy last week trying to finish up a long overdue project as well as my other sewing. When I finished my top for Bonnie Hunter's Allietare Mystery I decided that it would be a perfect gift for my oldest daughter. But somehow I could never find the time to actually quilt it! I finally started basting it earlier this year, only to find out that my backing was about 9 inches too short!
I made a plan to sew a strip on, then finish basting it. Of course that made the process way to intimidating and the quilt sat for many more months. Earlier this month I decided that since my daughter was going to be visiting for a few days I might as well finish it up so I could gift it to her while she was here (and then I wouldn't have to procrastinate mailing it out...).
Adding the strip to the backing wasn't terribly difficult, just pretty awkward. Then, my strip was too short and didn't go all the way to the side, so I had to hand stitch another small strip to that. After that it was smooth sailing and I got it quilted up over the course of a week!
It took 9 bobbins to complete the quilting. I have a bit left on my 50 wt spool of Aurifil 2555 (Dark Red Orange), and of course the quilting went perfectly. Lots of seams in this quilt, and I only had a couple thread breaks and about not a whole lot of skipping either! I got a little stumped when I got to the binding because I didn't remember what I had planned to use. But I found a great piece of black with gold on it that was the perfect frame for this quilt.
Since there is so much red and so many different fabrics I decided to give it a wash and dry before I gifted it. It came out great, but there was quite a bit of red in the color catcher sheet!
Before washing, my quilt inspector had to check it out. He definitely approved of it! I used Warm and Plush for the batting, making this one heavy quilt! My daughter lives in Cambridge, so I know the warmth will be appreciated this winter.
There were lots of oohs and aahs when I gave it to her. I was so happy that she loves it, she says the quilt I made for her to take to college 18 years ago is in embarrassing condition so she was definitely due for a new one!
Here's the strip I had to add to the back. (I love this wild backing - it's so much fun to add something a little different to the back of a quilt.)
I have my next big quilt basted and ready to quilt now - I figure if I get busy, I might be able to cross that one off my list by the end of the month as well. Three cheers for getting these tops turned into quilts!
Oh my, Allietare is beautiful! I am especially impressed with your quilting, but I love everything about it. GREAT JOB! And what a wonderful gift for your lucky daughter too!
ReplyDeleteJonnie in SC
Loved reading the behind-the-scenes work - I was wondering about that red strip on the back! :) It's great and will definitely be lovely for wintertime! I'm so blessed to have such a talented mother. <3
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