I've been waiting forever to post this!! Here's the full story about the quilt I made for the eleventh round of the Doll Quilt Swap on flickr. I posted a while ago about the lovely quilt I received form Carol/Mamacjt, but now it's time to do a full reveal of the quilt that I made!
This post has been a long time coming, you see I mailed my quilt about a month ago - then promptly lost the tracking code slip. I freaked out about it for a little while until one of the swap mamas sent me a note to let me know that my partner had moved during the swap so her neighbor (at her old place) would be collecting the mail and forwarding it to her.
I still checked nearly every day to see if she had received it.
In the meantime I was also continuing to stalk my partner's blog. The worst thing happened, she has fallen ill and man it's just such a rough world you know? So I really wanted to cheer her up - and kept wishing more and more that she'd get the quilt and it'd at least be a little lift to her spirits. I commented on her blog post and we've emailed back and forth a couple times... all the while hoping she wouldn't put two and two together.... lol.
So she received it today!!!! The sweet little quilt that kinda stole my heart to send away - was sent to.... Maria / Mollyjolly!!! I'm so glad that she liked.it! I had looked at her mosaic for the swap and decided to try (for the first time) the new york beauty block... but I shrunk it down about 75%. I couldn't leave well enough alone right? It turns out I pretty much love that block! They are a heck of a lot of work for one 4" little block so it ended up being a label block for the back. I really fell for it.
For the front I was completely inspired by this quilt. I love the offcenteredness of a chunk of blocks. I wanted to go with subdued, gentle, pretty colors. So I weeded through my stash and scraps and was really impressed at how I actually was able to achieve that palate (though I almost never work with it!). I paper pieced the string blocks I think they ended up 2" finished? Maybe 2.5".
I added some hand stitching throughout and quilted it densely with lines about 1/4" apart. I tried to bind it a bit differently - using slightly longer visible stitches instead of the invisible ones I usually use. Note to self: it's actually a lot more work/time consuming/irritating to try to go through three layers of fabric (but not the front). In the end those stitches were pretty darling and totally worth it.... but never will I do that on a big quilt!!
Sigh. :) This quilt made me smile a lot. I actually waited until the last day to send it -- so that I could enjoy it a bit too! :) I'm so glad that it's finally in the hands of it's new owner and that I feel like I've made another bloggy friend. Long live DQS!
Linked up at Fabric Tuesday!
Linked up at Fabric Tuesday!
I love it, I can't tell you how much! Thanks so much! Last night when my husband came home from work, I followed him all around the condo (I'm sure he thought I was acting a bit strange). When he finally went to change into something more comfortable I went and stood by the wall of quilty goodness and kept waiting for him to notice. He's pretty oblivious to most things in the world, so I was pleasantly surprised when (without any prompting) he said, "Well, look at that!" I think for a brief moment he was almost jealous that he doesn't get to participate in quilt swaps . . . well, maybe that's pushing it a bit far. His patience doesn't seem to run in that direction, so he'd never see the joy in making something like this just so he could have one made for him.
ReplyDeleteAgain, thanks! It made me smile, first thing this morning. :)
Wow! What a great little qult! And it couldnt go to a more deserving person! BTW Im jealous of you and everyone else who gets to go to the sewing summit! I wish I was! Have fun!
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