Saturday night hockey

Saturday night hockey
Saturday night hockey

Saturday, October 9, 2010

DD # 2 is gone and she took the quilt….

We had our family Thanksgiving dinner last night – all the girls, grandchildren, friends, cousins, boyfriends and various dogs.  Nice to have the whole family together for the first time in over a year.  DD # 2 left early this morning on the plane, amid the slushy, snowy rain.  And she took her quilt with her!

Some hitherto little known and unpublished facts about this quilt….

1. This is the first large quilt I have made start to finish.

2.  The quilt is a graduation present for DD #2.  She graduated in July.  I started gathering the fabric in April and finished the quilt yesterday. 

3. I got the pattern out of a book at our local library; Fast, Fun and Fabulous Quilts by Judith Hughes Marte.

4. I started a quilt for DD # 2 several years ago from fabric she bought.  About a year ago, after a couple of years of nagging me to work on her quilt, she announced that her tastes had changed.  She pointed out this quilt in the book as one she was now liking.  She didn’t know until she got here last week that I wasn’t working on the old quilt.

5. There are 8 light coloured plaids and 27 dark coloured plaids in this quilt. 

6. I got many of the plaid fabrics from an online store – Schoolhouse Quilts.  They had a special of 20 plaid fat quarters for $30.  The owner was very helpful; after I got the initial batch, which was mostly dark plaids, I e-mailed and asked if she could send me a second batch with light plaids.  Although she didn’t have as big a selection of the lights, she was quite happy to send me duplicates of some of the lights.

7. I now have a large stash of plaid fabrics :)

8. The star pieces are all cut from templates and the pieces were not easy to match up.  I string pieced them four at a time.  After the first four I realized there were problems with the matches but I wasn’t taking it apart.  If I was to do this again I think I’d make a paper piecing pattern.

9. I did “custom quilting” on this quilt.  I’ve done a bit of this before but never on such a large project.  Please don’t look too closely at my mistakes.

10. The finished size is about 68” x 51”.

10. Judith named this quilt Stars and Stripes Forever but that was just too much of a patriotic American name for me.  I named it Dancing Stars.

 

IMG_2363

It’s a little shy to start.  But then it jumps forth boldly….

IMG_2364

Hanging out in the late afternoon sun….

IMG_2366

IMG_2368

Close ups….

IMG_2369

IMG_2382

IMG_2379

IMG_2381

And the label….I crossed all the T’s but I see I didn’t dot all the I’s….

IMG_2384A

IMG_2385A 

IMG_2386

IMG_2387

After watching me madly finishing the quilt all week and asking a million questions like “What are you doing now?”  “Why are you using that foot on your sewing machine?” “How long is that going to take?”, the actual presentation of the quilt wasn’t much of a surprise.  She does really like it though, I could tell when she first saw it. 

IMG_2375

Here’s a contest for you all.  There is one plaid in here which is a Canadian provincial tartan.  Which one is it and what province does it come from?  Laina, I know you know and you can’t play…

IMG_2383

Janet

10 comments:

  1. WOW! WOW! WOW!
    that is an amazing quilt - and some BEAUTIFUL quilting
    well done!
    xx

    ReplyDelete
  2. That is an awesome quilt. I love everything about it - the design, the colours, the quilting, just everything.
    Thanks for visiting my blog yesterday. I hope you've had my email now and understand what was happening?

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a beautiful wonky star quilt. You did an excellenet job my dear. Thank you for sharing. I haven't the "fogiest" which plaid being from U.S.A. and not knowing that about Canada. lol

    Happy Quilting!

    ReplyDelete
  4. What a wonderful quilt!! Good job - as for the provincial tartan - the only one that stands out for me is a blue that is just above the right corner, and in the right-hand star second row from the bottom. I can't enlarge, but I'm guessing that might be either Nova Scotia or Yukon (and I'm betting on Yukon because of where you live, but then Yukon isn't a province technically). Oh, I don't know - just can't resist a contest. Blessings, Peg

    ReplyDelete
  5. Janet, this is a beautiful beautiful quilt!!! Thanks for sharing all the great photos AND all the tidbits about the quilt and how it was made. I almost feel as though I was there enjoying the process with you!

    Way to go on finishing your first big quilt! : D

    ~ Ronda

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Janet!
    What a beautiful quilt! You did a wonderful job and she so loves it!
    The tartan is from Nova Scotia, it is blue with black and I think it is the one in the lower right corner, just up from the red corner square!
    there is also another strip under the 3rd star from the lower right corner!
    Take care! Leslie

    ReplyDelete
  7. What a gorgeous quilt! It will be greatly loved, I am sure.
    Micki

    ReplyDelete
  8. Gorgeous quilt and a fabulous gift!! You can see all the love just shining from it.

    ReplyDelete
  9. My guess is the green and red plaid in the closeup before the signature photos. And a bit of trivia...the yellow and black plaid is, or is similar to, the blanket you had on the end of your bed as a child...

    Looks fabulous! Lucky Laina

    ReplyDelete
  10. What a wonderful quilt! I love such shape of stars and the quilting is absolutely gorgeous!!!

    ReplyDelete