Thursday, June 18, 2009

Quiltin'-a-long

Just because I haven't been here, posting my little heart out, doesn't mean that I haven't been busy.

'Cause I have. Been real busy. Been real real busy. Wanna see?

I joined this.



And, in true-to-me fashion, I started late. A couple of weeks late. Which means I killed myself last week trying to get caught up.

First I picked my fabrics. And let me just say that I am sooooooo proud of my little fabric-hoarding self for finally cutting into it. The quilt-a-long calls for 12 half-yard cuts of fabric, and guess how many little half-yard cuts of Anna Maria goodness (er, I mean "Good Folks") were in that little stack? Oh yeah, 12, baby. Exactamundo. And, of course, I had been hoarding that little stack for quite a few months, with no plans whatsoever of what I wanted to make with it. So it only made sense to force myself to use it.



So I cut. And cut and cut and cut and cut, until it was all in nice little 2.5" strips.



And then I sewed. I sewed and sewed and sewed those strips together until I was sick in the head. I'm not always a perfectionist, but because I was using up all of my AMH goodness, of course, I wanted to make sure and make the strips random, but perfectly planned-out random (if there is such a thing) so the whole finished quilt would appear somewhat uniform. So I made myself crazy trying to keep track of what color combinations I had done each time.



Then it was time to cut the sewn strips into big blocks. I made myself crazy with the blue marking pencil trying to get those stupid blocks exactly 12.5" square, but I somehow managed.

Since nothing is ever as easy as you think, then all 42 blocks needed to be arranged on the floor into just the right configuration. I didn't want any of the blocks to match up with the same fabric patterns in the intersections of each 4-block grouping. Oh yeah, I'm that anal. But it really is that organized of a quilt. And by golly, all my seams match up almost perfectly, thanks to my occasional bout of crafter's OCD.



Are you still with me? You are? Really? Haha, just kidding.

Each horizontal row had to be sewn together, and I marked each one with a post-it note pinned on to remember which one was the 1st row, the 2nd, etc. That only took about a year.

And finally I sewed all of the rows together into a quilt top.



Whew. That was a whole lotta stinkin' labor. Not even kidding.

I will be skipping the quilting part, myself, and paying someone with a long-arm machine to quilt it for me. There ain't no way I'm even going to attempt to push that beast through my little sewing machine, nothankyou. Right now this quilt pretty much stands as the biggest quilt I've made to date, and I can't believe I'm even saying this, but I think I'm gonna have to make it a smidge bigger, just in case I want to ever put it on the guest room bed or somethin'. It's currently about 72" by 84". A border all the way around it would give it a nice drape on the full-size bed in our guest room. It's awfully bright color-wise, so I don't know if it will ever really be placed on that bed, but maybe just for fun every once in a while. I have enough strip pieces left over to make two matching shams if I've a mind to, so I'll probably force myself to plod on and get this sucker ready for quilting before it gets put back in a pile for a year or two unfinished. Not that I ever do that sort of thing. Cough, cough...

Yeah, it's bright, but I sure do like it. I've got to come up with a name for it, I suppose, something better than "This dang quilt took stinkin' forever to make"...

12 comments:

mo said...

I love it!! I too am getting a late start as I was determined to also dip intoi my stash. My stash pieces are not all half yard peices so the cutting is bogging me down. I will finish though! I love your happy cheery quilt. Thanks for the nice words on the slipcover!

~Michelle~ said...

hmmm... how 'bout something like "Good Grief, Good Folks" - something to convey the amount of work you put into it ;)

Nancy said...

I think it looks like a "Summer Day"....

Very pretty. I don't have half yards either so need to shop...

Mushyhed said...

I'm exhausted just reading the post. If I pre-planned my strips like you did, I'd still be in the planning stage stressing over it. That's some serious dedication :0).
Love your choice of fabric and LOVE your quilt. So pretty. I kinda like your name for your quilt but Michelle's is great too.

Thyen Party of Four said...

OH my WORD - absolutely beautiful. You are so talented!

tag's team said...

Val, that is gorgeous! I LOVE it! Way to go!

amylouwhosews said...

thump.

Oh! Don't mind me! That was just me falling on the ground over the gorgeousness of this quilt!! BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL!! I absolutely LOVE it!!

It is a lot of work. My biggest quilt to date too. My husband saw mine and was like, wow, that's colorful! and it looks like a lot of work. Darn tootin'!!!

Karen said...

how about "Well, I will NEVER do all of that again, ever!"

No seriously, my friend, it is just gorgeous. You are one talented gal and I for one and happy to have you as a friend. Mostly 'cause I can't make anything at all so you balance me out. I was going to say, "you complete me" but that just sounds weird now doesn't it.

karen said...

Its a wonderful quilt - How about Good Dreams for a name? Am curious what did you decide for the backing?

One Shabby Chick said...

How have I not been getting your posts?!! Off to remedy that as soon as I finish typing! Ok - that quilt is so stinking fabulous...and that doll - hello! I sent a couple too - wasn't it fun - I love yours though!

LauraJ said...

You drank the ORB QA koolaid too!! I've been so tempted and I want to and all that jazz but golly gee my brain is overloaded with quilts aready! Your's is beautiful by the way! Fabric choices are everything about a quilt!

The Wooden Spool said...

SIMPLY GORGEOUS! You will love it for years to come!
Happy Summer,
Laurie~