Summer Quilt is Finished

OK, well I think that the quilting is finished of my Summer Quilt. That point of absolute certainty does not come quickly when I am doing my own quilting. For some reason I have to overthink my own projects way more than I would anybody elses. So how long do you think it took me to quilt???... Not counting pinning it to the frame, 22 hours. That is frightening! Summer Quilt, and it's February??...Not sure where the name originated, as it has seen at least 2 summers in it's life thus far. I think that the soft sandy and aqua/teal colors reminded me of the beach.

So here is the top, or as much of the top as I can show given the fact that it is 100" square (and my hallway is NOT!). Am I happy with it?...You betcha! I love it, or most of it anyways. The curving bands of feathering are fantastic (even when you consider that some of those feathers are more like "hot dogs" and "potato chips" - Suzanne-isms from my Feather Bootcamp class). I am stoked to get the binding on in the evenings, once I get a little bit more applique completed on another quilt.

Here's a closeup of the feathered star. I didn't really use a pattern on this...that is why some of the pieces do not come together exactly as they probably should. Still, I think the design is pretty decent considering it was ad-libbed, one block at a time. I wish I had recorded how long this quilt took me to make. I vaguely remember each of the 18" blocks (and there are 9) taking 2-3 hours to construct. I was pretty anal about maintaining every point.

As I said previously, this was the quilt I sent to Carla to quilt whisper as a part of the MQResource QW class I did last month. Look back a post or 2 to see a link to what she drafted up. In hindsight, I probably could have quilted what she drafted, in it's entirety, but I decided to meld my favorite designs for the quilt with the ones she proposed that I liked best. I did not do quite as much SID or ruler work as she may have proposed. Frankly, I hate ruler work, and it is not my best thing! Also, I decided I loved the slightly more lofty look that the wonderful wool batting gave, so I opted not to "quilt the heck" out of it, even if the design was magnificent! None the less, I am grateful to her for her great ideas for the piece; many were incorporated. I'm curious what she'd think of the finished project!

This is the center of the feathered star. I still have a couple of bits of stitching to take out in the pebbling, so ignore that for now. I love how the curved cross-hatching looks in the block backgrounds. I am still having a hard time loving the curved stitching in the triangles, because this is an area I should have used a template and not freehanded it. It could look better, more consistent, and I know it. Problem is, it was stitched integrally with the CC, and removing it will mean that the CC might come unstitched too. Yuck! I can live with it I have decided. And I know how I will do it differently next time. The learnings are half of the battle. I dithered on how to quilt the feathered part of this star (above), and in the end opted to go with Carla's fancier design. It is, afterall, the center focal of the quilt and should not look under-quilted.

It is time to tahe a damp cloth to remove the rest of the purple marking pen. It's funny how the feathers around the blocks show up for the pictures. They were practically nonexistent while I was quilting them - to the point where it felt like I couldn't see the stitching whatsoever. I didn't know if I'd backtracked properly. Happliy, they all look pretty decent.

I absolutely love the feathering in the outer border....the way they surround the stars is one of those great finds that happened purely by chance! And while I was quilting it, I really could not wait to see the back. It's all stitched with an aqua Bottomline thread, so nothing but the texture shows. I am definitely investing in more Bottomline - I love it.

And the stripe around the periphery of the back of quilt miraculously ended up just about where it was supposed to. It may be a quarter of an inch more towards one side, but who's measuring???

Oohh...lovely texture. My bed definitely needs a new bedskirt to match these soft tans and aquas, but I'm not sure I have time yet. I must attend to some lack of attention I have been giving Feather Bootcamp, and load on some scrap fabric and practice feathers for Suzanne!! Because I have several customer quilts arriving next week that need my attention :-)

Have a good week! I'll post pics from a client's quilt this weekend. It's enroute to her as I type in California. It was fun and turned out great too.

So, ...if you like this quilt, just remember, I can quilt for you too - just email me! msolomo1@maine.rr.com