Story of a Quilt

Back in March I mentioned that I was going to attend the second annual Tooele County Quilters Quilt Retreat (here) Fiesta. Well, I did and I got half of the disappearing four patch blocks done for the quilt I'd been working on for, gosh, I won't say because it's too embarrassing! Anyhoo, Here's how things looked at the Fiesta:

That's me - I was there and stitching (and eating, and chatting . . .!)

On Saturday, a half day, I laid out the blocks completed in a random way:

Each block is different in that I used 5-inch squares lovingly cut by my sister when she visited years ago, from our combined scrap bags as well as scraps from our mother's stash which we inherited in 1994 after her death. I used only a small portion of the squares in blues, greens, and yellows so I have lots of squares left to make another quilt or two . . . which will NOT be a disappearing four-patch, although this was a good challenge for me as I am a novice at this quilting thing.

After I returned from my short trip to Arizona, I got to work on the rest of the blocks and after finishing up the Dolley Madison dress for great-granddaughter Aubrey, I stitched all the blocks together, pieced a back, and took it to Michelle Jensen, a member of the Tooele Quilters who not only does long-arm quilting but also designs quilt patterns, and sells pre-cuts in her Etsy store. Before I show you the finished quilting, here are photos of the Dolley dress and Aubrey wearing it for her school presentation.

Ready to send to Arizona

I was quite proud of how this turned out - I more or less designed it myself (using a girls' basic top pattern), adding the ruffle and empire waist. I also finished the inside with French seams since the fabric was very ravely.

My sweet 10-yr-old great-granddaughter posing as First Lady Dolley Madison.

Granddaughter DaviJo reported that Aubrey earned an A+ on her project and presentation. I loved to be a part of this!

On to the now-quilted disappearing four-patch top. Michelle did an allover swirl design and the effect, in our humble (Michelle's and my) opinion is stunning.

Putting the rows together - what is done, on the ironing board.

View of the back and front.

Once I got it back, it was just a matter of making the binding and finishing up. Previous quilts I've done (which is not many actually), I have stitched the binding on by hand but I found a really great tutorial on Pinterest for machine binding and decided to give it a try. Awesome - it turned out perfectly, no fuss, no muss!

Not a huge quilt by any means, but a nice throw size.

Done.

So, that is the ONE quilting project that I've completed this year! I sure do hope I can get to maybe a couple more; what with gardening, stamping and crafting, and reading (as well as the day-to-day cleaning, laundry, ironing, cooking, living), it is sometimes hard to find time to sew. But . . .,

 

My new mantra!

So long until I hope tomorrow when I have a favorite activity to report and also new additions to the ranch!

Bye, bye!