Nevaeh is my youngest son's oldest daughter and is 13, she has been through two major surgeries in her life already. The first when she was only a month old and the second when she was six. She is doing fine and hopefully will stay that way. When I asked what colour to make her quilt, all I was told was black. I just couldn't make a completely black quilt and was totally lost as to how to proceed.
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| Northcott Kensington Park border print and Northcott Shimmer |
When I saw this border print from Northcott I fell in love with it and my hope was that Nevaeh would too. It was now Nov 9th, approximately 6 weeks until Christmas, and no plan in sight. Time to open EQ8 and start designing.
I also used Kona black. The centre block is 24'' by 24''.
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| More playing with inset seams |
As if I didn't get enough inset seams making the block for the Virtual Cookie Exchange project you can read more about that here, I made four of the above blocks, what was I thinking?
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| Dec 4th and a long way to go |
Piecing this top was a priority, I wonder if the Elves feel like this at this time of year?
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| Dec 5th a completely pieced top, excuse the poor lighting |
A sense of relief, with a finished top, now on to the quilting and 20 days till Christmas, with no idea how I wanted to quilt it. I started by stitching in the ditch, and then I let the quilt start talking to me.
I kept the centre fairly simple. I outlined the bird and added some gentle curves. Straight lines radiating out from the centre and more curves.
I wanted the stars to pop so I echoed each star and in the background, I quilted small loop de loops and stars.
The black side borders I quilted feathers and the border print got straight lines spaced at an inch and a half.
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| the quilt required two holder uppers and of course, the wind was blowing |
Binding and quilting were finished on Dec 21st, after more than 45 hours of quilting all on my domestic machine. I was one happy grandma!!
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| the back shows the quilting. My daughter helped hold it up |
The quilt finished at 100 inches long by 90 inches wide. I think she was happy with her quilt.
What a beautiful quilt and perfect gift for your granddaughter. I wish her a lifetime of happiness and good health. I do want to share, what I hope is a positive and inspirational perspective. Good friends of ours had their first child, a son, who needed open heart surgery within a few weeks of birth and again as an early teen. He went on to play football in High School (smallest kid on the team), graduated college, served two years in the Peace Corp, and is now happily married and planning to start a family this year. Yes, he had some scary years for his family but he is now living a very happy and healthy life. My heart and prayers that your granddaughter also enjoys your quilt for "decades" to come, filled with a very happy and healthy life.
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness, Cindy, look at the exquisite detail of your quilting on the back of the quilt! It's made with so much love and I can see it all the details and thought you put into this for her. I'm sure she'll feel that love when she uses it.
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the prettiest quilts I've seen, Cindy, both front and back! I'm sure she will love the quilt!
ReplyDeleteBreathtakingly Beautiful!!! You have made these fabrics sing, Cindy. You must be so proud and happy.
ReplyDeleteWOW!!! Cindy I do not have a CLUE how you managed to quilt this beautiful monster on your DSM but what an absolutely stunning job you did. Of course I studied the quilting in detail. Drool worthy! Back and forth lines at what 1/8" apart? Feathers? Dot to dot work... Oh my, it is just incredible. So happy you took a photo of the back. I love the design too (you knew I would). That centre would be an awesome SAHRR starting block. Is it a block in EQ or did you design it as well? You're such a wizard at designing.
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