Wednesday, January 24, 2018

Wonderful Wednesday - First Finish of 2018

Welcome to another edition of Wonderful Wednesday!!  Today's installment celebrates my first quilt finish of the new year.

That 80's Quilt began life as my client's hand piecing class project.  It sat in the closet of her studio for 30 YEARS!!  Last year, her husband came to the conclusion that she was NEVER going to hand quilt the quilt.  (Even though she had a frame set up for that purpose.)  He thought that enough was enough and that's when he called me!

Not long after, I stopped by their house to meet the quilt and discuss finishing options.  When I left that day, I had inherited a new-to-me UFO.  Having other projects in the works, I gave them an extended deadline.  They were totally fine with that.

Fast forward to three weeks ago...

After all the holiday hubbub, I decided that I needed a break from my (quilted) basket making and loaded the quilt on my longarm quilting machine:



There it sat...

Waiting for me to have the right kind of time for quilting.  Not so early that I wake the sleeping beast DS2 and not so late that I can't put in the time it takes to quilt one or two rows of my Swirls Circlelord Template Board.  Who am I kidding?!  I was waiting for the mood to strike.

Two weeks ago, the urge to quilt came over me.  Two days later, and using every trick I've ever learned about longarming, I had completed the quilting on the 92" x 103" quilt.  Just in time to have something for Show and Tell at my Weekly Quilt Group!!  :o))


Four days ago, the quilted quilt accompanied me to a Sew Day (in hopes that I would be able to find an appropriate binding fabric:


You might notice that the quilt in the photo above looks some smaller than in the previous photo.  You are NOT seeing things!!  My client had planned on hand quilting this quilt, therefore, the standard 4 - 6 inch clearance on all sides required for balancing tension and testing stitch quality on a longarm was not allowed for.  (Yes, I made this point clear BEFORE accepting the quilt!)

Two days ago, as I packed for a visit with old quilting friends, I decided that the task at hand would more easily be performed in the company of friends.  Here is the quilt on the bed of my machine, waiting for me to finish sewing the binding down:


It took more than two HOURS, but the plan was a good one!!  I talked with friend and worked at the same time.  Win, win.

Viola!!


The color is off quite a bit, but you can clearly see that the quilt is done, done, DONE!!  It is done and ready for delivery (which I hope to accomplish this weekend.)

This is my first finish of the year.  It will count toward my Winter 2018 (Ravelry) UFO Club goals.  Hooray!!!  It's my first (quilt) finish since the Summer 2017 (Ravelry) UFO Club.  I am a VERY happy quilter.

Until next time...
Finishing is FUN!!!


12 comments:

  1. Woohoo! Nice finish. Doesn't it feel good to move out a lingering project?

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  2. Congratulations on a finishing up a wonderful quilt!

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  3. Not just a finish, but a GIANT finish!! Wow, that's an enormous quilt! Great job :)

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  4. That is a lot of work. Great finish. Hope i don't have anything hang around for 30 years.

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  6. Congratulations on your finish! It looks great!

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  7. Whoohoo! Congratulations!! Very well done. ;^)

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  8. Great finish, Joy. I love the red binding. It gives a nice frame to the quilt.
    BTW, aren't you a rare friend? Most of us avoid our own UFOs, but you take on other people's UFOs! Rare indeed!

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  9. Congrats on the finish! It turned out beautifully.

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  10. Great finish!! love that pattern.

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  11. How exciting to see something that old, but so pretty finally finished. It's really special.

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