Wonderful Wednesday - UFO Club FINISH!!!

Welcome to another edition of a Wonderful Wednesday!!  This is the story of the journey to a completed quilt.  Back in 2017 (?) Alycia @ Alycia Quilts introduced a new A-6 Mystery.  Her intention is always to generate QOV donations through her MysterysforMilitary group.

I often collect the clues, but rarely have time to quilt along.  This time, I had a piece of fabric that was calling for the large scale designs that Alycia is known for.  I gathered a collection of supporting players and followed closely behind the group.

My quilt top was completed at a Sew Day with my good friend Needleb (who just HAPPENED to have split the fabric with me in the first place!)  Lucky thing, too, as I needed an extra bit to balance out the design.  Thanks again, B!!

The completed quilt top made many appearances on my UFO Club List in the ensuing years.

Until...

I had a BRILLIANT idea to contact Alycia (who also runs Quilty Girl!)  What better way to complete this quilt than by having the designer do the quilting?  It's not as if I could cover the quilt in the feathers that it was demanding!

Fortunately...

Alycia agreed to quilt my quilt, while NOT charging an arm and two legs (or my first born offspring to do so.)  I packed up the top and backing and arranged for her to take care of the rest.

SEW...

Off it went to Colorado for some quilty love.  By and by, the quilting was done and my A - 6 Mystery arrived in the mail...

 ... And sat in quarantine for several days before being opened:

I couldn't be more pleased with my decision to send this quilt...

... Out to be quilted.  The feathers are SEW perfect and totally NOT in my wheelhouse!  Look how beautiful they are:

Another look at the feathery goodness:

The 80/20 batting really made the quilting POP!  Back...

... And front:

Yes.  I am one happy camper:

Once the quilt was out of the box...

I used it as the backdrop for last week's Zoom meeting with LeeAnna @ Not Afraid of Color:

Then trimmed the quilt...

... And sorted through my binding options:

I made my selection, cut strips, and found that I had just enough:

Piecing the strips and preparing the binding...

... Was followed by attaching it to the FRONT of the quilt:

That's right!  This quilt is getting the royal treatment.  Hand sewn binding.  Right after I fix the places where my non-traditional quilt backing (a cotton knit) rolled into the seam line.  I marked the sections to be ripped out with two safety pins.  The third pin denoted the sections that are ready to be resewn:

Alas, it was time for some SLOW stitching:

Three days passed...

Eventually, the hand stitching was done and so was the quilt:

Count them!  FOUR corners.  Along with all the bits in between:

Every quilt deserves a beauty shot or two...

Once the sun dropped behind the trees, I was able to take a driveway shot.  In all honesty, I almost waited too late to get good photos:

Let's not leave out a shot with Daisy:

About that time...

My quilt holder ambled outside to help.  For some reason, he felt compelled to debate which side of the quilt I might like to photograph:

He managed to get it centered on the first shot:

It's time to go mark this one off the UFO List and report my finish to the Summer 2020 (Ravelry) UFO Club over on the Quilters Knitting group.  They are going to be SEW excited that I actually finished a BIG quilt for once!  It's been nearly a year since I finished something larger than a small wall hanging.  This one measures ~ 64 x 80 inches.  I remembered to add my label, but chose a different spot than I normally would.  I recently saw a blogger post about inserting her label into the binding.  Why not give it a try:

You can make your own Big Star Country quilt.  Find the pattern HERE in Alycia's Etsy shop.  It goes together SEW quickly, making it perfect for donations or gifts.

Sharing with Alycia

for

Finished (or NOT) Friday

and

Whooping It Up with Sarah

at

Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Until next time...

Finish those UFOs!!!