Friday, June 19, 2015

Sailors Take Delight {A finished Quilt}

I'm so excited!  I had a binding marathon and finished three quilts last night and I can't wait to show you!!  This is the first of the three.  This is also one of the items on my FAL Qtr 2 list so woot for that too!  This quilt has been a WIP since 2012??  I think.  All I know is that the blocks were pieced using a VERY wide seam, pre-my understanding of a quarter inch seam days...


It's made using half-square triangles which are then sewn into quarter-square triangles, finishes at 50" x 42 1/2", and is made up of various red and white tone fabrics which are leftovers from a gift quilt that has yet to be gifted.  All it needs is a binding (apparently that's where I loose steam...).


I'm calling this quilt Sailors Take Delight, after the common ditty:

Red Sky at Night,
Sailors Take Delight.
Red Sky at Morn,
Sailors Take Warn.

The backing is pieced using various strips and leftovers from my stash but includes some amazing bunny fabric called Ric Rac Rabbits by Andover Fabrics.  It's not available anymore which is too bad.  I would definitely add more to my stash.  They are so cute!


I actually quilted this one myself with some help from a fellow Local Quilt Guild member, Ellie.  She was so kind to have me over to her house one day for a lesson on long arm quilting using her machine!  She told me to bring some fabric to practice on and I said, "forget it! Go big or go home!!" and brought two quilts.  We quilted it row by row using a fun flowery petal shape.  Some of the lower rows have double petals too.  It was fun to learn and try and I really look forward to spending some more time with Ellie in the future for more lessons. (THANKS ELLIE! YOU'RE THE BEST!)

You can really see the quilting progression in the backing picture above.  Some of my first flowers are really quite sad but they do get progressively better as you move down the rows.  By the seventh row I had it down but alas, ran out of quilt.



This quilt does not have a designated home yet so I may end up keeping it.  If I do I think it would make a lovely picnic quilt!  Also can we just take a moment to appreciate those lupines in the background of this picture.  They are in full bloom here now!



The quilt is bound in a dark navy solid that I happened to have on hand for one of the quilts I finished last night.  I can't show you that one yet because it's a surprise.  Overall I'm happy with the final results and really proud that I quilted it myself on the long-arm, even though it's far from perfect.  I have been practicing my doodling with pen and paper and hope to translate some of that to fabric soon!


Many thanks to my dad, Mark, for holding the quilt for me in these shots.  I managed to harass him into it after our post-work run this afternoon.  He was a good sport and only complained slightly about his arms being tired, but just couldn't resist a few silly pictures.You can't quite tell from the photo below but he's grinning and giggling in this one being funny.  (THANKS DAD! And check out his cool new kicks!  We're ready to hit the ground running.....pun intended.)



Also I just want to throw out there that I'm 2 followers away from 200 on Instagram.  I think once I hit 200 we'll have to do a giveaway!  Stay tuned for details!  Thanks so much for visiting! See you soon!

Linking up with Finish It Up Friday and Crazy Mom Quilts

and


15 comments:

  1. This is a beautiful quilt, and I really love the touch of navy for the binding! The fact that you can see the progress and things you have learned since piecing the top is really cool. I look forward to seeing more bound quilts soon... :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. A long arm session sounds like so much fun. It turned out great and I like your choice in quilting pattern for it!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lovely quilt with lovely reds.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Loving the finish Jennifer! The colors remind me of your marsala quilt and I'm with Yvonne on loving the choice to do a navy binding. There's nothing quite like finish a quilt that has been waiting to be "next in line" for binding. I can't wait to see the other freshly bound quilts waiting in the wings!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Now you have your 200th follower...Me! What a wonderful quilt right down to the binding color choice! I hear you on the stack of quilts that need quilting and binding. It's my weekend goal! Your dad is a hoot! I think every time I have one of my family hold up a quilt for me, they always ham it up!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I agree that it would make a lovely picnic quilt - looks so nice against that lush green grass! Great choice using navy for the binding. My hubby always complains about his arms getting tired holding up my quilts for photos! (But thankfully he does it for me!)

    ReplyDelete
  7. I agree that it would make a lovely picnic quilt - looks so nice against that lush green grass! Great choice using navy for the binding. My hubby always complains about his arms getting tired holding up my quilts for photos! (But thankfully he does it for me!)

    ReplyDelete
  8. I agree that it would make a lovely picnic quilt - looks so nice against that lush green grass! Great choice using navy for the binding. My hubby always complains about his arms getting tired holding up my quilts for photos! (But thankfully he does it for me!)

    ReplyDelete
  9. It looks great! How fun to play on her longarm with lessons.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I really like your color scheme and you are so lucky to have a friend to let you quilt on her machine...it came out great!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thanks Dad! We were just up at Sugar Hill this weekend to see the lupines, my mom loves them! I actually told someone that ditty the other day and they looked at me like I was crazy .... glad to know it is popular and they were the crazy one :). Congrats on THREE finishes I cannot wait to keep reading up my feed to see the rest of them.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Go big or go home. Tee hee! Great attitude.
    I started quilting with giant seam allowances too. It took me ages to get over my dressmaking 5/8-inch seam allowances. I worried the skinny 1/4 inch would fray. Touch wood - not yet!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Good for you to finish it as it is a beautiful quilt! I'm helping Adrianne with the FAL and I am to say that I am visiting as part of the 2015 FAL Cheerleading Team.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Way to go big on the long arm! I love that you went all out for the flowers on your first go.

    ReplyDelete

I love hearing from you!