The Finished Quilt for Ian
To explain why, in spite of all the scurry that fills our days right now, I would stop to obsessively finish this quilt off, is to just call me a little bit of crazy. The half excitement and half crazy parts of sewing can make me really productive, and I wanted to see this finished real bad. I brought it home from The Quilting Loft last week.
The quilting Holly did for me, all-over loop-d-loops, turned out, once again, just as I’d hoped. The loops add just enough and take away nothing. I’d given her a cotton, full sized bed sheet for the back, and she chose compatible batting based on the effect I wanted. (*For the record that there are times I get a lot of satisfaction out of quilting my own quilts, like the stash value quilt as an example. But when I want an all-over pattern like this, I just can’t do it on my sewing machine, it definitely needs the expertise of a long arm quilter.)
Thing is I’ve had this quilt on my to do list for years. Years. The book, The Modern Quilt Workshop came out in 2005 and that’s when I fell in love with this Marquee pattern. If I really liked it that much for so long, sooner or later I feel that I have to just go for it. I’m really glad I did.
When I posted about the finished quilt top, a commenter made the analogy of the stacked patchwork blocks looking like Legos and I suddenly saw it too! Why hadn’t I seen that before? The patterns I used (which may be seen better here) are a combination of muted colors, a lot of Denyse Schmidt Katie Jump Rope, and a random mix that provided color when the quilt needed it. Ian’s room is orange, so I wanted some touches of orange sprinkled throughout.
This quilt will alternate with Ian’s Goodnight Moon quilt, which is still a favorite of mine. You may be asking why did I made yet another quilt for a bed around here (that’s already got one)? I guess I’m just never content to keep things as they are for too long. For selfish reasons I like to look in Ian’s room and see something like this, that I made for him.
Alright, off to curl up under my quilt with hulu. Night everyone!
Bernadette
November 16, 2009 at 3:46 amIt’s another really beautiful quilt – love the colours, the bluey greens with the pops of orange. I remember when you posted about wanting all the beds in your house to have a home made quilt on, it really inspired me to make quilts for our beds. A year and a half on, my three children have quilts made by me but my own bed still doesn’t. It’s 2 metres square and just too off-puttingly enormous to do something that big. I still hope to get round to it one day.
erin
November 16, 2009 at 4:17 amit’s really wonderful, blair. ian must love it! (and again, it is making want to get back to the two i have almost finished…)
Mama Urchin
November 16, 2009 at 5:28 amBlair – it turned out so well. I think you got just the right mix of youthful and fun but not baby-ish. And, it seems you were successful in avoiding anything that might resemble a flower. A beautiful success.
martha
November 16, 2009 at 5:32 amit’s just awesome.
he must be thrilled!!!
and I have an email for you that’s been sitting in my drafts folder unfinished for over a week…..
rosamaria
November 16, 2009 at 6:01 ambeautiful quilt! i love the colors and the desing!
Leila
November 16, 2009 at 6:47 amIt’s beautiful. I wish quilting was fast, because I like to add quilts too…but it happens in my mind, not in real life!
This is just awesome.
Cheryl Arkison
November 16, 2009 at 7:51 amThat quilting is a nice compliment to the design. I love contrasting loopy stuff with hard gemoetrics in the quilt top.
And no, you can neer have too many quilts for a bed!
Kelly
November 16, 2009 at 8:02 amit’s gorgeous! great job!
Amy
November 16, 2009 at 10:49 amWhy did you apologize for using a long armer? I am sure that the good blog readers use Dentists to pull their teeth & mechanics to do car repairs – why not use a professional to finish a quilt? Love that pattern & book!
blair/wisecraft
November 16, 2009 at 11:08 amThanks Amy. My long arm quilter is my BFF these days, but I know many quilters really consider add those quilting lines as a part of the process in many ways. Both methods have their place here, and I love the results of both.
Mousy Brown
November 16, 2009 at 11:18 amHave just started my first quilt – the idea utterly terrifies me! Seeing the wonderful results that are possible with practise encourage me to keep going – Thank you 🙂
Lilah
November 16, 2009 at 12:22 pmI really love the color of the edges of the quilt up against the gray
DeeJay
November 16, 2009 at 6:23 pmYour work is beautiful.
regina
November 17, 2009 at 7:46 amGorgeous quilt. I love the squares and the colors. It has the perfect amount of orange sprinkled in.
Shannon
November 17, 2009 at 8:40 amAbsolutely gorgeous. Inspires me to get started on making quilts for my kids.
Diane
November 18, 2009 at 4:43 amThis turned out beautiful. Isn’t it funny when am idea is floating around and all of a sudden we need to do it NOW!…
Cris Turek
November 18, 2009 at 6:35 amVery beautiful with a light and cheerful visual.
sew katie did
November 21, 2009 at 8:34 amIt’s lovely. I find sending a quilt off to be quilted very satisfying. I would hate to think of me cursing over it as I tried to do my vision of the quilting…not to mention saving your back.
amisha
November 21, 2009 at 8:48 pmblair, this is just gorgeous! i have also had that quilt on my dream list for at least 3 years… maybe starting it will be a little graduation present to myself 🙂 i absolutely love the fabrics you chose– such a fun combination!
xo
featherbed
November 22, 2009 at 5:58 pmthis is beautiful!!! I love that neutral grey with the colorful squares!! SO cute for a little boy!!
Melanie
December 3, 2009 at 1:05 pmI am almost done with a quilt that looks almost like this one! My THIRD quilt ever! The scrappy pieces are all the same size on mine, though. I love the grey, especially during the winter.