Sunday 20 March 2016

Retirement Quilt -Ta Da!

Another quilt finished! This one has more of  a history than some of my quilts and thus has provoked a lot more reflection than usual. This is my first ( and I have to say probably my last) hand pieced quilt. My last year of work was really difficult. I hated it, so much so that I had a calendar where I marked off every week until I could finish. The reasons for this were complex and I won't go into details as it's all water under the bridge. It was also the year we had our house fire and I was miserable. Anyway, to help keep me sane, I decided to EPP a hexagon star quilt. It took me a year to sew all the blocks ( perfect timing) and I sewed them all together, then promptly put it away for another 2 years. Partly this was because I didn't know what to do with it.



 Another concern was how I was going to quilt it. I wondered whether I should hand quilt it, but then reality kicked in and I realised that if I hand quilted it, it would never be finished. The pattern was inspired by Rita of Red Pepper Quilts mother -in - law's quilt. Hand piecing this quilt was the perfect antidote at the time I made it, but I'm not sure if I will ever repeat the exercise. It's not my 'natural habitat'. It was fun fussy cutting some of the stars though

 
 
I decided to use a beautiful piece of cotton lawn I'd bought at Malvern some time ago for the backing. Although it was wider than average I needed to add a strip to make it big enough. I was lucky enough to find some of Lu Summer's lime green Summersville spring at Lark cottons and used it for the strip and the bindings. It's such a perfect shade of lime green to complement the front which is much brighter and fresher than the photos convey.
 
 



In a way I'm glad I set it to one side. My FMQ skills have improved in the last 2 years and therefore I was able to do it more justice. I quilted a simple flower shape in the middle 'star' and scallops around the edging diamonds.

 
 
I haven't decided what to do with it yet. It's too pretty to give away ( except perhaps to my mother but the retirement home is very warm, much hotter than I like and a quilt is a bit superfluous ).
 
 
 
 
Quilt Stats
 
Size:69 x 67 inches
 
Front pieced with fabrics from my stash
 
Back: Japanese 40's by 40's superfine cotton lawn Miroto Great Flower Designs and Summersville Spring in lime green by Lu Summers for Moda
 
Binding:Summersville spring as above
 
Wadding: Quilters dream orient
 
Quilted with Glide in grey on top and wonderfil 80 wt in white in the bobbin
 
 
This is another finish in FAL Q1 ( my original list is here ). I'm doing rather better in this qua 

 
 


7 comments:

  1. Madame Hare, that is absolutely gorgeous and well worth the wait!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I agree with Kathryn, well worth the wait! I hear you about the hand piecing and quilting, I genuinely don't have the patience! Your quilting is so pretty too :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a wonderful quilt! I"m glad it gave you comfort and respite in your last year of work. I think you should keep it for yourself, as it helped you through such a difficult time. It's just so beautiful and I love the colours.

    ReplyDelete
  4. It's stunning and I hope you can look at it without remembering the awful time you were having when you were piecing it xx

    ReplyDelete
  5. This quilt is no doubt one impressive quilt!!! Thank you for sharing it with the FAL community! Thank you for participating in the FAL, on behalf of the 2016 global FAL hosts

    ReplyDelete
  6. Your quilt is very pretty, and impressive that you hand pieced it. Nice job!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Very pretty quilt...I also found that EPP has this therapeutic element to it and have also found myself quietly stitching away during difficult times. However, not such a big project...very impressive!

    ReplyDelete