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Sunday, January 1, 2012

Great quilt finish from Quokka Quilts...


Great quilt finish from Quokka Quilts, and fun story, some of these quilts take a while to finish...even 12 years!  Ahhh, look at the puppy patches on the quilt! We introduced Quokka Quilts last week, with the competition from Fat Quarter shop, read up on it here...Make sure to visit her blog, and be sure to view her finished quilts...


TFIFF (or almost Friday) - Genesis of a quilter

No, TFIFF is not a typo. I'm just SO freaking relieved this is finished. It has taken a lifetime. Literally. This guy's lifetime:
Patches when quilt was started

Patches when quilt finished (yesterday)














Let me tell you a story...

1999: Girl gets Elna sewing machine as present. Girl decides to learn to quilt. On her own. (This is before the internet got big, when we learnt quilting from stone tablets these things called books).
2000: Girl starts a quilt involving triangles, cuts with scissors, buys polyester fabrics and poly batting. It ends up in the Salavation Army bin. Salvation Army gives it to the Lost Dogs home (for all I know). Girl gets puppy and names him Patches after new hobby.

2002: Girl takes classes, discovers applique and starts baby quilt for pregnant sister in law. Finishes quilt. Feels triumphant. Has BRILLIANT idea of designing own KING SIZE quilt as wedding present for friends. Finishes top in time for wedding (regularly tested by Patches). Grinds to halt.

Girl discovers fitting King size quilt through baby-size Elna potentially similar to giving birth. Takes 3 years to complete in-ditch quilting. Grinds to halt.

2003-2007: Couple intended as quilt receipients have first child. Girl thinks "gosh/darn/damn/crap/s$&#*/[insert increasingly rude word for each year here], I really should finish that quilt".
2008 - Girl gets Bernette. Girl discovers fitting King size quilt through standard size Bernette is still only slightly more feasible (and a lot less fun) than trying to fit camel through eye of a needle. Grits teeth and wrestles quilt through for straightline in-the-ditch quilting, bit by painful bit. Girl is faced by insurmountable problem of how to finish off quilting given large triangles of blank space. Grinds to halt.


2009-2010 - Girl either:
a) acts like dog that has had encounter with particularly nasty cat and pretends not to notice quilt every time she opens spare-room door or
b) wastes inordinate amounts of time pondering what to do with blank spaces in quilt.

2010: Original intended recipients of quilt celebrate 10th wedding anniversary.

2011: Girl suffers quilt induced nervous breakdown, buys new sewing machine with BIG space and extension table, works out what to do with the big triangular gaps in the quilt, starts TGIFF with M-R and FINISHES THE FREAKING THING.

So THAT, my friends, is why it is a TFIF Friday instead of a TGIF Friday.

Thank FREE-MOTIONQUILTING It's Finished Friday!
(That was what you thought the F stood for, wasn't it?)

Enough teasing, here are the proper photos. (For Giles, it's a black homespun solid with stars in very bright, marbled colours, set on diamond points, with little 1.5" squares crisscrossing diagonally across the quilt around each star. One very thin border with all the rainbow colours graduating and melding from red through orange, yellow, green, to blue, to purple, to pink and back again to red, all the way around, with a wider black border to finish off. Which is why it's called a jewelbox quilt - the colours fairly sparkle.)
Held up by camera assistant

Before nearly falling off wall with camera

Late afternoon sun on quilt in my bedroom
(I didn't get to wash it as it didn't fit in the washing machine!!! But I did sleep under it last night - first night sleeping under my own quilt!)


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17 comments:

Unknown said...

Wonderful quilt. A reminder for you of you sewing machine upgrades! and 11 years!!!
Kx

yorkie mom said...

Beautiful! What a wonderful story!

Lucy | Charm About You said...

I love Laura's quilting story! Such a vibrant and beautiful quilt :)

Michele T said...

Love the story... almost choked on my tea while reading!! The quilt is beautiful, love the bright colours!!

Michele said...

Really nice and I love the story.

mtnquiltr said...

The quilt is beautiful on its own, and the story gives it even more!

Sarah said...

Great quilt, and fantastic post about it too!

Giles said...

Think of it like a fine wine, 10 years in the making and most of the time it just sits there doing nothing, but what emerges is an exquisite tasty product ... now fun as that story is I think it's time for a glass! ... oh, I see, you've already started it!

Helen said...

I could have have put my name in the "girl" place many times, except I still want a bigger, better machine. A long dream... The colors are so vibrant, worthy of the name of gems. It is so funny, about a wedding gift, I did the same with a braided rug that was never given because it was never finished. Loved the post.

Tracy said...

What an absolutely stunning quilt! Love your story, you made me laugh too! I'm sure you weren't laughing at times though, but now you can sure smile!

Longvacation said...

Very beautiful quilt, and well worth the wait, I'm sure! Loved the story, too.

manybooks said...

Bravo on your perseverance to finish - it is GORGEOUS! If this is your own pattern, may i suggest you write it up and sell it? (would help pay for that new machine LOL!) and it is a beauty! I would buy a copy!

tink's mom said...

It's just beautiful. It was so worth the wait. Easy for me to say :)

kinter said...

Love Laura and love this quilt!

Red Quilty Girl said...

What a great story and a great quilt! Congratulations on finishing it. Janine in Perth Western Australia.

Lucky Duck Dreams said...

This quilt is georgeous! All the more so for the story. BTW I learned to quilt in the early 1990's through a listserv(email) quilt guild called Quiltnet.

felicity said...

The only thing better than this quilt is its hilarious timeline/story. Thanks for featuring it! :)