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Friday, March 22, 2019

Can I Get A Whoop Whoop? A BIG Finish!!!

Hi, all!

Wow!  It's already Friday!  And since our whoop whoop party was pre-empted last week, I bet I'm not the only one with a lot to whoop about this week!  So let's get started...

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Maybe you remember this picture - taken the day I finished my Long Time Gone quilt top.  Notice the date on the top?  That's right - July 10, 2017.  That. is. pitiful.  I had every intention of hand quilting this top, and it's been sandwiched for more than a year.  I did a little bit of hand quilting, but nowhere near as much as I should have.  I finally realized that if I continued hand quilting it, this quilt would never make it to the binding stage.

So I bit the dust, pulled out the bits of hand quilting I had done, and took the top and back off the batting.  I had a wool batting on hand that I had bought for a quilt for my niece, only to find out that "washable" doesn't really mean easy care/appropriate for a college student.  But that wool batting was perfect for this quilt! I wanted something with a lot of loft that would show off the quilting I wanted to do, plus be warm, light and drape-able.


Lots and lots of quilting went into this baby - it was on the frame for three days!  I had a hard time getting good pics up in my studio, but one day when I turned off the lights to quit for the day, I noticed that the light from the back window made the quilting stand out nicely, and took this picture.  


I didn't think I'd ever get through with it, but finally I reached the bottom of the quilt.  I used both free-motion quilting and ruler-work on this quilt, and don't think I wasn't nervous about it!  But I decided that since it was for me, I was going to do what I wanted and look on it as a learning experience, embracing the mistakes and imperfections.


Because wool batting can't be dried in the dryer, I hung this quilt on the clothesline to catch some sun and breeze.  Once the sun set, I pulled it off and laid it on the guest bed to finish drying.  It was a good place to lay it out flat, and with the ceiling fan, it dried pretty quickly.


And another advantage?  When I came in to check on it in the morning, the light coming in the bedroom window was perfect for showing off the quilting!


Every block was quilted differently!  As I said, I did a lot of ruler work, and also a good bit of tiny stippling or matchstick quilting to make some parts "pop out".


There was some pretty straight line quilting too - I really love the way the background fabric turned out on the block in the lower left corner of this picture!  Those tiny diamond crosshatches really set off the Trip Around The World block, which was mostly ditch-stitched.


Here you can see some of the matchstick quilting I used to make parts of blocks stand out.  Man, that stuff is tiny!  


It was so much fun deciding how to quilt each block!  I really stretched myself, and had a pile of quilting books stacked on my worktable to refer to each time I moved on to another space to quilt.


The back really tells the tale of how much quilting is in this quilt - you can just see all the texture it created!



And isn't this fun?  Jen Kingwell herself signed my quilt at a trunk show and lecture she gave in 2017!  

So here's the skinny about this quilt:

Pattern is Long Time Gone, designed by Jen Kingwell.

Fabrics are scraps of various Kate Spain designs, Good Neighbors by Amanda Jean Nyburg, a line from Connecting Threads called (I think) Nana's Kitchen, maybe? and various other assorted bright scraps.  The sashing between the blocks is the very last of my grandmother's vintage Irish linen that she ordered directly from Ireland during the 60's and 70's to make her suits.

Batting is Hobbs Tuscany Collection Washable Wool Batting.

Quilting is completely hand-guided free motion and ruler work.


And yes, I'm keeping this one!

Oh, and one more thing to whoop about - we currently have 242 people signed up for Hands2Help 2019!  It's not too late to join in the fun if you haven't signed up already - click here and scroll down to the signup area!

So - - - can I get a whoop whoop???

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And now it's your turn!  

What's making you whoop it up this week?

See what you find when you google "funky chicken"?
What's making you do a little happy dance?

Share!  We want to dance right along with you,

And it's always more fun to dance with friends!

The party will stay open until Sunday midnight.

Hope to see you there!

Hugs!

Sarah

41 comments:

  1. What a treasure quilt! It is awesome! Love what you did with it, and all the custom quilting in each block! Absolutely wonderful, Sarah!

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  2. your quilt turned out great - I have several quilts with wool batting's and toss them in the dyer on medium

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  3. Wow! Gorgeous how your quilting for each block creates fabulous texture.

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  4. You get a SUPER whoopity-whoop-whoop for that finish! I love everything about your gorgeous Long Time Gone quilt! You know, I used Hobbs Tuscany Wool in a quilt for my son’s bed about 7 years ago and I just machine washed in cold water, delicate “hand wash” cycle, and tumble dried on low, taking it out when just barely damp and it is still looking and feeling just as nice as when it was made. I bought Quilters Dream Wool for the pineapple log cabin quilt that I just finished and their product description is the same superwashed wool, but care instructions say machine wash cold water delicate and tumble dry low heat, just avoid a hot dryer. My Miele dryer actually has a wool setting that works great for fluffing and removing excess water without overdrying.

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  5. Your quilting is wonderful! Congrats on the finish. Enjoy sleeping under this quilt. Happy Stitching!

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  6. Great job quilting your Long Time Gone!!! Love all your various stitches. I totally related as I also took 3 days to quilt my Gypsy Wife quilt recently, plus had stacks of quilting reference books spread out on the table!

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  7. Your quilting is what I dream about doing. It is so wonderful. Thank you for no panto. The back is beautiful. Love the wool batting. I will try some soon. Thank you for sharing with us!

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  8. Love your Long Time Gone!!! Getting ready to start mine. Am in the finishing stages of Sweet Tea and Green Beans.

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  9. Oh, my gosh, how the quilting on the back stands out! This is a treasure! The quilt is lovely, too. Love the scrappy look!

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  10. Beautiful. I am so glad you showed the back as that is always my favorite. I recently used the Hobbs Tuscany for the first time and loved it for quilting. Not sure about laundering though.

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  11. Wow, wow, and more wow, your quilt turned out stunning! The texture is perfect:)

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  12. Awesome - I'm just blown away by your quilting. Your LTG is spectacular!!!

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  13. Beautiful quilt and absolutely gorgeous quilting! Congratulations on a great finish!

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  14. What an awesome quilting job!!!!
    And a wonderful finished quilt!

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  15. OMG your quilting is fantastic! Bravo! It is stunning and you should be soooo proud. Whoop Whoop for sure!

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  16. Good golly, that's a lot of work! Congratulations on a beautiful finish! So glad that you're keeping it for yourself!

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  17. Yay for stretching yourself! The quilting took a fun & fabulous top and made it spectacular.

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  18. It is a glorious, gorgeous, gobsmacking, grand quilt top!!!

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  19. I absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this quilt.

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  20. Now that is a lot of fancy and tight quilting on a beautiful quilt!

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  21. Your quilt is absolutely gorgeous Sarah! And the quilting--Oh My! It is so awesome. I would love to do that. Maybe some day.

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  22. I am so in love with this quilt and your quilting is magnificent.

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  23. This is an amazing quilt! The quilt block design is great and the quilting you did is fantastic, and I mean every word of that.

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  24. Sarah, your quilt is absolutely gorgeous! I LOVE all the texture you quilted into. What a treasure, especially with your grandmother's fabric in it! Great job!!

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  25. How cool that Jen signed your top!! What a great finish, too. I love the way sampler quilts give us lots of opportunity for quilting play and exploration.

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  26. wow, fantastic quilt and the quilting caugh my eye.Great job done!!

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  27. Sarah, your quilting on Long Time Gone is absolutely wonderful!! What an awesome finish!

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  28. You definitely must keep this quilt. The quilting is stunning!

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  29. WOW! Sarah, this quilt is breath-taking! Glad you found the trick of turning off all the studio lights and letting a window back-light your quilt! I do it in my studio too. :-)

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  30. This is absolutely beautiful! And I don't think you took all that long between start and finish. This is a LOT of piecing, my goodness! And the quilting is fabulous!

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  31. simply beautiful...if i weren't just starting midnight at the oasis, i'd run and get this pattern!

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  32. Hi Sarah, what an amazing quilt. Congrats!!!

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  33. Such a beautiful quilt! The flimsy was great, but the quilting elevates it to sublime. Glad you're keeping it.

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  34. Love it! I'm so glad it's done, and ready to use. I really can't believe you quilted it all in 3 days though. You're SuperQuilter!

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  35. What a stunning quilt. I don't have words to describe your quilting - and it took you only 3 days. I've bookmarked your post to come back when I'm ready to quilt something so intricate.

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  36. The duvet is beautifully presented and looks great! Congratulations on a job well done. I wish you luck in further work! And effective work!

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Comments make me smile!! If you want a PDF of a pattern, PLEASE leave your email address in your comment, or email me directly at salliesue57 (at) gmail (dot) com!