Thursday, August 29, 2013

A Year to Finish~~ Katie

My blog like most of our blogs is a chronicle of our lives. Family, Graduations, Weddings, showers, new babies, grandbabies, fun, vacations, projects, fabrics, sewing, and of course Quilting.
This one is about an adventure I went on, all alone, by myself, and with delightful results.
It is very picture heavy, but when I make my Blog Book for 2013 it will be in print!

Last summer I came to an epiphany of sorts...
This is what I said..

I think many of us go through this process.
We love a fabric.
We buy a ton of the fabric.
We try to buy the whole line.
We pet the fabric.
We fold and refold the fabric.
We put it in color groups.
We them put it into groups according to the prints.
We stash it...
We save it...
We hoard it...

Just waiting for the right project, the right quilt, the right pattern.

Time ticks by and we have now had the fabric for years and it just sits and stares at us.

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At that point I decided NO MORE!


I was going to use that fabric I loved. I knew I would fall in love with another line and what good did it do sitting on my shelf.


So out came

Denyse Schmidt's
Katie Jump Rope!










As this was going to be an adventure I knew I wanted a King Size Quilt for our bed, BUT, I was going to make this quilt all by hand.  I love handwork. So I started by cutting it all into squares.



I then started the piecing.

Two by Two


Became four by four
Became eight by eight
Became a sixteen patch block



They were then pieced into the flimsy.
Still all by hand.









The backing, I asked many of you if you thought flannel was a good idea for a backing. Thank you to everyone who responded!
But alas, I was chicken, I did not use it, not on Katie. I thought this was not a time to experiment. So I went with a cotton backing. I am thrilled with my choice, and will for sure try flannel on my next quilt!

There is one part of quilting I do not like
Basting!


So Katie was sent to my long-arm friend, where she basted her for me. She even used hot pink thread so I could see the thread when it needed to be removed.






 Now let the fun begin!

The hand quilting.
I did this is simple rows, both horizontal and vertical.

Added my binding....
and...
Katie was done!

We then went on a phot shoot, after all she had been cooped up for a whole year.
This lady needed some fresh air!

May I present

Katie!






She looks so tiny here!


But she is 108 inches by 120 inches.








She is now home, washed and on our bed. What a treat to sleep under!

Now if I could just stop hoarding holding on to this fabric!


Have a wonderful weekend, do something you love!

Ours is filled with family and fun!



29 comments:

  1. You are amazing! I would take me an eternity to hand sew a quilt. Love all the prints. I also came to realize that I need to stop hoarding and use what I have before I head out to buy more so I've been working from my stash for quite some time now. It's really nice to see the stash going down somewhat.

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  2. I love this line but I only discovered it when it was too late - I have a few precious pieces but not enough for a full size quilt!!
    I love yours!

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  3. What a stunner, I finally realised after going to a garage sale and seeing tubs upon tubs of beautiful fabric that were never used, I have been on a mission to use what I have no matter what, sometimes tomorrow never comes and I would hate to miss out on making something special because I hoarded :) Now if you want to share your Kerchief girls I can help you out hahahahah :)

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  4. Jane it is stunning! How long did it take to quilt it? I am presently hand quilting my grandmothers flower garden

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  5. I so agree with you. Making something pretty with all the lovely fabric is definitely more fun than just looking at it. The problem is having more time to actually sew. Your Katie turned out simply stunning.

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  6. Congratulations on a great finish! All hand pieced and quilted.... what an accomplishment! I'm like you..... saving and fondling fabric.... it's actually liberating to cut into that precious fabric! Enjoy that beautiful new quilt!

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  7. Fantastic finish! You must be so proud. The fabrics are wonderful and your hand sewing superb. What an accomplishment! Thank you for sharing a wonderful quilt story!

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  8. You made a wonderful quilt. I enjoy hand piecing also. I loved the pictures.

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  9. Yeah! Great job! Great inspiration! I thought you had peeked at my stash - I MUST start using this fabric before I buy more! But what fun is that?!

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  10. Congrats! on your beautiful handmade creation. And congrats on your new pink bike. What fun! to ride a pink bike with a basket.

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  11. Beautiful quilt and an awesome undertaking, hand pieced! Not for me. I am proud of myself this year. Have kept my purchases to a minimum and I'm slowly working through my stash.

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  12. Your quilt is beautiful and if you ever need help with using that fabric I would be happy to help. I have loved that since I first saw it and can't wait to see what you make with it.

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  13. Congrats on a great finish and all handmade.....so impressive. I would love to accomplish quilting by hand one day :0)
    You are so right about using up stash instead of hoarding it.

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  14. I love your finish. I love love love Denise Schmidt's fabrics. It seems to me that almost all her lines go together. but I am still new to these designer fabric. Lines.

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  15. I'm speechless Jane!

    Well, almost...that quilt is quite an accomplishment and absolutely gorgeous. I cannot imagine hand sewing something that large. You did an amazing job!

    Also a very nice photo shoot which Katie so deserved!

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  16. That is awesome and a wonderful accomplishment! You will treasure it for years.

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  17. What a wonderful quilt and story around it. Hand work all through!! I would never be able to do that.... :-)
    Just impressed. !!!
    Wish you a nice weekend.

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  18. She's a beauty. Good for you with all that hand piecing. Great photos!

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  19. I will be honest, when I look at that fabric I think I would never use it, but I love how it looks in your quilt, really fun and beautiful. I need to learn more about colors and prints together.

    Debbie

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  20. Holy Cow! ALL by hand? You are amazing. Your quilt is absolutely stunning. How proud you must be every time you look at it.

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  21. She turned out beautifully! I don't know how you get so much handwork done. It is nice to see you in pictures...when you have your books together it will be wonderful to have you documented as well as your work! Dexter Days is also our family record that I hope to keep printed every year.

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  22. Love the quilt! Reminds me of the quilts my grandmother made each of us when we were children. And she hand pieced them also. Love it, I expect you will be able to sleep under it for the rest of your life if you wanted to.

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  23. It's darling! So bright and cheerful! And it's good you get to enjoy this summery quilt while it is still summer! Congrats! When you print your blog book. Will you tell us about how you do that? You mean, you will print the years worth of posts? Great idea!

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  24. That quilt is just beautiful ad the fact that you did everything by hand just makes it evermore so. Congratulations on your accomplishment

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  25. Oh Jane, Katie is just precious!
    What a wonderful post chronicling her progress!
    Thanks for sharing with us and thanks for giving me the inspiration to take my Tula Pink fabrics out of the cupboard and put them into a quilt that I can luv everyday!
    hugs Sandra
    ps it was nice to see your lovely smile in the picture as well!

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  26. Love, Love, Love Katie! I've not hand stitched anything that will be used as much as a quilt is. What kind of stitches do you use when hand stitching a quilt? I would be worried that all my pieces would fall apart. Where did you do the quilty photo shoot?

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  27. Be still my heart. I could only hope for a scrap of loveliness!

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  28. I like the picture of you squeezing Katie the best. What wonderful cuddly quilt. Nice job Jane!

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I always love to hear your thoughts!