Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Ta Da!

Well here it is. I was sick today so stayed home from work. I slept most of the morning but by the afternoon I was slept out and decided to do something productive. So I layed my blocks out on the bed and came up with this arrangement. The "top" on the left is actually the backing. And the green piece hanging between the back and the top will be used as the border for both sides. This will be a truly reversible quilt. And ALL from stash. :-)

I want to thank Doodlebug Gail at Quite Quilted for letting me know who the designer of this pattern is. I just saw one made up when I was on retreat and snapped a picture. The pattern is called Gatherings and was designed by Jan Patek.

I had assumed this was a traditional Drunkards Path construction but imagine my surprise to find the instructions are similar to what I did. She hand appliques the quarter circles to 4-1/2" background squares. I laid a 3-1/2" flower square on the corner of a 5" background and using a fairly tight narrow zigzag freehanded the curve as I sewed. The I trimmed the excess off with a pair of applique scissors and then trimmed out the excess from the back. Then I squared the whole thing down to 4-1/2". Quick and easy and when it's washed it will have a little raggedy edge like real flowers. And as I trimmed the squares down I also stacked the pieces cut out from the back and when I got 5 or 6 of them I trimmed those down into 2" squares. That was easy to do as I went along and I didn't have to deal with those little pieces when I cut the rest of my scraps down later.

What makes this a real treasure to me is it combines pieces from Mama's stash along with mine AND little bits from my Grandmother's stash. This one I'll be keeping and whenever I'm missing Mama and Granny I can wrap myself up in this with it's little bits representing them and maybe not feel so lonely.

23 comments:

Susan H. said...

Great job, Nancy. A wonderful tribute to Mama and Granny. They are both smiling down at you now. I love you.

Susan H. said...

PS, I see you made use of your clothes line like we did to photograph mine when I was there. Isn't that a great way to see them and get the great lighting outside?

quiltpixie said...

it is a truly gorgeous quilt, and no doubt will bring lots of joy into your life knowing its history...

Silverthimble said...

I love your quilt and the fact that it is reversible - two quilts in one! Sorry to hear that you weren't feeling good today. Despite how you felt, you made good use of your time!

dot said...

Great quilt, and thanks for leading us to the pattern instructions. I would have done it the old way, sewing the drunkards path. I might still do it that way, we'll see. Hope your feeling better.

Cathi said...

The quilt is lovely and what makes it so special is those fabrics from your mom and grandma...I hope to do a crazy quilt using scraps from family, but I'm the only quilter since my great grandma, so no quiltng cotton scraps!

Leah Spencer said...

Great looking quilt Nancy! Still very tempted to do it myself. :)

Pink and Barbara said...

Nice quilt...lovely colours.!

Tazzie said...

Ohhh Nancy, I love love love those quilts! Especially the drunkards path variation, it looks like flowers growing on the quilt ... just beautiful. I'm going to show my daughter that one, I know she'll love it too!
*huge hugs*
Tazzie
:-)

Maureen and P.D. the Pet Dog said...

I love that your quilt is truely a STASH quilt, including the pieced back!! So many benefits! Job well done!

Saska said...

Your quilt is georgous! Glad you're feeling better.

ps..you can sing to me any time you want to!

Have a great day.

Unknown said...

Looks brilliant Nancy - and I didn't realise until I clicked for a close-up that your backing squares are all flowered fabrics too - really lovely and what a way to remember your mum and gran

kcdi said...

They are perfect! The top is glorious, great job!

Fiona said...

Just lovely - both sides are so pretty and extra special because of the sentimental value to you.

Mary Johnson said...

I love it. Hope you are feeling better now.

The Calico Cat said...

AWESOME!

Anonymous said...

These look great! Great use of stash, and how wonderful to combine yours with your mother's!!

Laurie Ann said...

I am so glad you are keeping this one because it is absolutely fabulous!!!

Passionate Quilter said...

ooooohhh--what a beautiful quilt and what makes it even more special is that it is a 3 generation quilt. Now THAT makes it awesome. I love your backing too!!

ps...thanks for the hint on my blogger--I'll try that the next time I post.

ForestJane said...

That turned out great, both the front and the back! I love the different greens you've used between the flowers, really nice. Can you show a picture of what it looks like when you get it done and washed, plz?

Finn said...

It's a beautiful quilt top Nancy. I hope you can get it basted and begin to quilt it..that would be awesome. And don't feel bad, I'm terrible about seeing a project straight through beginning to end.
So nice that you've got those fabrics that are so special...family wise...*VBS*

Darlene said...

just discovered your blog and will be visiting very often. i love this quilt - i might have to make one very soon. i have the gathering kit but never thought about doing applique - duh!

Evelyn aka Starfishy said...

Nancy, you did a wonderful job and this will be one special quilt for you - full of memories! Glad to see you back in the piecing mode. I hope you are feeling better soon.

Cheers!

Evelyn