Saturday, January 7, 2017

Project Quilting season 8, challenge 1: 8 is great!

Wow! I havent blogged since March!  You can find me almost daily at instagram @cyarnell.  
Today I am sharing with yon a new quilt I designed and made in 6 days!  While working!


title:  On the 8's
size: 54" x 54"
designed and made by:  Colleen C. Yarnell
where:  Lewisville, NC
pattern: orginal
inspiration:  The challenge was 8 is great!, I had a pile of collected Christmas prints come almost vintage and a desire for a cozy winter throw.  I started with a design on Sunday.  I sketched it in one of my graph notebooks.  Though this layout later evolved.



Monday was a holiday so I sorted out fabrics and started cutting and sewing blocks.  I decided to make 8 sets of 8 different blocks.

I modified the design and made it up as I went along.  I stuck with an 8 by 8 grid of 6" finished squares.  I cut out a set of 8 green and 8 red charm squares.  8 four patches, 8 fussy cuts, 8 half square triangles, and 8 square in square. 

 I used my Quick Curve ruler to make 8 curved blocks.  I also made 8 wonky trees.  I looked at various tutorials but decided to cut it my own way.  

The overall layout is a play on a snowflake with a symmetrical orientation focused to the center.  One square in a square block it rotated 90 degrees but I decided to leave it.

I had the top assembled Monday when I realized it only finished at 48"square!  I think when I designed it Sunday I had planned to do 7" blocks.  Oh well.  So I planned a border.  Of course it had to be based on 8! I decided to use a gray on white snowflake print I had just bought on clearance from Joann's and a cute Santa cat print that looked like Sofia!

It added enough to make the quilt 54" square.  Perfect!  I added the borders on Tuesday after work.  Then I had to figure out backing.  I went to Joann's after work Tuesday thinking I would get a wool batt to make it extra cuddly.  But they had none.  So I remembered I had bought some blue/ green/white plaid flannel the week before to make some flannel pillowcases. 

 It was the perfect back!  I was short so I took a precut snowy flannel I was going to use for another flannel pillowcase.  It made the perfect batt.  Then it sat until Friday.  Snow was predicted Friday afternoon into Saturday.  I ran errands after work.   It started snowing and it was about 7:00 before I started basting my quilt.

I clipped it to one of the boards I used as design boards until Sofia clawed them down.  It makes it easier to baste when I don't have floor space.  
After basting I was ready to quilt.  I overcame the tiredness of the day and I think the excitement of the snow kept me working.  


I stopped about 9:00 to check on the snow and everything was covered in white!   I kept on working.  It was after midnight when I attached the binding.

At 1:00am I had it finished except for the hand binding.


I put it on my bed to sleep under and then went out to play in the snow!

I went to bed at 2 am!  Then got up at 5:30 am to take more pictures, measure, and watch it snow.  This is the second best use for a quilt ruler.

I spent the morning inside watching the snow and sewing the binding streaming A Place to Call Home on Acorntv.


We ended up with 9" Saturday. It made a perfect picture taking environment.


I finished up the binding and the sun came out for some great pictures of the finished quilt!



keep dreaming...Colleen 
This cutie has been a blessing!

9 comments:

Janie Bettis said...

What a tremendous finish! Woo Hoo!
Lovely and cheery quilt, Coleen.

Amy W said...

I love seeing your thought process. And That you chose to photograph in the snow.

Kelly Wilson said...

Being walked through the design process is so much fun! This is a great start to project quilting.

Trish Frankland said...

I love this Christmas quilt! It's so happy!!

PersimonDreams said...

Love the quilt! Love the story! Love the snow!

Yeah!

Carolyn said...

This turned or so good! I love all your 8 references in the quilt! I got some snowy pictures, too. We got about 10 inches yesterday. Thankful for app these words we have haha!

Carolyn said...

Thankful for all these quilts we have, haha! (Ugh autocorrect)

BizarreQuilter said...

oh! what a gorgeous quilt! It's great to see the story of a quilt coming alive, and especially see all the snow (it's hot and humid where I live)..

Kris said...

Great quilt and story.