Stars and Stripes is FINISHED!!

This quilt started months ago... It is my first "Commissioned" quilt.  Back in February, my boss announced that he was going to retire.  I had seen this quilt and immediately knew it would perfect for him, and so I approached my fellow managers and proposed that they pitch in to cover the material costs, and I would to do the quilting work.

Jim is a retired Marine who entered the business world many years ago.  He is a very patriotic man who loves his country, his God, and his family.  I have worked for Jim directly or indirectly for 19 of my 26 years since High School.

I have learned more than I can even begin to tell you while working on this quilt.  It has been a learning experience.  It has been a major pain in the neck.  (Literally, as I had to cut and re-cut so many triangles and squares.)  But it has also given me great Joy, and a huge sense of accomplishment.  This is the largest quilt I have done thus far, and large quilts no longer scare me.  I have realized the importance of fabric choice and color matching.  There are 29 different fabrics in this quilt.  It took a long time to find them all, but it was time well spent.

So, here it is, "Stars and Stripes" FINISH number two this week!!

My shadow makes this look smaller than it is!  It is 80x80.

A close up of one of the stars.
I chose to quilt the bottom with tan thread and the top with thread
to match.  This "hides" the quilting a little bit, or at least the quilting
isn't highlighted or emphasized this way.  It's not that I was concerned
about my meandering, but I didn't want the quilting to take away from
the impact of the quilt as a whole.  I think I accomplished that.

Another view of one of the stars.  Note the bottom left corner of the star,
and the half square triangle above it... Same Fabric!  Darn it.  I tried to
never have the same fabric right next to the same fabric.  I made this
mistake three times.  Oh well, there were 1,152 triangles in the top, I guess
3 mistakes isn't too bad.

Again, same colored thread means the quilting isn't too pronounced,
however, you can see that this thing has a LOT of quilting on it.

The Binding that you might think was custom ordered for this quilt!
It took me several weeks to find it, but I nearly jumped for joy when I
did, as it is perfect for this quilt!!

I didn't think to photograph the process of attaching this, but is
a double sided fusing with the edges hand sewn.  I do not like hand
sewing.  Mostly because I am not good at it.  I would have loved
for this to be blind stitched, but I can't blind stitch to save my
life, so I didn't even try, I just did a neat little over and under stitch.

 I can't wait to give it to Jim on Thursday.  I want those who contributed to be happy with my work, and I want Jim to like it even more.  We'll see...

Until Next Time,
Paul

Friday Morning Update....

Last night I got caught up with the blocks for my Civil War Block Of the Month Club Quilt, now I need to do the sashing for them and quilt them.

I have done so many HSTs in the past few months
I think I can do them in my sleep!!

Month 2 & 3

Month 4 & 5

I still need to put the 3" 'Star Sashing' on each of these, but that will have to be done another night.

And I prepared the Binding for Jonathon's Quilt, that will go on soon.

Binding all ironed and wound around a Spool, Ready to be clipped
and sewn onto the quilt...

I picked up the label for Stars and Stripes today.  I will finish it tomorrow, and I will also bind and label Jonathon's quilt, so I will have two completions for the week.  Which is perfect timing because I just received my Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt Book and I am ready to jump in and get caught up...

Book Cover

Button I am displaying...
I chose this button because it is a little
more modern than the others.

Thanks for stopping by.

Until Next Time,
Paul

Stars and Stripes is Bound...

Well, I got Stars and Stripes bound last night, and it feels good to have that behind me.  I machine bind, and I still hate it, I don't know why, but I do.  I should pick up the label that I am having embroidered for this quilt later today.  So, it is 99% done... 

Tonight I will affix the label and then hopefully tomorrow will be sunny and dry and I'll be able to get a few photos of the completely finished product...

And Inch Worm Fabrics is hosting a book give away... Go HERE to check it out.

Until Next Time,
Paul

Weekend Quilting Update...

Well, My oldest son Josh is in Nevada racing with my Father.  (I'll do a post on that when he gets back with photos!)  Trish took Jonathon and Mary to a concert and then took Mary home (2 hour drive there and back), and Chyenne went to bed.  Dinner was cooked, the kitchen cleaned and I was ready for Survivor Finale'... And I decided to sew while I watched TV.

I have been looking for three weeks for the right material to sash the "Stars and Stripes" quilt for my boss, and Friday I finally found it, so that top is now complete and ready to be quilted!! I really wanted a blue, but I am coming up on the deadline, and I settled for a red that I found with rows of Stars... I also found the perfect binding fabric for this quilt (but I forgot to take a photo of it).  Hopefully, I'll get this quilted and bound this week and then I'll post Finished photos.

Close Up showing rows of small stars

Stars and Stripes, Top Completed!!

I also whipped up a few Wonky Blocks for a Japanese Relief Charity Quilt being assembled by the Columbus Modern Quilt Guild. 

And I cut the fabric for the Japanese Fabric Swap.

 

While I was ironing Stars and Strips Sashing, it jumped at me, and attacked my feet.  I put the iron down and grabbed a camera, 'cuz I knew who it was... Yes, Frappe' once again getting in on the quilting action!!  That goofy kitten just can't resist the temptation...

Until Next Time,
Paul