Groove

20 Nov

Earlier this year Tobit’s brother got married; I’d known about the event for 6 months or so and had been pondering the idea of making them a quilt for a wedding gift.  This time last year we had a whole lot of other stuff going on that meant the idea got shelved for a while.

Fast forward to December 2015 and I eventually got around to pitching the idea to them.  Nathan came up with a this as a brief: ‘Glastonbury \ Coachella festival  \ music, Sunset and coastal colours, Australia \ west coast America.  I loved that they had an idea but I had no idea how I might translate it.  The wedding was in April, we didn’t make the trip halfway around the world to San Diego but about that time I had the inspiration of the Groove quilt.

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So I purchased the pattern and Tobit made fabric choices and soon I was on a roll cutting and sewing:

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It didn’t take long really to make the quilt top:

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I spotted the error and fixed it, then I folded the top up and put it in the cupboard and searched for a suitable backing fabric.  I struggled to find anything that I thought would be suitable; Brexit had happened and the cost of buying fabric from the US was too expensive.  At the Festival of Quilts in August I eventually made a decision and bought this Whistler Studios style #39513 for Windham Fabrics, 108″ wide.

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The quilt top stayed in the cupboard; the return to school for the children and my eldest starting hight school I couldn’t find the mental energy and space to deal with it.  I did have a vague idea of how I might quilt it so ordered matching Aurifil colours.

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Although ordered from one online store they didn’t arrive together so I had to wait for them all to arrive.

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I got it in to my head that I could tackle it at half term as I also had time off work.  At the weekend I basted while Tobit devised a quilting plan:

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And then a number of hours quilting; I’m not sure how to explain how I quilted…

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But the quilting echoes the curves and the lines converge where the curve gets thinner!

30603889445_baf71b7b9c_zOnce the quilting was finished I trimmed the edges and curved the corners to echo the curves in the quilt.

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I wanted to label the quilt but wanted something that subtle so I ended up using the alphabet function on my machine and stitched on the binding:

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This is the only photo I have of it; it continues with our names, I’m guessing it wasn’t on Tobit’s radar when he was photographing the finished quilt but it appears on the binding on the back of the quilt.

A few quiet hours hand stitching the binding down and a while burying threads (my least favourite part) and the quilt was finished.

As it was half term we had time to spend a day out on Dartmoor and took the quilt along for a photo shoot:

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It’s a big quilt; Bethan and I stood on a bench and stretched our arms to hold it up and it still touched the ground!

We found a tree branch positioned almost perfectly:

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This was most definitely on my 4th quarter FAL list I am so pleased to have it finished and gifted.

Quilt Stats:

Pattern – Groove by Caroline Patchworks
Fabrics: Kona: Torch, Mediterranean, Niagara, Canary and Purple
Backing – Whistler Studios style #39513 for Windham Fabrics, 108″ wide.
Binding – Kona Niagara
Wadding – Super-Soft 80/20 by Sew Simple
Quilting – machine quilted by me using Aurifil 50 wt 2581, 2715, 1104, 1125 and 1135
Finished size – 81″ x 99″
Made for – Nathan and Mark

 

2016 FAL

 

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7 Replies to “Groove

  1. As my 9 year old grand-daughter would say ” AMAZING,”
    That is a real showstopper and it is inspirational how you related fitting it into your busy life.
    Lovely to share this, thankyou.

  2. Such a striking quilt. And the rounded corners and quilting just finish it off perfectly, as does the way you labelled it! (I have to remember that…)

  3. It is amazing!! Stunner!! Thank you for sharing and participating in the 2016 FAL – commenting on behalf of the 2016 Global FAL Hosting Team.

  4. Stitching on the binding with my machine is my favorite way to do a label. This quilt is stunning! Thank you for sharing and for participating in the 2016 FAL. Hope to see you at the 2017 FAL. Commenting on behalf of the 2016 Global FAL Host Team.

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