Monday, August 24, 2015

Goodnight Irene--Finished



It feels like I sort of let myself fall off the blog-o-sphere for a bit.  Sometimes family and life happen and it's hard to get at my machine let alone the computer.  But I'm back and I have a finish to talk about.  Back in 2013 I started piecing a pattern I found in the magazine Quilting Quickly called Goodnight Irene.  I chose a beautiful set of four charm packs in Moda's The Morris Apprentice line. My husband had purchased them for me for Christmas.  I would love to show you pictures from the construction of this quilt, but I only have one.


I think Becker-Boo my pit bull mix loved this quilt before it was pieced.

For almost two years this beautiful quilt top has lived in UFO land in my backroom.  Almost everyday, I am reminded at work and at home that these projects lay unfinished.  Oh, how I longed to make the pile smaller and mark something off of the list.


So a few weeks ago I finally caved and took Goodnight Irene to a Long Arm Quilter hoping I could finally score a finish and cross a name off the list.  Three weeks later, my quilt was finished and ready for the binding process.


Wholly cow, I have not needed this many binding strips in FOREVER.  The quilt ended up measuring 94 x 101 inches.  But thanks to a The Walking Dead marathon, I was able to get this baby bound.  Becker would walk by my chair and whine at me, staring at me with his big ol' yellowish eyes.  I just couldn't say no.  I moved my big pile of quilt and let him in the chair so he could sit with me as I finished the quilt.


I think he loves it even more now that it is finished.

Now we will skip, ahead a week.  I knew that our family reunion was coming up and thought I would grab a few pictures of this quilt while I was at Holly River State Park.  Family reunions are never a small ta-do for us.  My grandparents had a total of eleven children (4 boys and 7 girls).  When you factor in the fact that they both came from families just as big or bigger, that makes for a crazy amount of people.  This year is one of the first years in a very long time all of my aunts and uncles have been able to make it.


My beautiful momma is 3rd from the left.

We enjoy lots of food...

Shortbread cookies made from my grandma's recipe, courtesy of my aunt Zeld. 
good music...

My cousin's daughter, the West Virginia Youth Fiddle Champ

good laughs...

Teenagers hate having their picture taken.

and even a raffle full of items donated by family members.

All of these items where made by family members.  Sadly, I didn't have anything to bring this year.
However, my daughter and I were big winners!

After most of the fun was over, my partners in crime and I slipped off to grab some pictures of my quilt.








So now I can finally cross a name off of my list!


I also dropped my quilt I call Holiday in Kashmir off to be quilted when I picked Irene up.  So I have another bigger finish right around the corner as well!!  

Now it is time to finish writing my post for the Fabri-Quilt Blog hop coming up next week.  I hope you will tune in to check out all of the wonderful blocks created by talented fellow bloggers.  I know I'm pretty excited.








13 comments:

Bonnie said...

The quilt is beautiful. Nothing like a big finish to inspire you to finish more! Your photos of the quilt are wonderful. I'll have to take my next big quilt on a field trip to take photos instead of always using my backyard fence! It looks like you had a great time at the family reunion. I've only been to one and it was for my husbands side of the family and it wasn't even his family, but an in law. We had a great time though.

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

Goodnight Irene is so pretty. I have a big pile of WIPs that I need to put front and center so I can get some done. You've inspired me!

Debbie said...

When will these beauties be up for sale? Our are you keeping these in a private stash? Lol

Stitchin At Home said...

Goodnight Irene is a beautiful quilt. Looks like you had a great family reunion.

Kate said...

Goodnight Irene turned out beautifully! Congrats on the finish!

Ramona said...

Beautiful photos of your gorgeous quilt. Yay!! for a huge finish!!

Sandra Walker said...

Beautiful quilt Tish! Love seeing all the pics of your family reunion, holy moly, you guys go all out!! Your mom IS beautiful. Best of all is Becker. LOVE seeing him snuggled in the quilt; pibbles are just the sweetest snuggle-muffin pups. You should put him in Pets On Quilts....

lalaluu said...

What is it with dogs and quilts? Every time I'm hand-stitching binding, a dog will come up and want to get on the couch with me. Maybe it's because they're so soft? Love the story and pics of the family reunion. My mom's family is quite large, too, with all the kids and grandkids. They reunion every summer, too, and it's nice that everyone can still get together. I know the grandkids (age ~1 year to ~20) will have great memories of their cousins and second cousins. Visiting you from Kat and Cat Quilts where I see your flying geese up next to mine on her design wall!

Kate said...

A gorgeous quilt and your dog is a cutie. Fabulous pictures. Your family reunion looks fun!

Visiting from Too Cute Tuesday.

Carole @ From My Carolina Home said...

Wow, beautiful quilt! Love those colors, great job.

Lisa in Port Hope said...

Congratulations on your finish and sharing photos from your family reunion.

Unknown said...

Great finish, Tish! I really like the fabric you used...so wish my husband would choose such a great gift :) I have only hand stitched binding once this year, and I watched a combination of Walking Dead and Downton Abby (can you guess when I was alone and when with my husband)

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