Thursday, July 9, 2020

TGIFF--Pinwheel Quilt


Welcome to Wonderland, where today we are celebrating Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday.


This is a special quilt that turned into a UFO.  I'm a girl of good quilty intentions and we all know what road is paved with good intentions.  This quilt, like most of mine, started out with the very best intentions.

Travel with me back to April of 2017.  A dear friend of mine is in charge of the Family Resource Network for our county.  

Each May for National Foster Care Month and in awareness to prevent Child Abuse, the FRN places blue pinwheels around the city to raise awareness for both causes.  So many children desperately need safe and loving homes.


Since, these events would be kicking off the next month, my friend approached me about making a quilt to raffle and, like every quilter I know, I was like OF COURSE!!!  It was April, I totally felt I could have made from start to finish a quilt to raffle in May...wrong.

I found the perfect pinwheel pattern, a free quilt by Sew Mama Sew, called Pinwheels in the Park.  The quilt pieced up quickly and a custom quilt job ensued.  All was well, until I noticed there was puckering on the back of the quilt.  My balloon deflated and I decided there was no way this quilt could be good enough.  In my frustration I banished it to the pile of I'll finish you later.  That was totally unfair of me on many levels.

So three years pass and COVID break hits and I decided, hey, I should finish that pinwheel quilt.  Here's the funny part...I thought I had a ton more to quilt on this quilt and that was why I had put it up.  I had completely forgot about the puckers.  So I pulled the quilt out to assess.


Caroline, was pretty quick to point out, it was the borders.  The borders was what I got stuck on.  All the white parts were finished.  And those puckers on the back...barely noticeable.  

I'm on a huge Natalia Bonner kick right now.  I cannot get enough of her quilting.  I had just recently purchased her class on quilting scallops in borders and figured now was the time.  I tried to use math to figure out how many and how wide and how tall and.....ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!  It was just too hard.  I was making it too hard. The easiest way to tackle scallops is to use your pieced blocks and sashing to place them.  Once I figured that out, it was smoothish sailing.




Now let's talk thread.


For the center of the quilt I decided to use a neutral that would blend nicely all over.  Aurifil #2600 Dove never disappoints.  It's my go to color.  For my border scallops, if I was going to do all that work, I wanted it to show.  I chose Aurifil #2715 Robins Egg to pop off that dark blue Moda Grunge.  For a little more pizzazz, I went with Aurifil #2785 Dark Navy to sink some lines into the background of the borders. 

   
I finished the quilt off with my favorite binding technique...the flange binding.  That tiny strip of light blue fabric adds just the right touch to finish things off.

So you might be asking, how does the story end for this one?  I contacted my friend to let her know that her 2017 dontation quilt was finally finished!!!  I told her I want her to keep it.  Since the making of this quilt, my dear sweet niece, Pickle, has officially became part of the family! (unofficially she always has been)  And Aunt Tish is behind on quilts for forts. Pickle needs more quilts!!!! and forts!!!




I got to take this little quilt on a quilty photo shoot.  Another dear friend of mine has one of the most beautiful charismatic houses in town and gladly let me bring it by for a few glamour shots.  I hope we will be seeing more of this porch!





 Okay, enough about my finish.  I want to hear all about yours!!!  Link up below and tell us all about your finish, big or small.  


You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!
Click here to enter


Don't have a finish?  Not done partying?  Come back tomorrow for my weekly linky party UFO Busting.  Don't let that title fool you, not UFO required.  We celebrate those finishes new and old and all those little things that distract us from finishes and creates UFO's.  Everyone welcome!

Thank you so much for stopping by!  My gate is always open to you.




Except when there is a quilt hanging on it.  Then it's closed.  But its totally unlocked...come on in!!




17 comments:

Yvonne from Quilting Jetgirl said...

The flange binding is a beautiful frame, Tish. Also, congratulations and welcome, Pickle! I think I see more quilts and quilt fort fun in your future. :)

piecefulwendy said...

You do beautiful work, Tish. What a pretty quilt! Borders always puzzle me. Your quilt looks so pretty draped over that porch railing!

Nancy J said...

The quilt, the threads you chose, the photos, this will be a treasure with a story to tell. a super finish,.

Sandra Walker said...

Man oh man what an incredible porch! And gate! And QUILT!! (yay for the flanged binding) So glad you got'er done and that it ended up where it knew it needed to be after all. :-) Quilts know.

Janice Holton said...

That pin wheel quilt is the BEST!! Wow! Love the color and so much detail to take in and you, my dear, are becoming quite the quilter! I am VERY impressed! I wish I had a finish to share on your linky part but not this time around. I'm working on something though!

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

great finish - it looks wonderful on the porch!

chrisknits said...

What a great finish, even if it is 3 years later. I must remember your blue thread trick, I have a navy mini that will be getting finished soon!

Sylvia said...

Lovely quilting! Love the colors, blue is my favorite!

Leanne Parsons said...

It's gorgeous, Tish! I love the colours and your quilting is amazing, as always. Yay for a long-awaited finish :) And thanks for hosting this week!

Alycia~Quiltygirl said...

Glad you got it back out!! It is a great finish!! and Pickles will love it!

Danette said...

This is such a beautiful pinwheels quilt! Glad you got to finish it.

Debbie said...

Everything about this quilt is perfect! Great finish and beautiful pictures!

Dresden Quilter said...

It is a great quilt. I really like the quilting you did on the borders. It looks fabulous on your gate.

Anja @ Anja Quilts said...

I know that road all too well. LOL You did an amazing job with the quilting. I think I'm going to join the free class Natalie is doing in September. I need to work on my free-motion quilting and using rulers, but I need to get a ruler foot for my domestic Singer. Well done. Have a great weekend.

KaHolly said...

You’re such a doll! Great post! Natalia Bonner rocks. She’s done a couple of my quilts in the past, pre-Janome. Applying what you’ve learned from her on this quilt brought perfect results. It’s beautiful!

Emily said...

Love all the blues in this and your quilting is stunning as always, Tish!

Peacemeal said...

When I worked at the fabric store they would give me EVERYTHING I needed to make a store model. HURRAY. Oops, if i wasn't done in 2 weeks, I had to pay for everything. I turned one paper pieced quilt in with the back on and bound WITH THE PAPER STILL ON IT. Took 9 years to pull it back out and finish it as a wedding gift. Moral: Have a goalline.
This Blue Quilt is truly top to bottom amazing!!!!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...