Tuesday, July 13, 2010

A WISP finished!

Did you think I'd fallen from the earth? It felt like I had - at least fallen out of touch with everyone. We had internet issues. First of all we had run out of allocation for the month (an issue we will be remedying) and had dial up speed for six days, and then on the day we were back off line, a storm knocked us out completely for two and a half days.

I realised how much we rely on the internet while we were offline, and also found a lot of free time! Time that I used by finishing up a work in slow progress - one that I've been working on for about five years or so.

This is my hand quilted Holiday Wholecloth project. My plan was to finish this table topper and use it for a Christmas centerpiece. It has taken such a long time to be completed it seems such a shame to use it only at Christmas time. This is a close up of the centre section.

I really love to hand quilt, but since I've learned to machine quilt, I've allocated less and less time to it. I have some small wholecloth pillow kits that I picked up in Paducah, I'm thinking I really need to make time for hand quilting - it really is so relaxing.

And here is the finished article. Last night I put it through the wash to remove the blue lines, and then laid it out flat on towels to dry overnight. I may yet wash it again though, after being dragged around for such a long time, there are a few stubborn little marks, and of course the project could not be laundered while in progress, as all those important blue lines would disappear forever!

I have always thought I'd like to quilt queen size wholecloths as wedding gifts for my kids in the future. Not so sure how I feel about that now - at least I hope they give me plenty of notice!!

15 comments:

PatchworkRose said...

Tara
It is just gorgeous :-) Your handquilting is a always divine.
Glad that you are back up and running
Cheers
Lynne

Anonymous said...

looks great, I too have a cot quilt that I have been quilting for a long time and the blue is slowly fading, must get it finished and washed soon

cheers
Christine

Janice said...

How I admire your beautiful work and your perseverance to finish it. We are just getting over a heap of internet and then computer problems too. You are so right in how much we rely on them.

carol fun said...

I am in awe of this project. Beautiful, simply beautiful!

Winona said...

Beautiful! I love the hand quilting. I am sure it has a wonderful texture. Winona

Elsie Montgomery said...

Very nice. Hand quilting is relaxing. I am not fond of the callouses that need to be created, but even with those, the heart rate slows down!

Jill said...

The wholecloth table topper is beautiful! I too have dreamed of hand quilting a queen wholecloth quilt. I haven't given up the dream yet, but let's just say it isn't on the top of the "to do" list, yet. Beautiful quilt!

Shelina (formerly known as Shasta) said...

It is beautiful! I can't imagine doing a bed quilt, but a table topper sounds like a nice thing to do - more do-able for me.

ForestJane said...

Very pretty! And I agree, don't put that away for 11 months out of the year and just bring it out for Christmas. Being white, you could accessorize it with other colors throughout the year - Add some green placemats and gold coins to decorate for St. Patrick's Day, some red hearts and Hershey's Kisses to decorate for Valentine's Day, etc.!

SC Sally said...

Oh my friend, hand quilt now while you can, in addition to your beautiful machine work. Arthritis has begun in earnest in my right hand in the past few weeks and I am realizing that my hand quilting days are numbered. There is a sadness in that but I am grateful that machine work has become accepted and truly mainstream. Your topper is grand but start the wedding quilts now! My girls gave me 4 and 6 months respectively and doing those wedding quilts was CRAZY! lThe real trick is keep having fun.

Nana Time said...

Love the whole cloth hand quilting!
Have never tried it; but here is something to put on my to do list.

Quilter Kathy said...

It's gorgeous! Congratulations on such a momentous finish! Hope you use it and enjoy it regularly!

Angie said...

It's beautiful! You did such a lovely job!! :)

Quilts And Pieces said...

OMG - your wholecloth is wonderful!

Sue said...

Wow, that is a treasure!

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