Monday, March 19, 2012

...a finished top - entierly by hand!

I almost can't believe that I had the patience and persistance to finish this quilt top - and that I still am enjoying it so much that I am already planning the quilting to be done soon - and by hand as well.

There are 32 'star' units in the quilt as well as 6 half 'stars' at the edges, 62 hexagons, 16 half hexagons and 10 half diamonds to form the edges. Each one was basted by hand and hand sewn into the top and then all 304 paper shapes removed. Well almost all, I have left the edge ones in for now and remove them at basting time.

All that adds up to 1592.5" of whip stitched seam. I was glad of a thimble.


The top measures 45" x 56" so it it pretty firmly a baby-lap sized quilt - and leaves me with nothing but admiration for people that can made a full sized quilt in this way - and using much smaller shapes!

I've started on the backing - ready for basting soon. There are 'spare' hexies (basted when I was going to make a multicoloured bacground) joined and then hand appliqued to the backing to hide the seam joining the two backing pieces together. There is a random spare star to be appliqued on the back as well - but I need to wait for after basting for placement. Confused - I'll explain in pictures later!

 

The next job will be to prepare the batting - as this quilt is part of the Scrap Attack Quilt Along I thought I would continue with the scrap theme. I have an (overflowing) box of reasonably decent sized batting scraps and will piece two of these together to get the batting for this quilt!

15 comments:

Lucy | Charm About You said...

Utterly gorgeous!! It looks wonderful and I love the back too!

Jenny said...

Came over from Flikr....this quilt is so fun and I love it!! Good job!

Cynthia@wabisabiquilts said...

Sooo pretty! I love the color combos. I found you through Quilt Story's Fabric Tuesday! Thanks for sharing and congrats on finishing a top by hand:).

Erin @ Why Not Sew? Quilts said...

it's beautiful!

Wendy said...

This is amazing! Such a lovely top and entirely by hand?!? That would drive me mad!

Kelsey said...

Love the picture with the light streaming through!

Ranch Wife said...

Just lovely! A quilt like this is most definitely on my 'to do' list. Love those stars! Welldone!

Chelsea said...

Amazing! And I love your use of big prints! I always seem to reach for smaller prints for hand piecing, but the big prints look awesome.

Elaine said...

wow, this is AMAZING! I blogged about this on my blog today and awarded you the Liebster Blog Award:

http://dashasel.blogspot.com/2012/03/liebster-blog-award.html

SOLSAUM said...

What a wonderful work!
It’s so beautiful, and I’m so impressed by the wonderful work you have done.
I have fallen in love with it!

Shauna said...

Oh my gosh that is amazing!! You rock for doing all that by hand! It's gorgeous!!

Rachel at Stitched in Color said...

Congratulations, what a feat! I'm so proud of you!!!

Donna~~ said...

Very pretty! And I am so impressed at all the handwork!

Amanda Mc said...

That is an amazing feat! Impressed at all the handwork!

Cindy~ HeartandSewInspirations.com said...

Such beautiful colors! I am a beginner (2 years) so just thinking of how you did this overwhelms me. I do not understand paper piecing, hexagons still confuse me, and I do not love hand work, I'm a machine girl. I truly admire those that are 'seasoned' quilters, like yourself and can appreciate all the work and love that went into this quilt. Keep on inspiring!