A finished quilt for ME!

I haven't finished a quilt that I intended to keep since.... 1997?   That was long, long before I found modern fabrics, flickr inspiration and my own design sense. 

Summer Quilt

I bought all of this Anna Maria Horner Little Folks voile a few years ago, but I didn't have the confidence yet to sew with voile.

Summer Quilt

I have never done hand stitching with perle cotton before and never used more than one color stitching in a quilt before.

Summer Quilt

I've never made anything so silky soft that I absolutely had to use it for naps and sleeping as soon as it was thread basted.  I really would leave the perle cotton thread in place, remove the needle, remove the Q snap frame and then go to sleep with it.  I would mentally carve out time in my day to take a nap with it.  

Summer Quilt

I've only splurged for bamboo batting for baby quilts...until now. 

Summer Quilt

The binding fabric is a denser weave quilter's cotton with a smoother but slightly heavier hand than Kona cotton.  I tried hand stitching the binding in back with invisible stitches and the voile just puckered like crazy.  So, I machine stitched it down and then added some accent hand stitching around the entire perimeter.

Summer Quilt

The backing is very tame compared to the front but all of the stitches show up nicely.  I really thought I'd be relieved to be done with all of the hand quilting.  Instead, I keep scanning the quilt with my eyes to make sure there isn't an excuse to haul out the perle cottons again. 

Summer Quilt

I had originally told Ben that this was my summer quilt and *only* mine.  He has since started a campaign of puppy dog eyes and not-so-subtle requests to share it "once in awhile."

(He has also dubbed the photo above as his "Hey Girl" picture.  As in, "Hey Girl, I'll hold your quilt up for pictures until my arms want to fall off and then I'll hug it close to me because it smells like you.  --R.G.")

Summer Quilt

(For size reference: my husband is standing on a chair in the backyard with his arms spread as wide and as high as he can manage without his noggin showing behind the quilt.  That's my lazy way of measuring a finished quilt.)

I really couldn't be happier with my summer quilt.  It is so dreamy that I am already considering another summer nap this afternoon.

25 comments:

Toni said...

Dreamy is the perfect description!

Amy Friend said...

It's beautiful Melinda and I love the hey girl pic :)

felicity said...

I love the "hey girl" reference. Perfect.

The extra stitching you put along the binding really takes this from fantastic to out of this world! Love this so much!

Beth said...

Wow - I love everything about this quilt - the fabrics, the patchwork, the very cool handstitching, and the binding! Beautiful. Oops, auto correct tried to change handstitching to "hands twitching!"

Kim said...

Wow, I think you picked a great one to make just for you! I love the stitching on the binding, too. Can I ask what size thread you ended up hand quilting with? I might give it a try at some point...

Heather said...

This quilt is soooo wonderful. I love how you hand quilted it. I plan on trying that soon. You are so nice to share with your hubby :-). My hubby uses a quilt that has magic sleeping powers in it... He always falls asleep under it.

Rebecca said...

It's fantastic! And you get your own "hey girl" picture. :) I LOVE the binding.

Anna Maria Parry said...

What a joy to see, gorgeous :)

Ginette said...

This quilt sounds heavenly! Beautiful! Congratulations! I love the "hey girl" reference, made me LOL!!

Angela Nash said...

Totally wonderful!!!! What a perfect quilt to be just for yourself - finally! And the Hey Girl is hilarious.

Debbie said...

This turned out beautiful! Love hubby getting all puppy-dog-eyes! I really like the handstitching on the binding - have you done that before?? It looks great.

Carmen said...

AMH commented on your post!!!! As for me, I just love the whole story and history behind making this quilt...the naps sounded great:)

Suz J said...

That really is a lovely quilt - well done on the finish! I see more hand quilting in your future. And what is it with husbands and their poor arms - harden up man, it's only a quilt!

Cassie said...

It's so beautiful!!! I'm a little jealous of how big and snuggly it looks and I just love your hand quilting. I seriously think I am going to have to brave some hand quilting...now I just need a project special enough :)

Britt said...

Oh my gosh, that is so gorgeous. When you spend a lot of time crafting for other people, it's a wonderful treat to make something special just for you. I also love the "Hey Girl" picture. I'm going to have to show it to Jason as an example of How Such Things Are Done when I need to photograph my next afghan.

Prof. S (the enchanted bobbin) said...

It's lovely!!!! I can just imagine how soft and light it is...congratulations :)

Claudia said...

Beautiful! I love your hand stitching with the voile. You're so productive. :)

Lindsey said...

Stunning, simply stunning!

melissa said...

oh. my.
there are really no words to express how completely fabulous, gorgeous and amazing this finished project is!

i hope you haven't stopped snuggling under it since you finished!

tusen said...

ooh, it's lovely. I can imagine how soft it must be. And I love the back too, with all the colourful quilting lines. So great you will keep it.

cmvs said...

my goodness, it is absolutely, completely and undoubtedly gorgeous! no wonder you've already logged in so much snuggle time with it. you're amazing!

Alma said...

Can you PLEASE show me the pattern to the hand quilting with that beautiful colored thread?!? What a beautiful quilt!! Alma aroden62@hotmail.com

Unknown said...

This is so gorgeous! I would love to snuggle under a beauty like that and I'll bet it's amazing to the touch! Just beautiful!

Amanda Jean said...

bravo, melinda! it's utterly fabulous!!!! i love the hand stitching. esp. on the binding. what a beautiful finishing touch!

Jennifer Mathis of Ellison Lane said...

I love the hey girl reference too!
I've got a stack of voiles I am waiting to cut into- Your quilt is lovely!!

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