Celebrate with me! I'm so pleased to say that I finished this queen-sized comforter Saturday at my church women's retreat (thanks for your help, Naomi!). Several women bring handwork to do while we sit and talk. Because I'm so excited about finishing this thing, I bumped the Sunday dinner post to tomorrow. Comforters do not get finished every day around here, so bear with me.
Pattern Inspiration:
Seeing this quilt of Leila's. I knew I wanted a scrappy quilt with a simple pattern. I made the bricks 4" x 8" which is a standard size for real bricks.
Color Inspiration:
I love blue. And our bedroom is drowsy, cool blue, so I wanted the quilt to be easy on the eye without a lot of contrast. Yet it could not be too boring, so I threw in a little lavendar and cool green and a few shots of strong blue. To keep the colors even calmer, I used all that white sashing. The dark blue ties and binding were a last minute wing-it that I really like.
Materials and Cost:
I bought a few inexpensive vintage pieces of fabric with this quilt in mind, but most of it came from Rebecca's stash.
Some of the white sashing is actually painting dropcloths because I was in a rush to finish piecing and didn't want to spend money for plain white cotton. So there are a few spots of Coachlight (our dining room color) on the sashing!
The backing is a old blue sheet whose partner's elastic wore out and got cut up for blue bricks.
The batting is a cheap polyester blanket I got from Target; it was too slimy-feeling for my husband and me, so I decided to be 1930s-style and make it into a quilt.
I estimate the total cost is $45.
Quilting:
I intended to quilt it, but that dratted blanket prevented quilting. So I tied it with dark blue wool from Rebecca (and that will felt down when I wash the comforter to put away for the summer - I'll show another pic then).
Binding:
Navy cotton from my stash that was intended for napkins, but I couldn't get the hang of the rolled hem foot.
This comforter was never intended to be a showpiece, so I don't mind the flaws in it. I'm pleased that I got to play with color and make something usable.
We slept happily under it that very night. . . it's heavy, warm, my favorite blues . . .and it's DONE.
Now, on to Kim's quilt and the living room throw.
5 comments:
Oh wow! Oh wow! It's beautiful and I love it. Yes, let's celebrate, what an accomplishment. I love your color palette and the design. Very nicely done, Margo!
Congratulations! I'd be excited too!! I'm a blue girl, too...love it! Our bedroom is kind of a cool tiffany blue. So relaxing.
Great job - and what fun to finish it at a church women's retreat!
I am incredibly impressed. I liked reading about how to make something so useful. By the way, I love the way you make your projects frugal. You can spend a lot of money on sewing if you're not careful.
Hurray! It's beautiful. I didn't know about the drop cloths....aren't you smart!
xo
Rebecca
Very very nice! I love how patterns get interpreted...mine was significantly different from the original pattern I saw in a magazine...yours is different still.
The blues and the white make a very pleasing homey fresh pattern (I also love the blue with the brown -- very cozy). I love the thought of a really useful blanket that one makes using things at hand, and it comes out beautifully! And the idea of the wool ties that felt...perfect.
Congratulations! Well done!
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