2/8/14

A Finished Top

Today I sewed the two borders on the Intel Underneath quilt. I'm so glad to have this top finished. It's a large top at 90 x 90 inches, and so it was hard to get a very good picture of it. I didn't have enough room to spread the whole thing out, but I think you can get a pretty good idea of what it looks like here.


Here's a closer image so that you can see the printed circuit board fabric. I had this fabric in my stash for a long time before I chose a pattern for it.


After wrestling this large quilt all afternoon, I kind of gave up the idea of having it as my first solo long-arm project. I still want to learn the machines at my LQS, but I think I'll choose a less celebratory quilt for my first project. I've decided to give this one to my excellent long arm quilter, Erin Davis. Erin has quilted some quilts for me in the past, and she always does beautiful work. 

Also, there seemed no amount of figuring that was going to produce a large enough back from the fabric I had. I conveniently forgot that I needed to add some length for the long arm machine, and I drew and figured, and drew and figured, but I could not stretch my fabric large enough. I ended up just ordering enough Kona solid black for the back. I think the quilting design I have chosen will look great on a solid black with green thread. This is a quilt for Matthew's graduation, and Matthew is partial to green and black.

It has been snowing almost nonstop today. Mike was brave and took one of the ATVs (outfitted with large snow tires) up to the top of the hill where he found three-foot drifts. He measured an area in our field that seemed relatively sheltered from the wind and found the snow to be a foot deep. It's hard to measure because it is piled up in drifts in most places. Even the kitty door was blocked by snow drifts this morning.


Poor Smitty is bored silly in this terrible weather. He ventured two steps out into the snow, leaped over a snow drift, then leaped back and came inside again. That was enough for him. He'll just have to be content to chase the red dot for now. Gracie thinks it's just fine, thank you. Just keep that fireplace stoked, and she's happy. Stoking is easy when you have a gas fireplace, so we're all staying contentedly warm. And with that, it's time to clean up the mess in the sewing room.

20 comments:

WoolenSails said...

The quilt is beautiful, really stunning with the fabrics you used the the contrasting black.

Debbie

Vroomans' Quilts said...

I thought it rather brave of you to quilt this one, so happy to hear you are passing it on. A solid black back will look stunning with green thread - delish!! Congrats on the flimsie finish. Oh, your back yard looks like ours from the last storm. We were to have another tonight into tomorrow, but the weather pattern changed, so it is missing us - YEAH!

Janarama said...

This quilt turned out awesome. Love your choice of fabric. Perfect quilt for a man.

Snow pictures aren't something I want to see. LOL We got another 4 inches today on top of what is already on the ground. There is no place left to put this white carp. I haven't seen my grass since mid December. Can't wait until Spring.

Marei said...

Intel Underneath is looking great! Wrangling that fabric around is hard work....I hope your shoulder is feeling OK. We have finally gotten some rain around here. Been 2 days of wet with a couple more in the forecast. Yeah! We need all the moisture we can get. Thankfully the mountains are getting plenty of snow, too. Oh how I miss the mountains and the snow. SIGH**

MalinisQuilts said...

WOW!That is one beautiful quilt.
If you plan to try long arm for the first time, give straight line quilting a try. I found hard to quilt curves on long arm than straight line FMQs designs.
Good luck!

Junebug613 said...

90x90 is HUGE. I think you are wise to let the professional handle this one, just because it is special and you would be a wreck if it didn't turn out how you wanted it to after all that work on the long arm. That snow sure is pretty. It has been damp and overcast and drizzly (I'm sure that's not a real word, but I like it!) here, so it's as close to a snow day as we get. Glad you got to finish up the top. Green and Black are my favorite colors too!

KatieQ said...

Poor Smitty, I know exactly how he feels. I am totally sick of snow this winter. I want it to be gone.
The quilt looks wonderful. The design was a great choice for that fabric. I can't wait to see how it looks after it gets back from the longarmer. It sounds like the black fabric will work well for the backing and show off the quilting.

Tami C said...

The quilt is looking great! Congrats on getting that all together. Sometimes it's a real pain when doing a large quilt. Poor Smitty, the weather will change before too long.

Lyndsey said...

What a great quilt. That is going to be an awesome graduation present. I bought some of the computer keyboard fabric for a project and thought of you and this quilt. It looks great as the border. I'm looking forward to seeing the quilting design.

Michele said...

That quilt will make a great graduation gift and it will be fun to see it all quilted up. Smitty is one smart cat...it's not fit outside for man or fur baby.

Doris Rice, The Quilting Queen said...

Intel quilt turned out fabulous! Great job! I really like the quilting pattern you picked. It's a good compliment to the quilt. I have used several of Urban Elementz's designs myself. What color thread are you going to have the longarmer use? Can't wait to see the finished quilt.

Kate said...

Congrats on the finished top. It's a very cool quilt! Looking forward to seeing it all completed. It will make perfect graduation gift. Does Matthew know about the quilt?

Kathy Felsted Usher said...

Congratulations on getting the top completed! Snow everywhere, so tired of snow.

Angie in SoCal said...

What a great graphic, modern quilt, Barbara.

Diane Wild said...

The quilt is wonderful. A perfect quilt for a techy. Sorry about the snow but it seems we all are having to deal with it. What I'm tired of is the cold. Your temps sound balmy compared to our below zero ones. Keep the fireplace lit.

Vicki said...

I love this pattern. It reminds me of shoji screens and I'm imagining how it would look with Asian fabrics.

CathieJ said...

What a beautiful quilt. I too keep making quilts that I don't want to use to try out the long arm at my LQS. Maybe someday.

Cheryl's Teapots2Quilting said...

Great quilt! Sorry about the snow. I totally understand. Now you know why I got so much sewing done in January. Hard to get out when it's snowing that much almost every day. Ugh! Poor Smitty. My dog is shorter than our snow piles are. She is about Smitty's height.

Brown Family said...

THe green thread on the black back will be great. We had about a half inch of snow on Thursday and then temps in the 50's for the weekend and back in the 30's tomorrow. I agree with Smitty! THis weather stinks !

quiltzyx said...

Hooray! A finish! I don't blame you for sending it out, that is big. I took a long arm class at one of my LQS...then figured it would probably cost more for me to rent time on the machine & do it myself than to send it out! Oh well.

Poor Smitzter! No outsiding for a while with all that s
white stuff. Brrrr. Hooray for fireplaces too! Gracie definitely has the right idea.