Quilt ADD in therapy

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Colorado, United States
Other than my family, the passion of my life is quilting. An eclectic, I love a wide variety of styles and techniques encompassing both machine and hand work. I am a longarm quilter who can work for you. I enjoy any style, from pantographs to all-over to full custom, ranging from traditional to modern. I love bringing vintage tops to life and am willing to work with a challenging quilt top. Instagram: lyncc_quilts

Saturday, October 25, 2014

Blogger's Quilt Festival - "25th, Baby!!"

Wow, am I excited!  I've finally finished stitching the binding down on my double wedding ring 25th anniversary quilt - barely in time for this fall's Blogger's Quilt Festival! [Amy, of Amy's Creative Side, has undoubtedly spent countless hours organizing and facilitating this show that has a spectacular list of sponsors, so I give her my heartfelt gratitude.]
This is being entered in the "Home Machine Quilted" Category.



"25th, Baby!!"




Check out those crazy points in the scallops - yes, they took a long time! In fact, everything about this quilt took a long time. (More on that later)

At finish, this king-size quilt measures 98" x 110" and weighs 12 pounds. It shrank about 6 inches each way with the heavy quilting.



This is Isabeau's most favorite quilt - She never misses an opportunity to lay on or in it!






I've been working on this baby since August 21, 2013. That's right. It's been the priority project for over a year! 


I was looking for the elegance of the curves that the traditional piecing for double wedding ring quilts achieves - with the round lines continuing through the connecting diamonds rather than having hard-edged diamonds splatted on top of the arcs as in the faster methods. So I used the Omnigrid cutting templates that I'd found at a "yard sale" however many years ago. 




To get a controlled scrappy effect, I used some fabrics from my stash, mixed with a bunch of new fat quarters, for the arcs. The background, backing, and diamond yardages were purchased new for this quilt. The batting is Hobb's Tuscany Washable Wool, one layer. I would have loved to put a layer of 80/20 cotton underneath for even better faux trapunto results, but that would have been way too heavy for me to move around while free-motion quilting. I work at a table-top machine, so weight can become a serious issue at this size!

[Several months ago I made a TIPS post about piecing traditional DWRs so I could remember strategies that helped and share everything that I found useful.]

I just love how the quilting came out on this!



The central quilting design is "Megan's Feathers" by Donna Kleinke. I bought the digital file, then printed it out so I could make Golden Threads patterns to pin onto my ring centers to quilt through (I had already stitched in the ditch on everything to stabilize the quilt. In the future, I'd find it less work to trace the design onto the top before sandwiching everything.) I made my own motifs for the melon portions and the diamonds. 

[I also made a TIPS post about quilting a king size on a table-top machine.]


We were married on August 23, 1989 in Manti, Utah





25 years later, we are a little heavier, a lot wiser, and still building a life together! 



I wanted to personalize the quilting on our quilt, so in the center I made an anniversary tribute area:



The very middle is a "C" monogram with a floral fill, 
and there's an "L" and an "S" to either side:



 



There is a 1989 spot,



and a 25th spot:


I had trouble figuring out how I wanted to "fence" this grouping off from the overall quilting, and ended up doing a ropy "border" that filled the oddball corners with these hearts and the background lines.



I used a 50-wt thread on the pink sections, and 100-wt silks on the diamonds, all matching. I had left the arcs unquilted other than the ditch work, because I wanted them to stand out dimensionally. But I saw that it had some collapsing going on when the quilt wasn't perfectly flat, so with the walking foot I put in a wavy stitch that my machine has, using a beigy-green thread that I had on hand.



It was the perfect touch - stabilizing the arcs in a gorgeous way that allowed the puff to stay tall without distracting from the quilting designs in the backgrounds.



The back is just as gorgeous as the front! 
What a pretty whole-cloth effect:




So now we can finally put this on our bed - It's so nice to have a second king size quilt, just in time for it to snow in a couple of nights! No more drafts sneaking in because the queen sizes let leaks through on the sides when we want to stack more than one on top of us!




I did keep track of the time that everything took as I went along, because I knew it was going to be the most monumental quilt I'd ever made. All on a table-top domestic machine, too!


Cutting:  39:10
Piecing:  122:15
Pin-basting:  7:30
Quilting-
  Stitch in Ditch:  22:05
  Detail Work:  103:45
  Arcs:  10:00
Attaching Binding:  6:10 (includes hand cutting the edge and zig-zagging for stability)
Finish Work (cleaning papers off, tying & tucking ends):  62:05
Handstitching Binding down:  18:35


Before any family or friends ask me if I'll make them one of these, let me say that between the intensity of the work involved and the immense amount of calendar time it took, I will never do it for less than fair pay for my hours. At my current skill levels, I'd charge $35/hr for cutting and piecing, and $25/hr for the quilting. For the finishing work and the hand stitching time on the binding, I'd go down to $15/hr, because I do play a movie in the background while that's happening (although I only hear it rather than actually watching). So that makes this quilt worth $9,717.30!!

If I were a lawyer, mind you, it would be at least $175,346.25!!!!

Nobody I know can (or would) pay that kind of money for a quilt, so I can rest peacefully, knowing I don't need to make another one.  ;D






h! Voting is HERE during Nov 1-7 at the Quilt Festival for this category

50 comments:

  1. Oh MY!!! What a work of love! Your fabric choice is lovely and goes together so well. Your quilting is absolutely marvelous. I think you've underestimated the amount you would need to charge someone to make this quilt for them, it's priceless. Congratulations on 25 years of marriage!

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  2. Wow, just gorgeous! Love your calculations too!

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  3. Beyond words! Amazingly beautiful and something that you will always cherish. You should get it appraised.

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  4. This quilt is absolutely beyond descriptive words - spectacular, amazing, beautiful, meaningful, special . . . I need to go and get my thesaurus!

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  5. 12 pounds of priceless!
    I sure have enjoyed watching your progress - congratulations Lyn, this baby is absolutely stunning!

    And Happy 25th BTW!!

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  6. oh wow that is amazing! Gorgeous quilt and fantastic quilting!

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  7. I don't have the words to describe how stunning this is. I really don't. You amaze me. I want to be you when I grow up...except I still really don't want to make a DWR...so can you make me one? (*ducks*)

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  8. Congratulations on 25 years and an amazing quilt! Keeping track of the amount of time was very interesting!

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  9. Wow Lyn, what a mammoth effort! One look and you can see there is an overwhelming amount of work in this quilt. It's not only intensely detailed but very large. I love that you personalised the quilting too. A perfect time to complete a new bed quilt in your part of the world too (just as we are heading for a hot spring day here with a forecast of 41C - 105F tomorrow)

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  10. Love seeing this quilt again! It is great that you kept track of all your time and worked out your fee for a future one...it would be a steal at $10,000. The quilt is a winner for sure not matter what anyone else says!

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  11. Stunning, stunning quilt Lyn. Such a lot of work. Just beautiful!!

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  12. WOW!! This is mind boggingly amazing and so very beautiful!!

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  13. GORGEOUS!! Congratulations on the big finish!

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  14. Your beautiful heirloom anniversary quilt is worth every bit of that. But, more so, the sentimental value is not calculable! What a beauty to be displayed on your bed! Congratulations on your milestone anniversary, and, work of art!

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  15. It's amazing and gorgeous! I'm so glad you finished in time for the festival.

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  16. A beautiful quilt and I love your story and your price of the worth of the quilt. I stressed over pricing this year and it's good to know what a quilter's value is. I think I best start on my 50th! But, I don't think I could do one like this!

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  17. Beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful!!!! Wonderful job!!!! And your kitty looks so very pretty posing on it too!!

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  18. Gorgeous work, Lyn. You've created an heirloom.

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  19. Love reading this post, Lynn. Isn't this why we all persevere with this time / money costly hobby? I know I'll never be able to make a quilt as beautiful as this so the next best thing is to ogle and stare and ooh and aah at yours! Deeeee-lightful, m'dear :)

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  20. I know I've watched this as it has grown and progressed, but I'm still blown away by the finished product. Perhaps you should start planning the 50th anniversary quilt now :o)

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  21. I love the colors and the quilting is spectacular. Happy (belated) anniversary!

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  22. Wonderful, Fabulous quilt. What a lovely to behold. Enjoy it and another 25 years. Lane

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  23. This is outstandingly gorgeous and I'm so thrilled to see it finished. Just an amazing piece of work. Congratulations!!!

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  24. Wonderful work of art/love to celebrate your marriage. The quilting is amazing and the personal touches in design really make it

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  25. Absolutely magnificent. A true labour of love and what a fantastic finish. Love everything about it, and what a beautiful model for the photos.

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  26. What a beautiful job you did on this. I love how the wool batting gives it a little extra pop!

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  27. This. Is. Magnificent. I loved reading all about the why and how of your quilting motif choices. Congratulations on such a beautiful achievement (and on 25 years!), and thanks so much for sharing!

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  28. Oh my!! This is absolutely gorgeous! I love that you kept track of the hours too. I've been doing that with a few, much smaller :), projects recently and I find it amazing just how long some parts of the process take. Congratulations on your anniversary too!

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  29. Beautiful quilt and quilting. And I love your charge. I have stopped several people from asking me to make them a quilt buy toting up the estimate of the charge. ;-)

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  30. So, so gorgeous, Lyn! A true work of love and art. Well worth the price that you calculated. But it looks stunning on your bed. The quilting turned out superb! Off to vote for you -well deserved.

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  31. Just gorgeous! I love the way you used the quilting to personalize the quilt. You should be so proud!

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  32. I love your quilt and all the beautiful quilting. You can see all the time and effort. I love the bit at the end about cost. It's priceless!

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  33. What a beautiful quilt, I understand why you are so pleased and proud to achieve it, no matter time and money ;-)
    Great story, and I love the central place where you put all your secret tags

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  34. What a work of art! If I ever did anything that wonderful I think I'd sit down & stop quilting because I know I'd never be able to top that. Thanks for sharing. I'm coming back later to read all your tips posts.

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  35. Gorgeous! Congrats on 25 wonderful years. DH and I were in Manti this past June. It is a beautiful place. Glad you can sleep under it and know it is an Original- never to be re-made again.

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  36. I don't think you are charging enough! :)

    It's exquisite! Priceless.

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  37. this quilt is gorgeous! you did a fabulous job on all aspects, but I do love how you quilted it!

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  38. May I say that your quilt is worth every penny you would charge, and more! It is quite simply one of the most gorgeous domestic machine created quilts I've ever seen, and king size no less! Spectacularly beautiful doesn't even begin to cover it. You've got my vote!

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  39. What an amazing quilt I really loved reading all about it. Just loved the machine quilting well worth your calculations and much more. Thanks for sharing us.

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  40. LOVE your quilt and worth every penny of the lawyer's fees :)

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  41. What an amazing quilt! The back is so beautiful... almost as nice as the front!

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  42. I think $9700 is too low a price for this quilt and all the hours you poured into. Absolutely striking! Happy Anniversary!!!

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  43. Absolutely lovely post! I love how you work your quilting and celebrating your life together. I have enjoyed reading about this quilt and thrilled to see it completed. Great job!

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  44. Stunning! The love in this quilt shines through! Congratulations on both the completion of your quilt, as well as the reason behind it! Happy Anniversary, may God bless you with 50+ more!

    I found your blog via the Bloggers Quilt Festival and I look forward to follow along with your quilting adventures!

    PS- I voted for your quilt!

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  45. I just adore your quilt and the post about it.

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  46. Wow. Just wow. This is STUNNING. And girl, it's worth more than $9k. For sure.

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  47. Absolutely stunning Lynn!!! I was just gasping throughout the post.. so beautiful!!!

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  48. Happy 25 years!!! What an incredible tribute to your marriage. I'm amazed it didn't take the whole 25 years to make this quilt. Your quilting absolutely blows my mind. I have dreams of one day completing a wedding ring quilt for each of my 7 kids as wedding gifts but it's a pretty far-fetched dream!

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