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Friday, February 1, 2013

Finish Report! - Patrick's Houndstooth Blues


There once was an extremely helpful young man who helped a family tear down wallpaper and carry lots and lots and lots of big, heavy boxes – 26 of them holding quilting stash - onto a moving van. The quilter in this family felt it would be very nice to make a quilt for this young man out of the very materials he had helped load. So she found a hounds-tooth design and dug out pieces in colors he favored and sewed and sewed until she had a great (and somewhat Star-Trekkie)  “Thank You!!” to mail back to him. Thank you, Patrick, for all the help you gave us, from the Caulkins Family. Every bit of this quilt is part of the load you helped us move.



So goes the label for Patrick's Hounds' Blues.  (Guess I'm into storybook labels right now! I think I'll let that take me where it will while it lasts.)

This quilt was not on my UFO list. But I did hold myself to the rule of everything having to come from stash.  


Which is how it got to be so darned cool!


You see, successful houndstooths usually come from sticking to just two fabrics that are solids or read as nearly-solids. Well, I had that glorious 1/2-bolt of Kona Snow in my stash, but I couldn't find a single yardage of a good blue.  So I grabbed three that played well together and then sat down with a notepad and EQ to figure out how I could make the yardages work in the pattern.


Hmm. . .  Looking at the color layout, will it look good or will it lose cohesiveness?  Well - nothing gained unless I go for it!

So I went for it, even pressing my seams open like the younger crowd prefers. Yeah, it makes it lie nice and flat. But it severely limited me later. Won't spend time doing that again unless it's absolutely necessary.

And the forced fabric blend worked!  Those three blues together really make the design sing. When you see it in reality, it sparkles with a lot of life.



Had to splice some Hobbs Heirloom pieces to get big enough batting for this 60" x 60" beauty. Then, the biggest laugh was that rooting around for a good backing, I found a nice, big yardage of another great blue that would have easily accommodated the needs of the design. Heh! As good as the flimsy turned out, it was quite serendipitous that this piece was hidden from me at first.  :D



I had to compromise on the quilting I wanted to do because those open seams wouldn't let any ditchwork happen. 

  1. It can't be secure to quilt on stitch junctions, particularly if the needle pierces the thread. 
  2. It just sinks in and disappears.
  3. There's the whole bearding-in-the-future issue.

But I do love how the wavy walking-foot lines worked out. These are 4" squares, and I simply waved down one seam, waved down another, and then eyeballed wavy lines to divide the rows into thirds. Perfect.  :)




And several of us laugh because that spacey blue in the mix evokes images that tickle the funny bones of us Trekkie nerds.







Can you see the ships?  LOL!!


~*~*~*~*~

TGIFF
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Link A Finish Friday at Richard's
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Whoop! Whoop!
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It's A Saturday Sharing Day

28 comments:

  1. I love the houndstooth pattern. Your three blues give it even more sophistication.

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  2. I can see the ships. pretty neat and I can see that Patrick is very pleased with his quilt.

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  3. Very pretty! Being from Alabama, the houndstooth pattern is a favorite. Love the blues you used.

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  4. Oh yea, I forgot to say I am over from Richard and Tanya Quilts. I, too, linked up with him, finally.

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  5. Lynn, that is a wonderful quilt!!! I love the mix of the blues - much better than just one fabric! And what a great "guy" pattern! You hit a home run on this one :*)

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  6. The mix of blues is great! I hope Patrick and his quilt "Live Long and Prosper."

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  7. What a wonderful quilt for such a nice young man, I am sure he was thrilled. Twenty-six boxes?????

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  8. I really love this and I think having 3 blues vs. 1 makes a much more interesting quilt! The ships are great.

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  9. I LOVE the trek reference, it's funny how just making them different colors changes the feel of it!

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  10. Lovely! I love that you used three different shades of blue in your houndstooth pattern. It gives a traditional design a modern edge, great job!

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  11. Fantastic job! And a lovely way to say Thank you :)

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  12. Brilliant quilt! Love the pattern and I see the ships ;)

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  13. So pretty! Love the different colors of blue. You're on a finishing rampage!

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  14. It came out beautifully. Love your story labels!

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  15. Oh it is awesome! What a sweet thing for you to do. And you've inspired me. I've been wondering what quilt to make for my newly married daughter and this is it!! They are Alabama college football fans! Oh I just love when this happens!

    So thank you girlie!! You've helped a stumped girlfriend out!

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  16. Very nice! What a great design and color combination for a fella. You've made a generous gift and I'm sure he loves it. Well, it sure looks like he does.

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  17. Awesome Star Trek finish! I love the way it looks with several blues. Good thing you couldn't find the back until it was too late!

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  18. I love it! What a labor of love. I'll bet he was blown away by your "thank you!"

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  19. Another fabulous finish! You are motoring along. The blues look lovely.

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  20. Fabulous quilt for your "helper!"

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  21. What a beautiful quilt for a wonderful helper!

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  22. Hi!!! When will you need help moving again?!!! Hee hee!!! What a wonderful quilt!! Thanks for sharing!!!!

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  23. Hi Lyn... Your sons quilt is awesome! I love houndstooth designs so this goes in to my inspiration files.

    I saw that you gave a shout out for 3 other linky parties but none to the It's A Saturday Sharing Day Linky Party where you linked up this morning. Could you please update your post to reflect a link for my blog's party so your friends might come over and join in.

    Thanks so much.

    www.pigtalesandquilts.com

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  24. Love the houndstooth design and the color choices. What an awesome gift! Thanks for sharing!

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  25. What a great pattern, and the colors are wonderful! The wavy line quilting is good too.

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  26. This is really a cool quilt. Great color, great pattern. XX Kathleen

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  27. Well done! You should "live long and prosper" for your generous gift of time and love!

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