I posted about this quilt for the first time on my blog back in February 2012. It was started way before that, back in 2009.
It has taken me a long time to make, but I am so thrilled with the end result and happier still to be sharing it with you!!
I found this pattern in Quilt Sampler from fall/winter 2008 and I fell in love with it.
I had a big bundle of fat quarters I had gotten from my mom when she was my secret sister a few years before. They were perfect for this quilt. I simply added more cream fat quarters for backgrounds as I didn't have enough.
I first got discouraged while making the little 6" stars for the border. There were so many... I had already finished the 12" blocks for the centre of the quilt and those were a lot faster to piece.
When I finally pulled it out again, I got those little stars finished by working on them here and there when I had a few moments to sew. It was easier to tackle a little at a a time.
When those were finally done, I went out and bought the other borders. As I was sewing them on, I had a problem with the gold border. I measured the borders down the centre of the quilt, as I always do, but when I sewed them on, I had a lot of easing in to do. I wasn't sure what to do. I asked my mom for advice but I was discouraged so I put the quilt away, again...
When I took it out again, I saw that it wasn't too bad and that it definitely would be okay to continue. The quilting might actually help. So I finished it and brought it over to my mom's.
I love the secondary pattern that comes through on this quilt and I really wanted to accent it with the quilting. I love my mom's feathers and so I asked her to quilt feathers in the cream parts of the quilt. She asked me if I had any suggestions for the stars and I said no, I didn't care, I just knew I wanted feathers in those cream parts.
Some of you may remember last June when I went to a retreat and my quilt group and I embarqued on this challenge where we each put 6 UFOs in a bag and pulled one out at random. We each put 10$ in a pot, and are suppose to have our UFO done by June this year in order to get our 10$ back. Well, this is my UFO! I am so excited it is done, and way before the deadline too!
The best part is, I finally have a quilt that fits my bed properly. We got a queen size mattress back in 2006 and didn't have a queen size quilt to fit on it, until now!
I am linking this special finish to TGIFF over at Quilt Matters this week.