Sunday, September 11, 2011

Finished At Last......Square By Square.....Begging Quilt Project

Last year, on October 15th, I had a blog post talking about a quilt I wanted to make and actually "begging" for scraps to be donated to this cause. The response was overwhelming and I was the lucky recipient of scraps from all over the world. Beautiful scraps. (Click photos to enlarge and get a closer look)

Well, after 11 months,which took way longer than I ever imagined, I am happy to say my quilt top is finished. And. I. Love. It. In defense of the time it took to finish this top, I must say I was not able to work on it as often as I wanted. There were other quilts pieced and finished during this 11 month time frame, so I was actually finishing other projects and working on this one at the same time.

This finished up at 104X106 and will go on my king size bed. There are 82 blocks each made up of 64, 2 inch squares. That is a total of 5248 UNIQUE fabric squares......all different. If you missed my post with each block posted to a flicker account, you can see all the individual blocks HERE. Photos just don't do the individuality of each square justice. Each one is unique and beautiful.

From the very first day a envelope arrived with fabric scraps to the last pin removed and the last seam sewn, this has been a real joy to work on. Trust me when I say pin removed....I have pinned more seams to sew together in this one quilt than I could ever imagine.....and I really detest the pinning part of quilting.....so it was a challenge. This is one special quilt to me and I will treasure it for always.

Today, I will be finishing up the back and getting it ready to go to the quilter. I was inspired by a quilt back a friend of mine posted on facebook, I am using more scraps that were sent for this quilt on the back, I am just as excited about the back as it is very different from my normal backings for quilts......but absolutely perfect for this one!

This wonderful top is filled with all types of fabrics from novelty, civil war, holiday, vintage and modern....all unique and all very special.....much like the bloggers who took the time to send the scraps my way. My original inspiration came from Mary, as you may remember she calls these quilts "Big Hugs" and that is exactly how I have come to view it as well....A Very Big Hug!!!

There is however one little one who is most glad to see the finished project almost ready to be out the door and to the long arm quilters....Baily is tired of playing second fiddle to some fabric scraps and hopes that there is more time for a game or two of fetch......she says "enough is enough". Poor little girl, she does not realize I have fallen in love with this scrappy goodness and I doubt this will be my last. I already have in my mind a variation of this quilt using 2 inch wonders....and I know there will be another come from the left over scraps.

I can not wait to show this off one last time....after it is back from the quilter and the binding on it!! I can not thank you enough for your continued support and encouragement during this process...but most of all for your contributions to a very dear to my heart quilt!! I simply love it!! I'd like to once again thank each and every one who had a hand in this quilt coming together. Without your thoughtfulness and contributions, this would have never been anything more than a dream.

27 comments:

  1. Your quilt is beautiful, and HUGE! Congratulations on finishing the top.

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  2. What a cool top, with a great story, I've enjoyed seeing you at work on it. What do you plan to share on the label? hope you can list some of the countries it came from!
    :-}pokey

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  3. @ Pokey...I am working on that!! It will be special!

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  4. Wow Suzanne, your quilt is amazing! Great job!

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  5. So glad you finally finished your master piece.

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  6. Oh, this is splendid. I love all the colors and the mix of all types of fabric. Great job and what a beauty this one is!!

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  7. I am so excited to see this quilt. I am sending a link to this post to my Mom. I was visiting her for her 80th Birthday last year and got the fabric scraps I sent to you from her! A big hug indeed!

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  8. WOW!!! I remember sending some fabrics your way. Had no idea what you had in mind for them. I'm surprised it took you only 11 months. :-)

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  9. That is awesome! And amazing too! I will need to look back at your other posts to see how you did it all.

    Good job!

    ~Linnea

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  10. You should be so proud of your amazing quilt. What a special project.

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  11. It's beautiful. Congratulations on finishing. Thanks for inspiring me. God bless your next adventure.

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  12. Oh my that's a lovely and laborious work of art you've got there. Very nice!

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  13. MAGNIFICENT! Congratulations on finishing the piecing - I love the overall effect.

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  14. What a wonderful project. I can only guess of the many many hours of work that went into this!

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  15. Oh my goodness, what an incredible and gorgeous quilt! Congratulations on finishing such a wonderful project! You must be so proud!

    Nancy

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  16. I cannot believe after all you have been through with the last quilt, you are starting another. You need to see the doctor, you bound to have "quilt" fever.

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  17. Wow! Congratulations! What an amazing quilt.

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  18. Gorgeous quilt Suzanne! So glad it has given you many "big hugs" and will provide many more for years to come.

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  19. Wow, wow, wow!!! That is beautiful! Please give Bailey some lovvies for me, k? And the others so they won't feel left out :)

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  20. Wow! Such a fabulous quilt with an awesome story! I can't wait to see it finished! Great job :)

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  21. Absolutely gorgeous! Such beautiful work. I can see the time and dedication it took to make just by looking at it.

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  22. WOW! Amazing! I can only imagine the hours that went into this masterpiece!

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  23. Fabulous! I can't believe you are finished. I can't imagine quilting something that large with so many seams to cross. Congratulations! I'm delighted that there is a little bit of me in your quilt.

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  24. That is absolutely phenomenal! How on earth did you keep track of the different fabrics and avoid repeating them? I can't even do that with a small quilt.

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  25. OMG, that is a LOT of 2" squares. You are the queen of patience!

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Sometimes someone says something really small, and it's like it fits into this empty space in your heart!

Thank you for stopping by and leaving your thoughts here, they really mean a lot to me!

Suzanne

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