Grandmother's Choice 78 1/2" X 84 1/2".*
You quilty readers might remember that w-a-y back in May - Judy L. (http://www.patchworktimes.com/) issued a challenge for us to use a piece from our stash to make something. I had a good sized piece of blue from eons ago in my stash - enough to sash these left-over Grandmother Choice blocks from a GM Choice I started in Austria - I think in 2006- these blocks were the "rejects" from that quilt! Nice rejects, huh?
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So along about OCTOBER I had the 16 blocks set together and then realized I didn't really want a square quilt, seeing that I have a queen sized bed and all and I like a good sized drop over the edges. I should note here that I usually put my quilts on my bed long-wise because I have beautiful curved headboard/footboards.. so just rotate the photo in your mind to get the correct positioning for my bed. Anyway - it had to "grow" some more, but not until I got myself to Marden's in November for maroon fabric.
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After adding 1 row of geese to the top and bottom and the maroon borders all around - I "thought" it was done. Except I wasn't exactly thrilled with the fit on the bed, so it had to "grow" some more. Why not, I mean - I already had so much work into this already - might as well make it a better size for my bed. Which meant, sigh, I wasn't done afterall.
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And then we were up to Christmas, then a few road trips, organizing my office, turning the heat o-f-f in my sewing area... but along about yesterday I couldn't take it anymore - I had to get back to my sewing machine, so the electric heat was turned on and I've been happily sewing away ever since. I made 2 more rows of flying geese and the 4 corner stone blocks.
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The geese were made using the no-waste flying geese method (just google it - you will find the directions). Soooo easy! I made them 3X6. The corner blocks are 6" shoe-fly blocks. Aren't they adorable? And they echo the design of the Grandmother's Choice blocks. Binding will be matching maroon all around.
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I'm happy I put the extra time and effort into making the borders and growing this little collection of blocks into a bed sized quilt!
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So - thank you JUDY for issuing the challenge way back in May. I'm probably a lot later than others who took up the challenge, but I am very happy to have a finished top which I would not have today if it weren't for your motivation.
Edited to add: I machine stitched a scant 1/4" along the outside edge of those flying geese so the stitches won't pop out when it is machine quilted. Anytime you have pieced outer borders, you should do this!
11 comments:
Beautiful! Well worth the wait while the ideas gelled in your mind. Love the flying geese border!
very pretty....
It looks wonderful Evelyn. You don't have to worry about being slow. I haven't even started the challenge yet!
Looks great, well worth adding the extra bits.
What a lovely quilt. I am going to be a grandma this year and would love having this quilt in my home.
What a handsom strong and graphic quilt - very nice. And thanks for the tip on sewing a seam along the outside - good tip.
Love it! And, I like that quilt in your header! :)
Thanks for taking me up on the challenge.
AWESOME!!! I just LOVE LOVE LOVE this one! Great job Evelyn!
Laurie
Oh! I love that block! And your borders really make the quilt pop! Thanks for leaving me the airplane link. ;-)
you did wonderful with growing this quilt Evelyn! worth the time and patience...it will be such fun to have on your bed.
I'm usually behind on Judy's challenges too but they're fun. I'm going to pretend I'm playing along with the log cabin challenge and finish assembling my most recent log cabin blocks into a top.
Flying geese borders are a favorite of mine even though I'm usually too lazy to use them. I prefer to make them using Eleanor Burn's flying geese rulers.
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