Final Stats
Name: Blue and Black Plus Quilt
Dimensions: 100"x96"
Pieces: Front - 392
Pattern: Plus Quilt
Technique: Patchwork
Materials: 100% Quilting Cottons - Kona Snow, Black, and Robin's Egg
Quilting: Machine quilting done on my little Euro-Pro
I don't do commissions often, because they have hard deadlines and even if I stop feeling inspired, I have to finish them. That's my biggest rule with commission quilts, I have to feel inspired about the project at least at first, or else I won't take it. I also have a family and friend policy where I contribute the labor if it's going to someone I know, and they pay the cost of materials. My husband's aunt, M, approached me about making a wedding quilt for her daughter, K. After some back and forth, and information gathering not just from her but also from her other daughter, J, I came up with a design in EQ7 that she approved.
We decided to keep it all solids to save some money on fabric and because K likes things modern. Originally the quilt was going to be just black and white, but I learned from J that K had been buying some Robin's Egg blue things for her apartment recently, so I decided to add in the pop of color.
I cut all of the blue, white, and black 4.5x12.5" strips all at once. And then I strip pieced the plus points and sub-cut them into 4.5x12.5" strips as well. I chain pieced most of the quilt and it was super fast (once I finally got over my procrastination phase and actually started the thing).
I found the backing in the "good" quilting fabric section of Joann's. It's a Robin's Egg blue with tiny black dots. And without having any of the Robin's Egg Kona on me, I'm surprised at how closely they match (yay, go me). It was also on major sale, so I ended up taking the rest of the bolt, which unfortunately ended up only being 6 yards, but already sub-cut into 3 yard pieces. To fill in the middle, I added the remainder of my bolt of Kona Snow (I still cannot believe that I've used up an entire 15 yard bolt of Kona Snow in a few months) and the rest of the Kona Black. I also bought a package of King-sized batting, because I knew my bolt of 90" batting wasn't going to make it without some serious piecing.
I straight-line quilted the thing about 1/4-1/2 inch from each seam. And added in some additional quilting lines in the row of blue so the plus would stand out more. My machine barely handled the queen-sized quilt, but it made it. However, I do not see myself being able to wrestle a king-sized quilt through that, no siree. Also, basting that thing on my living room floor used up every available square inch of floor space, so I don't think I'll be basting a king-sized quilt in there either.
The binding was a find at Capital Quilts. I do so love a stripey binding. It's a very thin black and white stripe. Unfortunately, and no one will notice this but myself, the white in the binding is a white-white and the Kona Snow is more of a yellow-white. But at the end of the day, there's very little binding on the quilt and a whole lot of Kona Snow.
The one thing I realize now, after the fact, is that I forgot to sign the thing. Usually I embroider my initials and the year into the lower right corner with contrasting thread, but I totally spaced on that part. I brought it with me to Michigan in my checked bag (thank goodness Southwest lets you check two bags for free again). I got to show my parents, my grandmother (who was there from Germany for my brother's wedding), and two family friends what I'd made. I left it at my husband's uncle's house, because that's where the wedding reception for K was going to be. Unfortunately I was not able to attend said reception, but from the pictures of the event, and the Facebook message I received from K, the quilt was appreciated. And that's really all any quilter can ask for. :)
