Friday, November 29, 2013

The One Where Modern Meets Traditional

My mother so very kindly reminded me that I haven't blogged in almost a month. That was a few weeks ago. So what better way to get my behind in gear with blogging than to post a finish?! Remember that ombre double wedding ring quilt I mentioned before? It was just in the last post, but apparently that's been a month and a half ago :P I finally got it done, hand quilting and all!


I had mentioned that I wasn't sure if I was going to keep going with the hand quilting or go ahead and machine quilt it. I've never hand quilted a quilt before and wasn't sure of my skills or if my inner perfectionist would be happy with it's imperfections. But once I got done I realized I was in love with it. 


Especially after I sprayed the quilt to remove the marking pen and it did this crinkly thing and gave it this fun antique look. 


I couldn't decide if I wanted to iron the quilt and smooth it back out again or not. I was torn between my love for the crinkly look, and whether I wanted the modern feel of the quilt to have that crinkly look. In the end, my love for it won over and I left it alone.  


I quilted it with straight(ish) lines using a white thread, and then circles in different colored threads. I only used colors that were the same colors as the ombre rings on the front. Bree, being the wonderful sounding board that she is, suggested this plan of attack for the colors and I love it. The straight lines give it the texture without jumping out and taking away from the quilt while the circles give you something to look at. 


When I decided on the binding, I really didn't want to take away from that ombre effect, so I used leftover strips from the fabric and used the matched binding method that I learned from Debbie over at A Quilter's Table


When I ordered the background fabric, I underestimated just how much I would need, and didn't realize that there would be parts of it that I didn't want to include in the quilt, so I was short what I needed for the entire background. I could have cut from those pieces that I didn't want to include, but instead decided to put in some random gray pieces from my stash to fill in the gaps. So it was part necessity and part design decision to have those couple of random background pieces thrown in. 


This was, easily, the most challenging quilt I have ever done. It was also a lot of fun and boy did I learn a lot. 

I'm going to enter it into the Double Wedding Ring Challenge, wish me luck!


P.S. You know that hip pouch tutorial that I've been promising for oh, about three months now? It's DONE. Bree is proof reading it for me and has made a tester too. I'll get it posted in the next few days!




23 comments:

Katherine said...

What a wonderful DWR quilt! I love the colour transitions and your background fabric(s?) - such a lovely modern take on a classic, Julie. Your hand quilting is the icing on the cake! Love it. Good luck in the challenge.

Mrs Flying Blind... said...

Beautiful x

Brenda said...

OOOH! I love it! The handquilting is awesome too!

Leanne said...

I love your quilt, I sure hope you win in the contest! Beautiful piecing and quilting. And it makes me want to make one like it, but first I have to finish my pickle dish.

Sara said...

Awesome DWR and the circle quilting is a fantastic choice! I did a DWR quilt with a different twist recently. If you want to come check it out I am at http://joyineverythingthruhim.blogspot.com

Jasmine said...

This quilt is gorgeous. I really love the binding. I didn't even notice the different background until you pointed it out. ;)

FabricDonkey said...

I LOVE it. I love everything about it. I'm so glad you threw in the random blocks when you were lacking in fabric. The quilting is amazing - Bree has a great eye for such things. Nicely done, Julie.

Chris said...

I really love this. Nice job!

Westfalenmaedel said...

I fell in love at once!! Well done!!
Your handquilting is matching perfectly :o)
Good luck !

CapitolaQuilter said...

Good luck - it is really fabulous.

Little Island Quilting said...

Hugely love this one. Bang on the money!

Tennjenny said...

This is glorious. A triumph. (I really love it!) Everything about it is just perfect.

P.S. If you are marking small bits like those circles, and don't want the hassle of spraying/crinkling/ironing, try The Fine Line Air Soluble pen. I've used it for several years and the only time I ever had to spray it to come out (rather than it just disappearing) was when I was trying for a dark, dark line, so I'd marked the same line five or six times at once, just heavy heavy heavy. Otherwise, it might just disappear even before you want it to, but in my book that's better than not.

Tennjenny said...

Oh my god, I just realized the binding is ombre and it matches up. Keeling over dead.

Anita said...

Love it! Great quilting and colors :)

Kristy @ Quiet Play said...

This is just beautiful!! Love the ombre and the hand quilting is just gorgeous!

Tamie said...

Love, love this beautiful quilt. It's stunning.

Karen said...

In love with it Julie! You did an amazing job, so many great details :). I vote you win

Unknown said...

very nice.

adriprints said...

Love it!! Nicely done. I really admire the use of ombre plus the simple white background. So chic!

MellieWo said...

Love! I hope to make a more modern looking double wedding for my mom someday. Thanks for some inspiration :)

Kristy fordhook1 said...

Stunning! I love this to pieces!

Anonymous said...

I love everything about it - the ombre colors, your hand quilting and the movement created by the placement of the rings! This is a winner!

Anonymous said...

oops - meant placement of the colors in the rings.

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