A Wonderful Finish! (Finally)

It's time to spread the news 

and

Shout it out!

My antique reproduction applique album quilt,
affectionately knows as
Noah and Matilda,
is finally done!

84" x 96"

This quilt was started in January, 2015.

Dawn Cook Ronningen offered and
still has available this

Noah and Matilda BOM pattern
on her website Collector with a Needle.

She designed the pattern from

the antique applique sampler (1851) which is

part of her collection.

 She calls it 

Noah and Matilda because of the 

 two names found on the quilt.

My blocks were appliqued 

throughout 2015.

I used a limited number of fabrics 

to keep the look simple and classic.

Then I hit a road block

in 2016.

Grapes!

The border has 18 bunches of grapes.

I just couldn't face making

all the tiny circles needed for all

that fruit!

But once I got going,

 I discovered those circles
weren't as bad as I had thought
In fact they were pretty quick and easy
once they were prepped.

 Next I struggled with the corners  because

I couldn't get the four corners to match.
I ended up with two and two.

 We'll just say it adds some character.

It wasn't until I got the top

entirely put together that I realized

there had been a right and wrong side

to the French General fabric I
 had chosen for the background.

There was no going back.

More character?

Before sewing the quilt together,

I premarked the feathered wreath pattern

I wanted to quilt in the alternating blank squares.

I was taking a risk.

that the designs which were marked lightly

with a mechanical pencil
with a hard lead would not disappear

while the quilt was basted and when other

parts were quilted.

Fortunately, the designs were still visible

when it came time to quilt them.
( I know the photo doesn't show the lines,
but they were there faint enough for me to see)

I started handquilting in January, 2017 and 

worked diligently on it almost every evening.

That turns out to be about 150 days x 2 hours = 300 hours.
(probably more)

I used  3 spools  of Guterman handquilting thread

with a Dream Cotton Request batting.  

I knew it needed a red binding and I 

had only used one red throughout the quilt.

Because the pattern was printed diagonally

 the binding was cut on the straight of the grain

to maintain the diagonal pattern.

I chose a pretty wild backing in comparison

to the top.  It's a Minick and Simpson fabric
and the colors went perfectly.

  The busy pattern doesn't

allow the quilting stitches
to show much, but that's okay.

Thank you, Dawn,
 for this wonderful  antique pattern.

It was fun and challenging
and now it's done.

 Here's my quilt top with the orginial
Noah and Matilda quilt,
spring, 2016.

Today, I could finally

cross off another 17 in 17 project!!!!

Until Next Time-
Kyle