Some visual highlights from my recent vacation in Maine (mostly nieces, nephew, cousins, and dogs!):
I had a wonderful and relaxing time with my family. The 4th of July is a really big deal in my hometown and for my family. There are lobsters to be eaten, beaches to visit, parades to watch, road races to run, cosmos to drink, and fireworks to watch (through a transformer due to unfortunate choice of seats this year)! And yes, my dad uses a front-end loader to portage the kayak…that’s just how we do things in Maine. I spent time with nearly all of my 20+ cousins (and their growing families). AND I finished my first quilt! I’ve posted about it a lot already, but seeing as it’s my first completed quilt, I’m still really impressed with myself and need to show it off more! Haha.
Here’s where I started:
I chose the color scheme by looking at all the photos of my niece on Facebook to see what color clothes she wears – I didn’t know what her favorite colors were, so I figured that she would probably like a quilt made of the colors she wears regularly! It was almost comical how often she wears turquoise (based on her Facebook photos), so it made my decision really easy. I added in some pinks and yellows to add a bit of femininity and pop!
I used the Valentine pattern from The Practical Guide to Patchwork by Elizabeth Hartman, whose wonderful blog Oh Fransson I read regularly. There is also a great tutorial on making string blocks here at the Film in the Fridge blog. I found the technique to be pretty straightforward, although it gets repetitive. I finished the first half of the blocks in about a week, then it took me probably six weeks to finish the others because I got kind of bored. However, I love the way it looks completed! If I do another string quilt, I may add some thick borders so I don’t have to make quite so many blocks. I love the look of this quilt with just six string blocks and some yummy yellow surrounding it.
Fenway was unimpressed with the hundreds of paper strips I pulled off the back of the quilt:
But he seemed to like the final result (he’s making his “just try and make me get off this couch” face):
Here’s some details of the quilting I did (two lines through each white stripe in white thread and then concentric diamonds in turquoise thread, plus one little free motioned flower for fun!):
This stage was terrifying for me:
Here’s the finished product:
All done! Now I can get back to my other projects…and start working on a quilt for my other niece! It will be nice to work on something that isn’t turquoise for a change!
Lulu 