Today I’m linking in with the Blogger’s Quilt Festival over at Amy’s Creative Side.
Way back in 1995 my hubby decided to change careers and return to school. The plan was to attend our local college for a year to fill in some missing courses and then transfer to the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, to complete his B.A. So I decided to make him a quilt to take away to Fairbanks with him, as he would be gone for 8 months with only a few visits home between semesters and at holidays.
I wanted him to have something made by my hands to keep him warm at night.
I decided to make him a stars quilt because of his love of astronomy, and to make it in red, white and blue because he would be going to school in the US. My 10-year old son helped pick out the fabric.
I worked really hard on that quilt for the entire year he spent at our local college before departing for Fairbanks. I hand quilted the entire border in feather and fan! The entire quilt is hand quilted by me.
Then, when the quilt was 3/4 finished, hubby decided not to go away to school after all. I put the quilt down and didn’t pick it up again for 16 years!
I finally finished it this past summer. Yay!
The completed quilt is 68 x 98 inches – a double bed size.
I’m glad I took all these pictures this fall. When I got it home afterwards, I threw it into the wash and sadly the red ran into the muslin.
We’ve been sleeping under it every night – the October nights are chilly in the Yukon!
This quilt is great! I too had a quilt – my very first that sat idle for 20 years. I started it the year after my Dad died. He always carried a handkerchief and I asked my mother for them to use as the quilt blocks. I dove into the project without any real knowledge of quilting and got bogged down in the details. It moved from house to house with me and finally 20 years later (15 years ago from now!) I finished it. Now wiser to the ways of quilting I want to redo part of it. Maybe someday……
Beautiful finish, and your lovely photos does it justice!
Another wonderful job Nita. What a massive undertaking to do that all by hand. Glad you finished, it will be one more thing checked off as you sort and pack for your new adventure when you decide it’s time 🙂
Laurie an I are parked by the Columbia river at a very pretty campsite. Going towards the Oregon coast but will hang here another day as its suppose to rain hard over there.
Love you lots, have fun today at work,
Judy
Hi, from Saskatoon!
Lovely quilt – and great photographs!
How are the local quilt shops up there?
What a beautiful quilt! The ColorCatchers may help with the color bleed. If you can get Synthrapol at your local quilt store, you could also try that, though if you used a dryer, the colors may be set. Synthrapol is wonderful for removing excess dyes from fabric – I use it on all my quilt fabrics before beginning a quilt. Good luck!
Isn’t it great to finish a really old WIP? Great work!
Love your quilt and the story. Great design and colors. For future reference, we use something i think is called color grab whenever i wash any of my fabrics or a quilt– think it’s by bounce but not sure since hubby always buys it. Thanks for sharing and have a great day