How Facebook helped a dream come true (the story behind the quilt)

Once upon a time...

This story started early spring this year, when my uncle shared with me this quilt, posting it on my timeline:

Then my Mom-in-law's cousin, Bob, left a comment, saying: "I would love to have this quilt in my house!"
I thought it would be a good idea to make this kind of quilt one day, and save it as an idea for my future projects. Thanks a lot to the author of this quilt for the inspiration! Not sure about the name of the person, but it was posted by Beulah Baptist Church on Facebook.
... and then, just a month later, he proposed! Believe it or not, first time! At the age of 73!
By the time we had received the invitation, I already knew what the wedding gift was going to be!

As it often happens to me, I was waiting till the last moment. I wanted to save the idea, but definitely change the details and made it someway different.
I decided to make a cross from the real wood looking fabric. That was the first step, which turned me on since I put those 4 pieces on my design wall. And behind the cross it was supposed to be the rising sun, which would become the focal point for the whole quilt.

The next couple days I was working with 2" square pieces of fabrics, trying to put them together in a picture.

Then, looking at these colors, I recalled over sudden, that I had a piece, somewhere in my scraps, which would be more than welcome suited to this quilt! And I found it!

 
Two days of our guild retreat really helped me to accomplish my goal: to stitch all pieces together ASAP! And I did!
At this point, when the piecing was done, I had a 4 days break, visiting my sons in San-Francisco! Beautiful city, heart-warming family reunion, riding around, eating out, taking tours, walking the wharf, riding through the Golden Bridge, talking a lot, tasting good wines in Jarvis winery, etc... Unforgettable!

.............

3 days left to the wedding! I got to do it!!!!

One day of quilting....

Next day, squaring, making a label, finishing with facing, attaching a sleeve and home-made dry-cleaning - DONE!!!

 I wanted to add some shape to the sun, stitching the circle around it with golden metallic thread, and the sun rays also added some glow to it.

 November the 5th - wedding day! Ready to go!

Here's the sweet couple! And me with my sweet hubby.

Me: - Bob, do you remember that quit on FB with the cross?

Bob: - Oh, yeah! It was beautiful!

Me: - Do you remember you wanted to have it in your house? Here it is! It's yours now!

Bob: ... speechless, tears in his eyes. He hugged me and thanked a lot!

 Hopefully they will cherish it and enjoy having it in their home!

Such a a blessing to be a part of my family!

Picture piecing, one more day

I never could figure out how to calculate labour time on quilt, so this time I decided to go day by day, approximately 8 hours. This is my third day.
By the way, how do you calculate your quilting time?


Никогда не могла понять, как вычисляют количество потраченных часов на квилт, и сейчас это остаётся для меня загадкой. Любая работа, не только квилты, у американцев имеет своё почасовое исчисление. Меня тоже постоянно спрашивают, сколько я часов потратила на ту или иную работу, а я никогда не знаю ответ, просто шью и не задумываюсь. Наверное пора уже более серьёзно относиться к этому вопросу, чтобы не чувствовать себя полным идиотом! В этот раз решила вести отсчёт хотя бы приблизительно. Это мой третий день, практически полный восьмичасовой рабочий день,- итого, уже три.

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Picture piecing with freezer paper

This is my next work "A Stitch in Time" designed by Cynthia England.

When it's done the size of this wall hanging will be 20 1/2" x 24". For now it's only one third done and I spent two whole days piecing these tiny pieces together.

This was my first day results:

And this is my second day of hard work:

This picture will give you imagination how tiny pieces you need to sew together to make a needle thread tension for this tiny Featherweight 221, which I am proud owner of!

Need several more days of hard work.
To be continued.

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