Tothill

I missed this thread when you first posted your blocks. I just read all the posts and love the blocks you choose and the stories that go with them.

I think the 'Turkey' story is one of my favourites.

Great that the two of you can present the top at Thanksgiving. I am sure they will be delighted with the quilt. I love the plan to do a booklet to explain the reasoning behind the various blocks.

The finished quilt will be a treasured keepsake for generations to come.

fred singer

lovely designs for your quilt

Sleepy Hollow

Thanks again for all the kind words!

A little update...:

We did "give" the quilt top to my parents, unfinished, so they would know it was coming. My mom went to work (Joann's) and told everyone about how we made a beautiful quilt for her, and then took it away!

While talking to her about what kind of backing she wanted, we came up with dying our own (she really enjoys ice dying fabric, and some of her previous ice-dyed work is on the front of the quilt). We found a "damage" 108" wide white-on-white fabric that she liked. The "damage" was that it had some faint brown spots (that would be hidden once we dyed it). So, I got the fabric 70% off.

We weren't able to get it dyed until this fall, so I had to wait to start quilting it. The big piece wasn't quite big enough, so I added a strip of a different fabric we dyed together (with more purple and blue, no green, or, maybe one spot where the wind carried the dye powder...)

I've got it all "echo quilted" around each and every block, and will start hand quilting the rest. I used Warm and Natural, so it only requires quilting every 10", so I shouldn't have to do a *ton* of hand quilting, but it will still take me a few hundred hours to complete.

The sewing machine is a Viking Husqvarna Mega Quilter I found last year on a local classified ads site. The wide throat made it nice to maneuver the quilt, but my shoulders were sure tired by the time I was done!

I'll update more once I have it finished, or at least part way hand-quilted.

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QuiltnNan

the fabrics are beautiful

A1penny

Keep going, will love seeing it when it is done. Perhaps you can make a little book with all the info behind the blocks and make a pocket for the booklet on the back of the quilt!

sue.ross.8782

You really love your dad. I love all the images you have and the stories about the posse. What a colorful life your dad has led.

Sallybear6

Wow, you are off to a great start! I look forward to seeing all the finished projects!

Sleepy Hollow

The massive quilt was finally finished! My mom took it to work to show her coworkers (she works at a Joann Fabrics), and then they will wait until my sister picks up her dogs to put it on their bed (sister's dogs are a little more rough on quilts than their own cats and dog are, and dad doesn't want to see it get damaged too early!)

They definitely plan to use it, and I've told them that when I get it back in 30+ years, it will be well worn and in shreds, so I'll just cut out blocks and maybe make hangings for each of my siblings....

It turns out that white-on-white fabric is very hard on hand-quilting needles! I ended up with more machine quilting than intended, but there is still a lot of hand quilting. Each four-patch block has a hand quilted item in two of the blocks, and there is other hand quilting throughout.

I'll just include a photo of some of those (the ones that photographed decently):

A mouse
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A campfire
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A barn
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A star
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A pie
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Fabric scissors
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A tomato
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juliasb

All of your blocks are beautiful! This will be one memorable quilt for your parents.

Jordan

This is going to be such a memorable quilt for your parents. Love all of your blocks.