At Long Last - Quilty 365 is Finished!

 For what is now years, this project seemed destined to never reach a finish but now, seven years after it began, this oldest UFO finally reached the finish line just before noon today!  It was my priority for the year and there is a huge weight off my shoulders to finally say "it's done!" 

At 110x114 inches this is my largest-ever finish, and most of it is hand quilted!  Here's how it looked spread out on the living room floor after finishing the hand-quilted portion - the entire central section.  The borders have since received some ditch quilting along with a few lines of serpentine stitching. What appears to be a sloppy binding is actually the backing basted to the front to keep the batting away from kitty paws.

And here it is on the bed for a test run prior to heading to the laundromat in a couple days for a much needed bath and hopefully a bit of shrinkage.  The plan was always to make this quilt "bedspread" size for a queen bed.  

Amazing how heavy this thing is!  My daughter likes weighted blankets and I think she will love this.  Maybe someday it will be hers, though it's going to live with us for awhile.  Got to be able to pet this long awaited creation for a bit before giving it away.

So many memories associated with many of the hand appliqued circles, of pets now passed, our time in Oregon, quilty friends who traded precious bits of favorite fabrics while we all made our daily appliqued circles, holidays, the anticipated grandson - now five years old, and so on.

A scrap from my son's wedding quilt - they've been married 21 years this June!

Remembering Griffen

Olie - our faithful Oregon beach buddy

I used Hobbs Polydown batting in an effort to keep the weight manageable, but chose to leave the fabric backing all those appliqued circles to give them a bit more loft - thus adding a LOT of weight.  Hand quilting thread is Aurifil 12 wt. while the machine quilting in the borders is Aurifil 50 wt.

The sashing in all these photos appears red, but it is actually a lovely burnt orange.

The back

So happy to cross this oldie off my list!  

I'm planning to purge my bookshelf soon, and hope to have another post next week of books I plan to sell.  The plight of the Ukrainian refugees has been heavy on my heart these past weeks, and proceeds from any books sold this month will be sent to the Quilted Twins Ukrainian Relief Fund that sends 100% of donations received to Poland where Becky purchases needed supplies that go directly to both Ukraine and to the refugees already arrived in Poland.  You can read about this effort on Becky's blog here. I've linked to the latest post as of this evening, though there are quite a few additional posts as the blog is updated nearly daily.

Til next time, happy stitching!