Monday, January 24, 2011

Back Home Again

Our weather warmed up over the past couple of days, and it was pretty nice out on the patio today--so nice I was able to pin the quilt I mentioned before. It's a king size quilt, though, so it took some time and all the pins in my pin box, AND I have to say it took so long it was starting to get pretty chilly and I was quickly losing the light before I finished. Want to see it? I took this photo when I first laid it out.


There's a little bit of a story behind this quilt. I think it was two years ago that I signed up for Kaye England's Back Home Again block of the month quilt. We were given a bunch of fat quarters up front and we received a new pattern each month for a 12" block and a matching 6" block. To the 6" block, we added triangles to bring it up to 12". We could use whatever fabric we wanted from our fat quarters, so no two quilts looked exactly alike.

I made the blocks for the first two months, and while I liked them well enough, I decided the fabric line just wasn't exciting to me. Meanwhile, I had "collected" bits and pieces of a line called Ellery by Quilt Soup that reminded me of sherbet and had a lot of florals. I didn't know what I was going to do with it until it occurred to me that I probably had enough of the Ellery fabric to make the quilt. So I put aside the four blocks I had already made and started over. I finished the piecing last year and put it away to be quilted later. Now it's later.

When I pulled it back out again and laid it on my bed, I found it wasn't quite large enough for our king size bed, so I decided to add a little more to the borders--probably another 8" or so all around. I think it will look great for spring!

Are you wondering what happened to the original fabric? Well, I put that aside too, thinking I'd make the quilt someday as a gift or use the fabric for something else. I finally decided today that the original quilt and fabric is much too pretty to leave on my shelf forever, so I thought I'd list it in my Etsy shop and give someone else a chance. Normally I don't try to "sell" my blog readers, but I thought I'd mention it because (1) it's a great quilt and (2) the price is pretty good.

Here's a photo of the "kit" showing the fabrics--although they didn't feel like "me," they are lovely.


If you'd like to find out more about it, click HERE.

I've also been working a bit more on the Mon Ami quilt today but I still have a somewhat long way to go before it's done. I had an idea that I'll probably be able to show you tomorrow--I think it's made it look even better! I'd like to get the piecing finished, though, because I'm anxious to start quilting the "Back Home Again Ellery" quilt. There's just never as much time as we'd like, is there?

14 comments:

Betsy said...

Kim you get so much done. That quilt is beautiful.

Darlene said...

Kim that's a beautiful quilt. What type of clamps are you using to keep the quilt attached to the table?

Carol said...

Your quilt is beautiful and its going to be so nice on your bed. I can't wait to see how you quilt it. You'll probably have your Mon Ami quilt done by Tuesday.

Laurie said...

Beautiful quilt! Its going to look nice on your bed. As far as it getting chilly..it was 6 below when I took the dog to the groomers at 9am! Ouch!

AnnieO said...

Ellery is stunning! What a beautiful thing it will be to sleep under. I assume you are quilting this large beauty yourself on your DSM. I'd love to see how you do that as we have a CalKing bed and no homemade quilt yet on it.

PunkiePie (Jen) said...

It's a beauty! Can't wait to see it finished.

debbie m said...

Tis isn't just butter (as in butter you up) but yours in prettier. I really like your florals, so bright and spring like. Nice to warm me on this cold winter morning.
I almost bought this this morning, but figured out I really like that pattern, and would buy just it if I could, but couldn't find it online. May look again tomorrow.. The fabrics are also not quite me. I like the idea of the two sizes of the same block. I just bought some yardage with a border stripe in the mix. Hmmm, wheels are turning.

OH MY! My word to post is dummi...not not nice, lol

strawberrycream39 said...

Oh I love your quilt. It's really pretty! And I am quite jealous that it's so warm there! :-)

Heartsdesire said...

Your new choice of fabrics for the quilt are just beautiful. So soft and vintage looking. It'll be spectacular when it's quilted. And no, there's never as much time to quilt as we'd like.

Sinta Renee said...

That quilt is so beautiful! I remember when you started making those blocks! I just hung a quilt up yesterday made out of Elery. Never get tired of the look of it.

A Plain Path said...

Your quilt is gorgeous!! I think the kit fabric is pretty too, but love the colors in the one you made.

Sandra Coleman Clarke said...

Kim, Your quilt is gorgeous!!! I am jealous. Thanks too for the prize I won recently. Now I just have to get busy. Time's a wasting!!!

Shirley--Knot-y Embroidery Lady said...

Hugs

Tracey @ozcountryquiltingmum said...

Love it, well done! the Mon Ami is great as well, too clever!