Back when I made the goal of making all of the quilts in Bonnie Hunter’s book String Fling, a couple people thought it was a lofty goal. To be honest, I did too but what’s life without goals.
Here the last quilt is all finished. This is Tulip Fields. Kalissa happened to be home and told me to hold it up so she could take a picture of me with it…Little hamball Carver had to jump in the picture with me!
The weather outside was yucky…misty, sleet and then 4″ of snow so I couldn’t get a big picture with the quilt….
I did get this as I took it off the quilting frame….It’s the best I could do for a big layout.
My sewing room was not clean and my space up there is limited too so it is what it is….right?!
The quilting took me for forever…seriously, FOREVER. You can see I did a really dense pattern though.
I put myself on a “fabric diet” some time ago and I’ve been honoring that. Only thrifted, gifted or auction fabric has some into the house since summer time I think…I wasn’t going to break the diet yet (after all it’s the one diet I’ve been most successful with). So I needed to come up with a binding. The binding I found did not technically match the border fabric but it was pretty close….see?
I did the borders differently. Bonnie did string pieced blocks around the outside. My center colors were so soft and blendy that I didn’t want to give them a busy border so I opted for this…Again, I needed to use what I had in the house and this worked.
As for the backing…remember I went to an auction and bought all of this….
This backing was in one of the boxes. It was an 8 yard piece. Big novelty prints usually aren’t my thing but for this, it was a perfect match. It’s apple themed with baking so it does fit perfectly for the fallish look of the front. I ended up super happy with it.
I got lots of other backs in the box too…all for $15. That was a great deal.
I needed a Ruby picture of course….
One larger…and one close up.
All of the fabric for the string triangles came from a blog reader. She had sent me a kitchen trash bag filled to the brim with scraps. Don’t they looks awesome in the quilt.
I always feel a little big bad if a reader sends me things and then I make beautiful quilts with what they think is “junk”. After they see the quilt I always wonder if they wish they could have their scraps back.
I know scraps and digging through tiny pieces isn’t something everyone likes…I sure am glad I do though. I pick scraps EVERY time…ALL the time as my favorite was to quilt.
After Kalissa snapped the first picture of Carver and me with the quilt, he wouldn’t give the quilt up. I was half trying to fold it up and put it away…Carver was trying to pull it away from me. I ended up throwing the quilt over his head…then Craig and I “wrapped him up like a burrito. He was laughing and laughing…then I told him I was going to tickle his toes and the laughing continued. (He is laughing in the photo)
Then he took the quilt and said, “Cuddle”. So off he went to get a pillow….dragging the quilt behind.
Then he laid on the floor next to me for a cuddle.
I don’t know exactly why this quilt caught his fancy but it sure did.
For the record:
Tulip Fields
Bonnie Hunter’s String Fling book
All fabrics are batiks except the strings
Charcoal thread on the back
Rum colored thread on the top
Swirly leaf motif
Made fall of 2018
Stop back on Friday. I am doing a parade of all of the quilts I made from Bonnie Hunter’s String Fling book. It’s going to be fun!!
What a lovely quilt! I have that book and Tulip Fields has attracted me but I have never made it. I love the colours you chose, which is surprising because browns aren’t really my colour choice. Did Carver go home with it, I wonder?
Congratulations on a finish!! Enjoy the high feeling of accomplishment and this was an accomplishment to celebrate! All the quilts from the String Fling book, way to go! Have fun working on the mystery quilt!
Wonderful quilt finish and FABULOUS memories. Whatever caught Carver’s attention was a blessing.
Beautiful quilt, Jo! I’m loving the brown, fall tones. Great job!
Your quilt is just beautiful. Congratulations on meeting your goal of making every quilt in the book. Can’t wait to see them all on Friday.
What a wonderful quilt! And finishing all the quilts in the book is hard to even Imagine! I can hardly wait until Friday to see them all together! Hats off to you!
Love that you made your goal of making all the String Fling quilts! The pictures are great…especially Carver and, of course, Ruby. I always look for the Ruby picture. I bet the people who send you their scraps are thrilled that you use them. I also wanted to add that as I look at quilt blogs, there’s a challenge going on now for bloggers to write every day for 30 days. It made me laugh a little bit…you do two entries a day, every day!! I look forward to your blog entries and am so grateful that you share all that you do. I know it’s an effort, but just wanted you to know it’s appreciated!
Awesome! So much awesomeness! Your quilt is beautiful! Carver is a hoot! Happy memories with grandma and her quilt! You may just have to put that one away for him.
It is beautiful! I’m sure this will be one of your favorites! Send a pic to Bonnie!
What a great finish, Congratulations Jo! I really enjoyed seeing Carver wrapped up and being tickled, ha. He is a cutie. I look forward to Fridays post with all the quilts. Stay warm and safe, I see parts of Iowa got ice and snow.
Congrats on finishing ‘Tulip Fields’ and completing all the quilts in Bonnie Hunter’s book. You are inspiring me to do more and push myself more to achieve my quilting goals. Love following your progress.
Congrats, Jo! It is beautiful! No wonder Carver loves it! I have to admit that I like your colors better than Bonnie’s. (Sorry, Bonnie) It inspires me to want to make that after I’m done with Blue Skies.
I love your quits! Honestly, you made the quilts in the book come alive for me! I don’t know if it’s your color choices or the feeling of piecing alongside you.
The love and joy you have in your grandkids shines. There is a special joy in my mother’s heart when I see large happy families who still enjoy being together! I am the eldest of five sibs and Christmas mornings at Mama and Daddy’s with spouses and all of our kids hold a special place in my memories of family and the love we shared. I hope you and yours have a very merry Christmas!
Maybe you need to make another of this one, smaller, just for Carver! It’s quite lovely, so I can see why he likes it so.
You should send the pictures of all the quilts from the book to Bonnie Hunter- I’m sure she would be thrilled!
Another beautiful quilt. And I think more impressive was finishing all the quilts in the book. i can’t wait until Friday to see all your quilts in the blog. Congratulations on a job beautify done. Thanks for sharing.
I remember when my oldest nephew was little (now he’s in his 30s with a kid of his own), I used to wrap him up in a quilt like a present and carry him to his mother. “Here, this is a present for you!” He’d be giggling inside but she’d pretend she had NO IDEA what this present could be! She’d open it up and be SO SURPRISED and we’d all laugh like crazy. Quilts are the best!
I think your Tulip Fields ended up great. I don’t think anyone who sends you scraps wants their scraps back. They’re probably thrilled they could be a part of a nice quilt without dealing with the teeny scraps that they obviously don’t like. It takes all kinds of people to make the world, doesn’t it?
Your Tulip Fields quilt is just gorgeous! I really prefer your border to the one in the book. The simpler border makes the blocks shine. Kudos to you for accomplishing such a lofty goal. I am also a fan of thrifted fabrics. I have a difficult time paying full price for fabrics. Haha. Blessings to you and your family.
Love your quilt, it is beautiful. I especially loved how Carver was attracted to the quilt. I am 73 so great grandchildren are the little ones around our house now. There is nothing like the love of a child.
Jo, this quilt is my most favorite one you have done. It’s beautiful. I do believe it may be the choice of colors you have selected but whatever, I would love it myself. It’s a marvellous achievement to have finished all the quilts in a single book so well done to you. Love Carver, he seems such a cheerful little chappie.
You could call this post “The Joys of Jo”! Love it and love the quilt!
A beautiful finish to your quilt-a-thon of Bonnie’s quilts.
Seeing Carver with your quilt reminds me of one of the reasons we quilt – for the love of family.
A beautiful finish to your Bonnie Hunter quilt-a-thon.
Seeing Carter reminds me of one of the reasons we quilt – for love of family.
As someone who has given away literally hundreds of yards of fabric for charity quilts, I can tell you that I’ve never wanted any of it back! I was able to see a lonestar quilt that I had pieced and appliqued the filler blocks but never sewn together which had been completed and quilted by someone else for charity–made me so happy! I’ve been quilting for 40 years and my tastes have changed. When we moved a year and a half ago, I made a major purge, which has continued as I try to organize all of my stuff. I love to donate and I know there are women willing to sew and quilt if they have the fabric, thread, etc. to do so. It’s a win-win! Thank you, Jo, for all your work for charity. Lots of love goes into those quilts!