Wednesday, February 17, 2010

A Linen Quilt, Finished

Thank you, Winter Olympics, for providing the perfect opportunity to embroider this quilt for a half-hour every evening. That's all I needed to get this thing finally finished. Yeah, it doesn't fit in my purse or in the car so I wasn't getting those little sessions in while waiting for a music lesson to finish.


The front side is painfully bright linen (all upcycled from the thrift store) in diagonal stripes, machine-pieced. No batting, and a canvas back. Then I "quilted" it by embroidering a bright running stitch around each square.


It fits a twin bed and weighs a ton.

Have you succeeded or failed when the back looks better than the front? No matter, I like it!

18 comments:

  1. Success! That is truly gorgeous!

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  2. Oh, it means you are a good seamstress, you know. I remember my first couple of embroidery projects. I was so proud of them, until I showed them to a friend who also embroidered. She promptly turned them over, saw the mess on the back and shook her finger at me!

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  3. I'd say you doubly succeeded. Beautiful, even in its brightness!

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  4. Oh I love it. Amazing...between you and Randi, I so want to quilt. I am just intimidated by the whole process.

    Yours is amazingly beautiful Anna.
    I seriously pray for some of your energy ;-)

    xoxo
    kimmie

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  5. Dear Anna,

    What a beautiful quilt! I personally love heavy quilts. Would you mind sharing exactly what kind of canvas you used for the backing of the quilt? I would love to know!

    Krista

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  6. Anna, the quilt is beautiful! I always like to make my quilt back look as beautiful as the front. I then enjoy the quilt from both sides. Blessings from Kansas! Gail

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  7. You succeeded, because now it is reversible.

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  8. Did you use linen clothes, cut out, then pieced together to make the quilt? Could you sometime give us ideas on what you look for in thrift shops, second-hand stores, as in fabric, what can be made, etc.? Because of your ideas I used ribbon to cover up a spot on a red blouse, covered up a favorite sweater (which was second-hand)neckline which was fraying with a decorative trim, and cut off six inches from a long wool second-hand skirt, hemmed it, and have a wonderful wool tweed skirt, lined, too. Your good ideas in your blog beget other good ideas!

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  9. I'm assuming you used embroidery floss for that - I've been wondering if quilting thread is a MUST for hand quilting, but I suppose one can use whatever one has at hand.

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  10. I love it! I love heavy quilts. And I try to make my quilts reversible too.
    Lisateresa, I have a book, Material Obsession, in which the ladies use Perl cotton to quilt. They want the stitches to show up.

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  11. I like the back an awful lot! :)

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  12. Krista, the canvas is a 100% cotton unbleached canvas sold at Hobby Lobby or Hancock's. It's usually 60 inches wide and it needs a couple of washes and dryings before using to soften it up and take up the shrinkage. And it's very heavy!

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  13. Your work is wonderful. I might be tempting to learn how to sew and post results on my blog

    www.mommyoffaith19.blogspot.com

    but I don't think I could ever do what you do. I can barely sew a straight line by hand. But I can look at your work and admire! lol

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  14. Thank you for the information, Anna. I will check for canvas at our local HL next time I'm there.

    Krista

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  15. Yes, I like the back better, too. keep quilting!

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  16. Your quilt is lovely. And I would say succeeded.

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  17. Beautiful. Especially the embroidery.

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