September Swoon
Your empathy on my "terrible awful" experience means so much to me! Yes, we have all been there, but it truly helps me to be able to be honest with you when I'm disappointed with my work. And then there's the happy fact that sharing something bad actually turns it into something good, because it gives us all perspective, ya know? So, thanks for that!
Now today, let's enjoy the Swoon quilt! This quilt is a collaboration of the members by the Faith circle of do. Good Stitches(for details on this charity quilting bee, see this post). In September, each member made one super big Swoon block and then I added an extra one, so we have 9 Swoon blocks on the front and 2 for the back. I really love how it turned out!
The family to whom we'll be gifting this quilt recently welcomed a 4th baby. Although all tests looked good during pregnancy and baby looked fine when she was born, they had a serious scare when it appeared that her head was not growing. The doctors were concerned this was a sign of a serious mental and physical handicap, because the family's 3rd child does suffer from this condition. So challenging! Fortunately, since then the new baby's head has grown and all seems to be well with her. All the same, I am glad that our circle is able to do something to bless and encourage this young family!
The mother in this family often shares an encouraging Bible verse with those that come to her for advice and perspective. I have asked the best friend of this mother (who is also a quilter) to choose a Bible verse that would be a blessing to this family.
Miranda chose Philippians 1: 9-11, which is such a lovely family verse! She free motion quilted it onto a fabric piece which I then incorporated into the quilt back. I know that this quilt will be an encouragement to the whole family and a marker that will remind them of God's faithfulness and grace as time passes.
From the back, you can just make out the squared-off spiral of quilting that originates at the long rectangular verse (on cream) at the upper left side. The quilt backing was pieced together from fabric already in my stash that complimented the periwinkle-ish blue of these two swoon blocks.
I was glad to get to use some prints I've had for awhile and that Laurel Dot that I picked up in the Fat Quarter Swap at The Sewing Summit!
I also got a kick out of using this new Circa 1934 Hayworth print in red to frame a swoon block. It really seemed to fit the mood of the quilt back.
And, by the way, this is the very first quilt that I've liked to photograph crinkly. Usually I prewash my fabrics and press my quilts after washing so that things are much more flat for finished photographs.
I think it was the combo of lots of unprewashed fabrics, my experience quilting and the somewhat traditional style of this quilt that makes me love it all crinkly. This was also my first quilt that I would have been happy to see finished with a free motion meander. Ack, good thing I didn't try that on my puny little machine!
Hmm... what else? Oh, for the binding I pieced together two different gray tonal prints (because, naturally, I didn't have enough of either).
Here's a peak at the binding, front and back. Would you believe that when doing the zigzag finish I had to turn the corners with the needle UP, because every time I tried to turn with the needle down it broke my bobbin thread? What gives? Oops, I wasn't supposed to complain today. Sorry, that one snuck in.
So here we are, all finished and ready to go! I'll be mailing this September Swoon to Miranda, who will be surprising the family with it very, very soon! Thanks again to the members of the Faith circle for your hard work on this project. And, thanks to The Warm Company who donated a full-sized Warm & Natural batting for this quilt, and for other do. Good Stitches quilts as well. It's such a blessing to have your support!
Fabrics: Solids are Kona snow, rich red and ruby. All three colors can be found in the US at Fat Quarter Shop or in Canada at Mad About Patchwork. Blue prints on the back include Amy Butler's Laurel Dots in periwinkle and Freespirit's Houndstooth in hot house blue. For the red prints on the back, I worked in Circa 1934 Hayworth, Anna Maria Horner's Mixed Signals in summer, and Ta Dot in Minnie.
Pattern: The Swoon quilt design can be purchased at Fat Quarter Shop.
Finished size: 80" square.