Sunday 6 December 2015

What's in a name?

Long ago, a quilt on Sue Garman's blog caught my eye and I couldn't shake it off. I knew I would make such a quilt one day.  That day came in October of 2014. I did the math and started to assemble the blocks. They looked pretty good.

Then I did a whole lot more blocks.  This would be a good canditate block for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. (Are you listening Gayle? lol)


 Don't they look like little accordions? I think they do. Tired of always referring it as the "Sue Garman's don't-know-the-block-name quilt" I started to think of it as the music quilt.


The layout was really fun to plan too. It took me a while to decide which one I prefer. 

Then came the border and the same question had to be answered; which one works? which one I prefer?


Eventually, it became a top.  I so love it.

The quilting was something else since I wanted to machine quilt this one. Having very little experience with this technique I didn't have a lot of choices but to do the boring but very effective "Stitch in the Ditch" done in the center and on the Hourglass Blocks of the outer border.

As I quilted, I kept thinking about those little accordions and music in general. Nobody in my family had an accordion but my uncle played the violin and my father could tap dance to any kind of music. It was funny.

 A few months later, when all that was done, I realize it wasn't quilted enough. So I got a plate out and started to mark half circles in each accordion. The quilting of those circles, sewn with the walking foot on, kept me busy for another few weeks, still reminiscing of days gone by.

 We used to have parties at my parents' home with uncles, aunts and neighbors. We would push the kitchen table to the side, the violin and the spoons would come out and we would dance in the kitchen and laugh most of the night ... for no other reason than to have fun! Good times.


Okay so some of these half circles were not so ... round? Lol. I had to redo some and some I kept just to show my humble beginning.

All the while I was working on other projects too. One of them was calling for leaves so I decided to practice the leaves on this quilt since there was a gap between the center and the edges that needed ... something. 

Really? !!  You can barely follow a half circle and you think you can do leaves ?  Still, I decided to FMQ the leaves and see what happen!!  What do I have to lose?

I draw the leaves on and started to quilt ...  again!



Not too shabby. Well, okay ... not good but good enough lol.
Then the machine had enough of me thinking of parties, I think, because it got sick !!!



This is on the back of the quilt. It was no fun undoing this. As all good things have an end, so this ended too lol.

Tonight I am joining Kathy for Slow Sunday Stitching as I stitch down the binding


 And the label, of course lol.

Kitchen Party - 2015
I will show more photos of the entire quilt when all is done and washed.

Thanks for visiting. Until next time ...


;^)

Linking with Cynthia for Oh Scrap!



16 comments:

gayle said...

Chantal, dear, you KNOW I'm always listening! 8)
You're absolutely right - this would be a great RSC block. And you've proved it by making this gorgeous quilt! The hourglass border is the perfect touch.
(You know I'm already going to do hourglasses next year, don't you? And your pinwheel quilt from this year. And now you've got me drooling over this one...)

Ellen said...

Your quilt turned out wonderful...and I love that all of those happy memories were quilted into it!

Cynthia Brunz Designs said...

Your blocks just kept getting more beautiful the more I scrolled down. I love how you put it all together. Thanks so much for sharing it with Oh Scrap!

regan said...

I love it, and all the mix of fabrics! Wonderful! And I'm sorry your machine had a meltdown in the middle of quilting! Argh! I hate it when that happens!

Dasha said...

My Dad used to play the guitar. Once in a while some friends of his used to come visit. They were French and he played the ukulele and she played the recorder (I think - long, long time ago). They all used to hole up in our living room with a bottle of whisky and play for hours.
Love how you have finished off this quilt. The quilting on it looks pretty good from here.

scraphappy said...

What a beautiful quilt. So much more special for the story that goes with it. Congratulations on taking those hardest first steps with machine quilting. It gets easier each time. In the end, all you will see is the beautiful quilt, not the "mistakes"

CecileD said...

Coucou mon amie !
Ne t'inquiète pas pour le quilting, il suffit de s'entrainer et Hop ! tu n'auras plus de problèmes !! Et en général, comme les fils s'entrecroisent sur le dos, le devant est parfait ...comme ton quilt !! Extra !!

The Cozy Quilter said...

What a wonderful quilt!!! My dad plays the fiddle. I still love to listen to him play! I have made him a couple of music themed quilts. I love how you laid out your blocks and did the border. Have fun doing the binding!

Deb @ Frugal Little Bungalow said...

What a beautiful quilt this is and I enjoyed the story that went along with it! :)

Quilter Kathy said...

ENjoyed reading about the journey of this quilt... so many memories!
Great job... love the striped binding!

Dawn said...

A beautiful quilt! Thanks for taking us along on the journey. BTW...great tag for the back!

Lin said...

It's a beautiful quilt Chantal - I look forward to seeing the final photoshoot. xx

Fiona said...

I just love your quilts.... great going with the quilting...w e all get those birdsnests at the back occasionally dont let it hold you back!
Hugz

Marti said...

I love the quilt! You cracked me up calling it "Sue Garman's don't-know-the-block-name quilt". It does look like an accordion. My brother played the accordion, or at least he took some lessons. The dog howled when he played and I don't remember ever being able to recognize a song he played. Your family music sessions sound like fun.

Claire said...

I like the spiral arrangement and the way you coordinated the border colors with the center. The pinwheel border was the perfect addition. The way to learn FMQ is to do it. So you are off to a great start. I'm at the early stages too, so I make a lot of doll and child quilts to practice on. claire aka knitnkwilt.wordpress.com

Marly said...

I love this quilt Chantal. The block is very effective repeated so many times. Don't worry about the loops on the back in the quilting; I think everyone has had that at some time. It happened to me once last year, and I didn't notice until I was metres further!