Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Brown Sugar Swoon

Well, I've been busy, among other things.... but to write it all down would probably bore the lot of you half to internet death so I'll give you the Coles Notes (American version: Cliff Notes).

A) Olympics.  Great fun, glued to the set and thankful that the coverage was so good I didn't have to watch a single event on NBC... Marvelled at the irony of watching such elite athleticism while wearing an increasingly deeper butt groove in the sofa and scarfing nachos.
B) Attended a wedding. Had a birthday.
C) Got a job I don't really care for. Not field related. Kinda menial.
D) Kept up my "try new recipes" resolution.
E) Got the flu.
F) Suffering the heartache of a 3rd NHL lockout.  It's very depressing. Not surprisingly, I side with the players.  I'm starting to develop a facial tick from the withdrawal. My regular ranting and raving is spilling out into all sorts of strange subjects.
G) Joined the local quilting guild and have yet to make it to a meeting.  I had it on my calendar for last night but got a call yesterday for an interview today so I sacrificed the meeting in favour of prepping my portfolio, etc.
H) Got a new job. :-)  A real one. In my field and everything. Happy girl.

Phew! Anyhoo, I'll have more time this week to catch up on two months worth of blog reading.  I've missed ya, folks...

* * * 
I did find time in there to finish up the Swoon quilt I was working on. Of course, by the time I realized it was taking me forever to do the pebble quilting, I was already in too far to back out.  Four solid evenings but I'm really happy with how it turned out. I did a diagonal grid over the centre block to really emphasize the square idea.
 
The background looks a little grey but it's Kona Stone, so it's much warmer and brown than the photo shows. A stick-tap to Seester and Dad for quilt-holding.

It should be pointed out that I wasn't paying them to quilt-hold and it was very close to supper time...

I really took my time with this quilt and as such, my points were the most accurate they have ever been which thrills me to no end....!

I had gotten into the habit of sewing an extra seam on the flying geese blocks so that after I trimmed them, I already had the trimmings made into HSTs. 



 I knew I wanted to use them in the back and with the two leftover blocks but I had no idea how.  So I started playing around with the graph paper.
I ended up with interlocking pinwheels.  The chart became a little map for me and helped me figure out how many plain squares and rectangles I had to cut for the background.
It's all ready to go for the silent auction at the Advent dinner in a couple of months.  I've been asked to provide a minimum bid value for the quilt, though, and I'm stuck.  I don't want to underprice it but I also don't want it to go without bids either.  I was thinking $250 since that's the approximate value of materials, etc., including the 3km of thread. Lol.  What do you folks think?  I'm a little lost...

Regardless, I'm proud of it.
On to Seester's quilt!

17 comments:

  1. Congrats on the "real" new job! And 3 km of thread made me laugh. I think $250 is too low. I know you don't want to scare people off but....$325? $350? The person hours alone are that and more.

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  2. Very very cool Carly! I love the quilting, and that you did something different in the centre block.

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  3. oh, my goodness!!! it's gorgeous!!! very impressive piecing and quilting!! that really is time consuming, that pebbling, but i love the texture!! is your quilting table a couch?? i can see something in that top photo. i can imagine it really helps to have that whole quilt up with no drag.

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  4. A few things...Olympic watching butt groove? That made me laugh. Yay for cooking and a great job! And that quilt is GORGEOUS. I want it. So jealous of whoever scoops it up!

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  5. Just look at those pebbles! Fabulous quilting Carly. Yes, I would open with around $300 I think. People are beginning to appreciate the hand made items more, so it will probably do great. Blessings on you and your new job ; )

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  6. Oh my goodness!!! I'm SWOONING over here. And I totally want to copy the back of your quilt when I do mine. I'll forego the pebble quilting but I love that you quilted the center block in a grid--I'll have to mention that to the person who machines quilts mine--because it probably won't be me!

    congrats on the new job! Sorry about the NHL.

    And on the "oh my goodness" rating meter, I got THE.MOST.AMAZING.PACKAGE in the mail yesterday. Totally in love with every single thing and feeling awful because my part of the swap isn't complete yet.

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  7. Congrats on the real new job, Carly! The Swoon quilt looks great - good for you for keeping going with the pebble quilting. I'd have no idea how to price it, as it's obviously worth much more than most are willing to pay. People would have no idea that the materials alone cost hundreds of dollars.

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  8. wonderful quilt and it surely is worth $300 or more -- but of course that also depends on the make up of the church congregation and priorities. I once made a quilt for a similar idea for an 'inner-city' church and the majority of comments were, they could get a BLANKET at walmart for 29.95... so the next time my contribution to the auction was a purchased toaster from walmart... All that is rather synical tho and I am hoping your's is more appreciated...

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  9. Oh good grief that's beautiful!! I'm thinking $350. Pebble quilting takes an enormous amount of time and effort. It's an amazing quilt... don't sell it short!

    Jennifer :)

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  10. The pebble quilting looks fantastic! When my mom and I collaborated on a Very Hungry Caterpillar quilt, we devised a quilting pattern traced around coins of various sizes - it took a long time to quilt but has held up well to being used by the kids.

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  11. Happy Belated Birthday! Congratulations on the job! The quilt is amazing, and I love how you have done the back. It is definitely worth a lot more than $250 but I know Silent Auctions can be hard.

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  12. Wow. I mean - wow. It's beautiful!
    I'm always shocked when I see big quilts on Etsy for $70. Your quilt is worth at LEAST $250!! It's hard to put a money value on your time but think of it that way if it helps.
    LOVE the pebble quilting, it's worth the time and effort.

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  13. Oh wow! Your brown sugar swoon is fantastic! How ever will you hand it over to a new owner??

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  14. It is a super fantastic quilt! Nicely done!!!

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  15. I used to blog with my family on roots and wings and we followed you. I just happened to pop in to see what you are up to. Holy Smokes! I love that you are sewing and quilting! I adore your Swoon! And that you pebble quilted it all is HUGE!! Way to go! Love it and I love the name too.

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Who doesn't love comments? I appreciate every single one and try to reply to each. Unless you're a no-reply commenter. Then I can't. And I have a little sad moment. Like a dropped ice cream cone. So if you're a no-reply commenter and have a question, check the comment thread and I'll try to reply there. :-)