Lucky, finished

The second quilt I finished last month was the one for my Grandpa - a very special project! When Mom was out visiting this fall she suggested I might make him one, and then she and I picked out the fabrics and the pattern, which is 'Lucky' by Camille Roskelley. I very much enjoyed sewing up this pattern, and I imagine I will do another some time when the inspiration strikes. The blocks are based on HSTs, so perhaps as I sew other things I'll throw together the occasional few from my scraps and put them somewhere to be combined into a delightfully scrappy version down the road.

When the top was done Dave helped me pick out the perfect backing fabric, a rich deep navy with metallic gold deer heads! There were a few other more abstract patterns in the same colors (arrows and triangles), but the deer heads are just awesome. The print lends both an air of masculine sophistication and a sense of light-hearted humor to this quilt and I love it.

I quilted down all the sashing 1/4" in from each side and then down the diagonals that lined up with the center of each diagonal of quilt blocks. This gave me a window pane pattern with x's in each window on the back. I chose white thread for the top and a variegated golden yellow/brown thread in my bobbin for the back. The variegated thread plays nicely with my deer heads. 

Instead of making a scrappy binding from leftover fabrics as I originally thought, I got some more of the deer head print. I like the matching backing and binding on the backside and that you can also see the deer on the front. The gold sparkles around the edges, too. Instead of my usual zig zag binding which I thought would mask the deer, I just sewed a straight line to attach it to the front. Turned out fine! 

It finished up at 63" x 80" which is a nice big lap quilt that I hope my grandpa will enjoy. He seemed to like it when he opened it, and when he found out that I made it, said that it was that much more special to him. To add to that, when he saw my nieces open their two quilts, he asked "why don't you go commercial?" -- high praise indeed!

I do believe this is one of my favorite quilts I've made. It would be hard to pick a favorite, but this one and Mom's are pretty high up there. They both capture a more traditional style of construction but use fabrics that are more 'me'. I'm sure it also has something to do with the recipients and I being on the same wavelength :). But also, it feels like the more quilting I do the more I get to stretch out and find my quilt-y identity. I'm hoping to spend some more time this coming year at the sewing machine, though of course the knitting needles and crochet hooks won't get left behind!