19 October 2012

Finish it up Friday: May the force be with you . . .

Please don't remind me how long it has taken me to finish this quilt. My almost seven-year-old has been reminding me constantly. I had a reprieve this summer, when it was so hot, but the cooler weather reminded him.

First, a little story. About this quilt.


It was a wedding gift, over 11 years ago. When my William moved to his own room and big boy bed, he adopted this quilt. It was never my favorite quilt, but it quickly became his. A queen-sized quilt is hardly a security blanket size, but it was his favorite and so it went everywhere with us.

It's been well-loved. The binding has been threadbare for quite some time, and I knew I could fix that, but when the backing gave out completely, revealing a batting that was falling apart as well, I knew it was a lost cause.



He has other blankets, but he needed a new favorite.

Earlier this year we introduced our kids to Star Wars: A New Hope. We've gone no further as they next two installments are a bit scary for them still. But he loved R2D2 from the beginning, so I designed this quilt for him.

If you're interested, I might be persuaded to share the pattern. It's not all that complicated. Just squares.


My husband needs to work on his quilt holding skills. He's forgiven, though, because he threw out the word "binding," proving he speaks quilt!

The blueish black star fabric from Michael Miller actually glows in the dark, which I think is just awesome. He loves it too. I FMQed some loops and stars on the background fabric, and just did some straight lines around R2. Tugging that quilt through my machine was a serious workout that my shoulders are still feeling.


It's bound in a Star Wars fabric I found here.

It's backed in red Minky, which makes it the most coveted blanket in the house.


I'll be making a big pillow for his bed out of the remnants of his favorite quilt, just so he'll have a part of it still. The things we do for spontaneous hugs and kisses. I've gotten several over the last couple of days, which makes all the wrestling I did with this one while quilting it completely worth it.

And I can mark this one off the 4Q FAL list, and the 100 Day Hustle. Phew. I'm making a sizable dent in the list (3 projects in the first 2 weeks!). Here's hoping I don't burn out too quickly.


Because look what's basted and quilted (I took this photo yesterday afternoon, but I got some time last night to finish the quilting!).


Yep. A quilt for me! Okay, I'll share it with my frozen husband who sleeps in a hooded sweatshirt. He's looking forward to this quilt, let me tell you! I've got all the quilting done. Time to bind! Should be done with that tonight or tomorrow. I'll blog this one next week, in time for the Blogger's Quilt Festival. Hooray!

The orange Minky meant for my Halloween zig zag quilt is being delivered today. I've got a date tonight (what?!), so that will have to wait until tomorrow. But then tomorrow we're having baby girl's birthday party, so it might have to wait until Monday. But that's okay. Just knowing it's here, in one non L-shaped piece is fine with me. I'll at least try to get it pieced over the weekend, maybe basted.

Linking up with Amanda Jean at crazy mom quilts and Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

9 comments:

  1. love the r2d2 quilt! i have a little man that would love that.

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  2. looks great. And wow on the quilting. So awesome. We just did new hope this summer with our oldest. It was love.
    your string quilt looks great. I'm yet to make a string quilt which is ridiculous because I am so infatuated with them.

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  3. LOVE that r2d2 quilt. How fun. And love those warm and fun fabrics on the quilt for yourself.

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  4. Jennie, it's a beautiful quilt - worth the wait, hey?

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  5. Hi!!! I love the R2d2 quilt and the glow in the dark is great!!! My grand son would love it!! He is five and never seen any star wars yet, but he loves robots!!! I love the yellow and oranges in your quilt too!!!! You are having so much fun!!!! Yaa

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  6. Look at you go!! I LOVE the R2D2 one!! Just love seeing it and dreaming!! the colors for your quilt look yummy - my favorite!! Enjoy

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  7. The R2D2 quilt is perfect, what boy wouldn't love it. I would love to see your finished string quilt and close ups of how you quilted it.

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  8. i was wondering... when you back a quilt with Minky, do you use batting, too, or not...?
    and i have a 22 yr old nephew (a true Star Wars fanatic) who would LOVE that R2D2 :)

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  9. I love your R2 quilt! I bet Rhonda at Quilter in the Gap is going to have a fit that there are TWO Star Wars quilts in her 4Q finish along! I did a Millennium Falcon one for me for the quarter, in addition to two previous Star Wars ones I made earlier in the year.

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"The more things you do, the more you can do."

Lucille Ball