Saturday, January 5, 2013

Making Easy Street: I'm done!!

 
Woo hoo!  I prevailed!  I am finished piecing Easy Street, which has a new nickname: "The Bohemouth" LOL.  Honestly, this project reminded me why I don't do many King quilts.  The borders alone took longer to make and attach than assembling the center did.  :)  That said, however, I'm really pleased with how this quilt turned out and I can't wait to finish it and put it on my bed.

But it's done.  Yay!  Backing is ordered.  Yay!  It'll go to the quilter sometime in February.  Yay!  Now that it's pieced and ready for quilting, I don't have it hanging over my head.  And now I can move on to other projects that need doing.

I loved the unexpected pop of color with Bonnie's choice of red-violet inner border, so I kept to that idea for my quilt, though my inner border is more of a magenta.  I knew that I wanted to add in a pieced border, and since we had used 4-patch blocks in the center of the quilt, I thought I'd use them again in a border.  The final border is a print that I fell in love with as soon as I saw it.


Isn't that fabric just gorgeous?  It has purple and teal in it, so it works beautifully with the fabrics in the center.  And it has just a bit of that magenta as well, so it ties in nicely with the inner most border.  It's like this fabric was designed specifically for my quilt.  I love it when that happens.  :)  Can you believe it took almost 3 yards of material for that outer border?  Whew!

 
Here is a close-up of the borders.  I'm really liking how they play together.  I was originally going to use my leftover grey for binding, but now I'm thinking teal would fit the bill better.  What do you think?

And now, it's time for my machine to go to the "machine spa".  She's squeaking from all the work she's done... then again, she's due for her annual cleaning and oiling anyway.  She's been my trusty quilting companion for at least 12 years, and all she's ever needed was regular maintenance.  I do most (all) my piecing on my Juki TL-98E.  She only does straight stitch, but she does it very well... and I can't live without my automatic thread cutter!  :)

23 comments:

  1. You did a beautiful job Valerie! I like your border fabric as well.

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  2. Valerie, Your quilt is stunning and your choice of fabric and borders is perfect.

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  3. Great border!! I love the checkerboard!!

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  4. I love your checkered border!

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  5. Your borders on this are great!

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  6. That is just gorgeous - I have picked magenta (well hot pink) for my inner sashing border too. I think teal is the right binding colour.

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  7. I hope to piece my border too, but will let myself forget about the piecing of the centre first! You have found a great print.

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  8. This is really beautiful! Great job. I am going to keep your choices for the borders in mind when I do my own.

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  9. I think I'll be a copy-cat. LOVE your checkerboard four patch border!

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  10. Your top is absolutely wonderful. The borders really set it off. Congratulations! Job well done & it is inspiring.

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  11. I love how you brought in a completely new color for that inner border! Bold, and it completely works. Job well done!

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  12. Lovely quilt and the four patch border looks fantastic. I am impressed that you are finished even with those pieced borders. I think I won't attempt those or it will be 2014 before it would be done. Love it, great work!!

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  13. I am very impressed! Just beautiful!

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  14. Stupendous job! I love how your border fabric pulls everything together!

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  15. Can't believe after all that piecing you piece a border too. I love the look though.

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  16. Your quilt must be absolutely MASSIVE! It's gorgeous.

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  17. Your quilt is beautiful! I agree. Red/violet inner border and blue outer border was perfect. Awesome job.
    How big is it now that you have finished? And how much fabric did you need to order to finish the backing?

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    1. Hi Sheila! Thank you for the comments. The quilt top is 112" x 112", so it's going to be HUGE. I bought my backing fabric from Connecting Threads. 3.5 yards of their WIDE backing, but unfortunately it isn't wide enough. So I also bought 3.5 yards of the same print in standard width fabric. I'll sew the two together along a selvage edge to make a backing large enough for the top.

      Here's the page with the fabrics I ordered. I got the Sparkle in Lt. Seafoam:
      http://www.ConnectingThreads.com/collections/Shimmering_Frost_Quilting_Fabrics__L176.html?intmedid=CollectionBox-176

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  18. I love the 4-patch border! That's a fantastic way to use up some more of that fabric. I'm wondering if I have enough now ....

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  19. Your borders are wonderful---I like your easy street the best of all I've seen, even my own! I'm sewing the border on mine right now---it is a good feeling to get it finished. This is my second Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt and I am hooked. Can't wait until next year already!

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