5.05.2011

serfs up

when i decided to bite the bullet and make layla a quilt, i started having guilt. quilt guilt.

specifically about not making one for judah too. do i think he will ever notice or care? no. do i think he will be all up on layla's quilt enough to call it his own? yup.

but i still wanted to make one just for him and with him in mind. enter my peeps. my castle peeps.

i found a great bargain on this entire collection of "castle peeps" fabric. love the name, love the patterns, love the colors. perfect for a little boy without being a huge miasma of baseballs or tractors (no judgement). judah is just starting to get into castles and knights and princes and swords a bit, so i thought this was perfect for my little squire. its chock full of flags and ramparts and peasants and royalty and turrets and noble steeds. feudalism abounds in every fiber.


and when i was searching for layout inspiration i found an AMAZING example of this fabric in a quilt that included a tutorial on just how to make it from a 21 year old blogger and sewing/photography/life-living wunderkind. i am embarrassed to be so drooly over such a baby, but she is awesome!

so i chopped up the collection into millions (estimation) of tiny squares and got the layout going. i had some very chivalrous help from my knight in shining armor a poly/cotton blend tee.

finally we got it how we wanted it . it may be awhile before it looks like this again...

each row of finished quilt is now stacked and labelled and ready to be sewed.

this thing is going to be a monster and i may just give up and save up and take it to a quilting shop to let them finish it with their awesome skills and machines once i have the top assembled. my progress even with layla's much smaller quilt has shown me how hard a process actaully quilting the thing is. i dont know how grannies do it. i was sweating and my muscles BURNING as i was crab walking around my kitchen floor to get everything lined up and pinned to be sent through my machine in all its bulk.

so this twin bed-sized behemoth might be beyond my skills. but i have no idea how much that costs either so i may just have to gird up my loins and sally forth.

8 comments:

  1. You're one brave, talented woman!

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  2. Gahhh I love the fabric so much. And now I want to make a quilt... my Gram will be proud :)

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  3. This is awesome, amazing, spectacular, incredible and so much more!!! I love it and the crosses on it and all the great symbolism of castles and kings and princes and saving fair maidens. It's going to be a treasure. I'm literally in awe, and you didn't even mention the incredibleness of you undertaking this at this today!!! WOW--you deserve some braggin' rights!

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  4. It looks great!!! Y'all did a great job with the layout.

    Now, I totally expect Judah to arrive at my house next weekend cloaked in his castle peeps quilt and layla in her good folks quilt.

    such fancy children. somebody must love them. and sewing.

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  5. Oh my heavenly heavens. My hands hurt just looking at that thing! It's gorgeous, though. What an accomplishment when you piece that last square!!!!

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  6. Looks great Keight! If you decide to quilt it with your machine using straight lines, I highly recommend a walking foot. If you decide to have it quilted, it usually runs about $0.015 per inch (so if your quilt it is 60x90, the price would be 60*90*0.015 or $81). It can be pricey so if you are just doing straight lines, I recommend splurging on a walking foot (~$30) and struggling through! I've seen the amazing things you do and I know you can do it :) Can't wait to see the finished product!

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  7. hey jess! i am doing straight lines on lay's quilt and i did get a walking foot (a cheap generic one for like $16) because me previous quilting efforts were catastrophes. it works really well, but i am butchering it still because i rushed through the basting. i think i am going to pick it all out and start over. i also picked a bad thread color. arg!

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  8. This is so funny and perfect. I just clicked over here from the herringbone quilt post because I bought the fabric back in June for my second quilt. Who was my first quilt for? Our second child. I was convinced he would never get as many quilts as his first-born sister, and I was right! But then I felt the quilt guilt about kid 1 not having a mommy-made quilt. I even planned on making a plus quilt. So I have now pinned the "modern plus quilt tutorial" you used. And I have renewed zeal, and two cups of coffee energy, to start cutting out this quilt!

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