Finished Quilt: Northwoods Quilt

Deep breath in.  It's done, folks!  This beauty was a stretch for me: huge, vague theme, not my colors, uncertain reception by the intended recipient.

So I was given a theme of "north woods" for a quilt for my grandpa and it needed appliqué.  You do know appliqué is not my strong suit, don't you?  Despite these colors not being "my thing," I found plenty of them in my stash.  I find my stash is quite eclectic, as I am drawn to many different colors, even if I now prefer brights.  I'm glad I was able to find ample fabrics in my stash, as I'm happy to use it and happy to see it plays nicely together.

 So I began with choosing some hunting animals, found images, and began.  I foolishly thought I had plenty of time, but found the appliqué a fun challenge, so it finished fast.  Then, using scraps, I added the squares to fill out the center panel.  Then, faced with the borders, I realized I needed to move fast.

 Next came the various borders, each chosen to fit with the theme: log cabin, flying geese, and bear claw.  I initially intended to add another narrow border between the flying geese and bear claws but realized that was far too complicated in order to make the math work.  Part of me wishes I had turned the log cabin blocks in a different direction so there wasn't quite such a visual separation, but it's done now!

I love the way the geese undulate across the quilt and that the scrappy backgrounds cooperate nicely.

The bear claw blocks threatened to defeat me.  Cutting triangles is my poorest skill.  I do love how they worked out, and might even make more of them some day, but in a much larger size.  Thousands of 1"finished triangles gets fiddly.

Then came the quilting.  My throat space on my DSM is about 6", so fitting the entire 96"x110" quilt was a challenge.  It actually moved nicely.  In the log cabin border, I chose to quilt themed words, such as moose, hunting, trapping, etc.  Other rows have loops, meandering, and other simple quilting.  Someday I need to tackle feathers, but not on a quilt for a man.

The binding is the dark gold used in the appliqué backgrounds.  I finished the hand-stitching in a day when we had colds and stomach bugs leaping from person to person.  Holding a baby all day as she dozes provides plenty of time to stitch away.

Fish for the backing doesn't exactly "go," but it was the right feel and tone, and I had enough of it, so it was the backing.  Washed and dried and crinkled, I love how the quilt finished.

from the room of Zana's Ninis,
katie z.