Sparkle Punch Quilt...DONE!

 When I decided to attempt this quilt, I let Sierra choose the colors.

She wanted blues, greens and oranges.  

I had all of them on hand, except the orange with the stars and the orange with the circles (4th & third from the bottom)  $12 for the orange purchases.

I had to purchase the cream colored background fabric...not on sale.  BUMMER!  $32

Then there was a lot of cutting.

I cut the squares 4 1/2 inches because that was the size of my template and because I could get 6 "stars" out of 1/2 yard of fabric.  usually.

I wanted to see how the colors would look together...

 Trying to see the pattern, this time with a few more squares.

Because the squares "nest", they can't be sewn together until they are all complete.

Then, the entire quilt is laid out and sewn together.

Done!

The weather was so nice yesterday that I couldn't help snuggling up on my lawn chairs for a few minutes with my new quilt.

Turn your head side ways if you need to fully appreciate this photo.

This is a shot of the back.

I accidentally stumbled across this polka dot fabric a couple of weeks ago at the Cotton Shop in Provo while I was wasting some time waiting for Summer's voice lesson to end.  It was 35% off, but I needed 5 yards so it still cost $35.  ouch.  but it was perfect.  

All together I made 72 "stars.  I didn't use quite all of them.  One of the extras ended up on the back of the quilt and the handful of others will be made into a very small quilt or some hot pads or something...

I spent about $12 on the batting because I had a coupon.

So far that is nearly $80 and most of the colored fabric I had on hand.  I don't even want to to think about...

And time:

Choosing fabric fabric:  2 hours (at least)

Purchasing fabric/batting:  2 hours

cutting fabric:  3 hours (had to do in separate sessions because my should hurt after so much cutting)

Sew stars: 15 hours

lay out: 1 hour

sewing rows then bigger blocks together:  8 hours

quilt sandwich/pinning:  1 hour

Machine quilting:  3 hours

Binding:  2 hours

That comes out to 37 hours.  But I swear it felt more like 137.

3 things about quilting...

Back:  Clella, Frank, Ethel (siblings)  Front:  Valdean (Clella's daughter), Esther (mother/my great grandmother)
taken in Junction at Clella's home

One of my earliest memories of staying in Circleville with my Grandma include going to Junction to visit Aunt Clella.  Now, Grandma Ethel kept a spotless home.  And not that Clella was dirty or anything...she just lived in a tiny log home and she quilted.  There was always piles of fabric, stacks of squares.  I only remember going into 2 rooms of that house (maybe there were only 2 rooms in the house).  But we always stood because the house was so small and there was always about a dozen projects in the works. My Grandma could sew, but I'm pretty sure she didn't quilt like Clella because she couldn't take the mess.

Story 2:

In December I went fabric shopping with BK, Nanners, and my Aunt Shirley.  We went to a warehouse and bought some fabric.  We had to buy it by the bolt so we choose fabrics that we all liked and then we could divide the fabric up into equal portions.  We we got home and started cutting up the fabric and making stacks of fabric for each of us to take home.  Shirley was so excited to get her stack and get home so she could start sewing.  We were talking about all of the things we wanted to make and do with our stash.  I was laughing at Shirley's enthusiasm.  At one point she said, (and they ALWAYS refer to my Grandma Robison as MOTHER) "I can't believe I have all of this beautiful fabric to make quilts with now.  Mother would be so proud of me to finally be doing this."

I have always wanted to learn how to quilt.  It was on my "bucket list" for a really long time.  Even after I realized that quilting equals sewing and I CANNOT sew.  And for some reason now that I have made a few quilts I feel this connection to generations past who created quilts from old worn clothes out of necessity to keep warm.  Sewing by hand or with a not so nearly fancy sewing machine like the one I am lucky to own.  I just love to see the quilts that I have created on each of the beds of my children.  Unless they don't make their beds and then I will take the quilts back and hang them on the wall.

Story 3:

It's all Grandma Char's fault.  In 2002, Grandma Char (who is not really my grandma, or the grandma of my kids, but the Grandma of my nieces--Hunter & Halle) taught BK and me how to paper piece a quilted heart. It was way complex for our skills but she had patience and introduced us to the art of quilting.  She did a few group projects a few years later and introduced my mom to quilting, as well.