Finished Quilt: Out in Space

So...where have I been all damned summer?  Ha. I have no idea where the time went.  For the first time in my working life,  I had the whole summer to do with as I pleased and I enjoyed every waking moment of it. Although I will certainly appreciate a return to the routine, I'm not ready...its too soon!  There's more fun to be had!  I'm back to work starting Monday and so I'm glad I got a quilt finished - it gives me some small sense of accomplishment that I didn't waste my entire summer being unproductive!

Thought maybe I'd share it with you -- you know, before we hit Labour day weekend and all.

Out in Space

As I have mentioned before, I made this quilt for one of my sisters.  She leaves on Sunday for four years to pursue her Ph. D in Astro-Physics.  Every time I say or write that, it makes me feel super dumb.  Anyhow, I'm really proud of her and am going to miss her a ton.  This quilt is so she can take a piece of home with her and so I can still feel connected to her across the miles.  I hope she enjoys it as its the most ambitious thing I have ever tried to make.  It took forever.  By forever I of course mean WAY longer than I ever anticipated.  She's lucky to be worth it!

Close up of centre

I did echo-quilting around each and every triangle piece in the centre meteor.  There are hundreds of triangles in this thing.  Hundreds.  At one point I wondered if I would ever finish.  I thought of setting my sewing machine on fire but didn't want to have to explain that to the fire-fighters.  

A bit better view of the swirl quilting in the massive amounts of negative space

This shows the pieced backing a little and the binding

The back

You can get a good look at the quilting details here.  I did an all-over swirl in the negative spaces.  I like how the effect turned out on the back.  Almost like a lunar eclipse - how fitting!

My "scraps"

On instagram I asked the important question -- If I can fill a shoebox with the neatly folded leftovers, does it still count as scraps.  Seriously people, I think I could make a whole second quilt top with these leftovers.  

The best part of the experience though.....

I used the practice and quilting of this top to trick my friend Alice into giving free-motion quilting a try.  I made a scrap sandwich and she went to town - even wrote her name!  She said it was fun...I'll get her hooked yet!

So I'm gifting this to my sister this weekend.  I'll let you know how she reacts!