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Friday 11 April 2014

Star Wars: Episode- Done!

So I'll spare you all the Star Wars quotes and allusions this post. Well..as much as I can.


Finished it is! (promise only this one)

Yesterday I put the binding on and it and was done. Not a moment after, my son took possision of it. I almost didn't get any pictures. But pictures I have! (OK I lied, last one promise)


I used mainly Kona solids for this quilt and a grey Star Wars print that I found at my local fabric store. Usually, I find that novelty prints are not that great in quality, but this Star Wars fabric feels and drapes great.



I used patterns from Kristy at Quiet Play to create the faces (you can find them here). For the light saber and the Death Star I had to strike out on my own and create my own patterns to paper piece- old school, by drawing then out on paper (I really need to get some software to fix that). Anyway, look back here to see more of the genesis of this quilt.


When it comes to quilting I'm always caught between wanting to do very dense, complex quilting and wanting the quilt to be soft and comfortable (as dense quilting tends to make the quilt more stiff). In the end I did some straight line quilting on this quilt. I though striaght lines match the industrial feel of the greys, blacks, and blocks. I downloaded a Star Wars font and traced out my son's name on the quilt so that it's his (keeping in line with the fact that we put his name on everything, which helped yesterday when  he lost a boot at school).


For the light saber, I found this variegated thread at my local thread store, a.k.a. my mom's- really sometime remind me to show you her thread stash, it's epic. I have yet to get on the Aurifill bandwagon, mostly because I'm a spontaneous thread shopper and when I need thread I need thread like right now. And none of the shops around here carry Aurifill, so I've stuck with Gutterman. Is there really a difference? I'd love to know. Maybe one day I'll pony up the cash and have enough forethought to find out. Anyway, the thread provided a little variety to the red in the quilt.


I tried at one point to add some pink strips along the edge of the light saber to make it pop, but the man in charge vetoed that idea (ever since he wore a pink shirt to church and one of his friends told him he was wearing a 'girl' colour, he has shunned pink- grrrrrr, I'm not even going to voice my thoughts on that because not enough words can explain how I feel about someone teasing him that he is wearing pink...and, AND calling it a GIRLS colour... oh seriously, I have to stop here).

Deep breath.


So, I pulled a few props for some of the shots of the quilt (rest assured we have many, many Star Wars 'props' around here). It was great to see the pieced blocks up against the 'real' thing. They really look quite similar. I was afraid I had put too many or not enough lines on Yoda's face, but I think it worked out just right. If you're interested in how I did the faces, I put up a tutorial a while ago.


I'm so glad this quilt is done (never mind it was suppose to be done by Christmas). And it's the first finish on my new FAL Q2 list!! I feel like I deserve a ceremony- just insert me right along Chewbacca (video courtesy Jesse Mohler, YouTube).



Linking up with TGIFF and Quiet Play

11 comments:

  1. Truly epic, this is. Congratulations! I've been watching your progress on this quilt and am so happy for you and your son. You did an amazing job!

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  2. Wow! It turned out so awesome Jehn!! I absolutely love how you quilted Max's name in there, and i'm totally stealing that idea for my next round of quilts for my guys!!
    I love how you've laid everything out and the colours are just perfect! But that Death Star... epic!
    Yay for knocking one off the list already! I haven't even made my list yet!! Go you!!

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  3. Epic quilt, this is! I can't tell you how much I LOVE this quilt, Jehnny! I adore the layout -- that giant light saber is genius. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! Now I want to make one for my Star Wars lovers. So glad you linked up to TGIFF!

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    1. Oh, and don't get me started on the pink and 'girls' colours either. We've had the same experience in my house and many, many discussions about it. Grrr!

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  4. That looks fantastic! Well done! Love the quilting on it too!

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  5. Very nice! I love the composition of this one. Fun to look at and none of it is overwhelming or super kitschy.

    Pink, girls. Blue, boys. bah. silliness!

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  6. Amazing!! I love your death star and light saber - you are very clever. The colours are fantastic and the layout is superb. Did I tell you how much I love this quilt?!!

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  7. This quilt is awesome! You did an awesome job on the paper piecing and the deathstar, and the quilting!

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  8. Love your quilting and your blog. Found you through Plum and June blog hop email. Will have fun following you.

    Hillary

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  9. I love everything you have done with this, especially incorporating your son's name in it in just the right font.
    If you like Star Wars quilts (and who doesn't?!), have you seen this: http://www.quiltsofafeather.com/2014/05/patchwork-deathstar-mini-quilt.html? I get this. I have Star Wars Lego and not even any children to blame it on.
    I have only recently started trying Aurifil. Like you, Gutterman is more readily available here, and I have never had a problem with it. I do like how Aurifil spontaneously knots less frequently when I am hand sewing.

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