Sunday, May 27, 2018

Razorback Fan



Immediately upon finishing
I sat down and drew up a quilt 
that's been in my head for quite some time.


Then I went on a fabric collecting spree.
digging through every box, shelf, bag, and tub
that even might contain a red, black, or gray fabric.


I amassed a ridiculously large pile boxful,
having previously made
and, oh, another quilt that heavily featured gray.


I've made a block here 

That churndash in the upper right didn't make the cut. Not enough contrast.

and a block there,

yes! I found the perfect spot for a bit of Jenean Morrison's fabric :-)

and cut background strips
 when I had a couple of decent chunks of time
(I spent 4 hours just cutting all those suckers!)


Once I had my little design wall filled up,
I made a real (expandable!) design wall
and threw everything up on it,
very neatly arranged the blocks on it
and realized - 
I still had a (very) long way to go!


 I made more blocks every chance I got,
and sewed some together with their background strips.


Sometimes I only had 5 minutes at a time,
sometimes an hour or more.


Then I sewed some more blocks,
and some more pieces together,
and here we are,
3 weeks later,
with a finished
one of a kind
Razorback Fan quilt top!!


There are 122 fabrics
and 52 hours (and 46 minutes) represented
in this 66" x 78" top.
That 52:46 doesn't count any of the hours spent 
designing the quilt
(or any of the blocks that I drew up  myself).
It doesn't include the hours spent gathering fabric,
or driving out to Mulberry in search of actual  Razorback fabric.
(which, incidentally, is rather ugly until you chop it up)

that embroidered white patch was commissioned from a friend :-) and the pink razorback fabric is from Stars for a Star :-)

It doesn't include the time spent
prewashing any fabrics that might bleed
(I'm looking at you, ugly razorback fabric!)
or choosing fabrics for each individual block
(it takes longer than you might think)

That big block is an 'Arkansas Star' - I couldn't find one the size I needed,
and didn't trust my maths to enlarge it and get it just right, so I drafted it myself.
It's paper pieced. Foundation Paper Pieced. Y'all know how much I love that 😏

or re-folding the fabric
after I've cut what I need from it
(when you use over 100 fabrics,
and cut fabric for each block as you make it
 that adds up to a lot of folding)
and it definitely doesn't include time spent
standing in front of the design wall,
pondering.


I will say,
I like it better when I don't know
quite how much time I spend on a project 😉
but
Razorback Fan
 will be for sale as soon as I get it finished
so it seemed prudent to keep track.


I'm eager to get to the quilting;
I've already got a pretty good idea
of what I'm wanting to do.


joining Amanda Jean and the other finishers

4 comments:

  1. Your prodigious productivity shames me. Seriously, how do you do all of the stuff you do!? It's all so amazing and lovely, too. :)

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    Replies
    1. You know as well as I do, Susan, that when one plate is in the air, another is dangerously close to falling on the ground ;-)

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  2. That quilt is fabulous! I've been wanting to make a quilt with strips in the background since I finished the Gyspy Wife, and you've not only done it, but done it with pizzazz. Great work!

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    Replies
    1. oh gosh ~ THANK YOU!! I would love to see your Gypsy wife!! I designed this one to be similar to a quilt I made last year called Sojourner (here if you want to see it - http://pursuingjoy.blogspot.com/2018/01/sojourner-finished-quilt.html ) that took its cues from Kathleenquilts gypsy wife - which I *thought* was her version of it, and not an actual GW ~ silly me.
      thanks for stopping by ~ Tracy

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