Wednesday, October 9, 2019

Touchdown!

This is another quilt on my Q3FAL list which is here. I finished the flimsy over three weeks ago, but the quilt had to take a back seat to my day 'job' for Island Batik, which was finishing the September challenge, my Bear Paw Dance, which I think I will be renaming 'Waltzing With Bear' thanks to jbetty's comment! Anyhow, Brady's quilt got finished and both snuggled under and slept under while he was here for a visit.
One of my good friends who we ran into at the Windsor Spitfires hockey game on Saturday night said that Brady has such a beautiful smile, and she's right. His eyes! How they twinkle when he smiles. He was over the moon, ha, over the posts à la field goal, with his quilt, especially the Minky backing.

There are several photos on Instagram of the progress of this quilt, which went a lot faster than Bear Paw Dance! This is because I did a fun, large, meditative all-over meander over most of the quilt. Let's take a closer look!
Just two colours, a silver-grey and a soft brown, were used. 
First I stitched in the ditch in the grey, blue and red squares that form the vertical sashing and then I did a large meander through them. I usually do a couple of signature things in quilts that are made for a specific person: quilt in their name somewhere, and quilt in my initials.

Spot "Nana"...
And my initials:
Lol I did my best with the lint brush but that darn Minky does shed! So please excuse the random fluffs in most of the photos.

For the footballs, first I stitched in the ditch around them and in the white bands. Most of them got back and forth lines that I FMQ-ed, aiming to have them about a half inch apart. You can see that in the two photos above, as well as in the one below.
There are several batiks in the quilt, not all Island Batik. I've loved and worked with batiks all my quilting life. Isn't this brown a good one? Also this is a block where Brady quilted almost all the green background. He really is a natural at sewing and quilting. He did meandering in two blocks altogether.

In a few of the footballs I quilted stars, inspired by stars in the brown fabric.
This is a very old, er, vintage brown, one I've had a hard time using anywhere, maybe because of the line drawings in it? However, it worked well as a couple of footballs. I really like the fabric, a SSI one.

More stars in this one football a brown I particularly love, so rich! It's a Paintbrush Studio one from a few years ago. That's a vintage batik green it is resting on! I love pairing new fabrics with old ones. In the above football, the brown is the vintage fabric (I'm talking about 20 years, no lie) and the lime green is a fairly new one.


Of course after having done so much pebbling in Bear Paw Dance, when I saw the batik for a bunch of the footballs had bubbles in it, I just had to FMQ some for these! Nice big fat ones.
I found that I quite liked the effect of not quilting the laces; they kind of poof a little and give a sort of 3D effect to the football.

Lovely texture:

And oh! The backing!
I bought the football Minky, Shannon Fabrics three years ago when I was in Ohio at a Quilter's Retreat. I knew it was for a quilt for Brady, at the time thinking lap quilt.

Last summer he requested a bed-sized quilt for his bed in his newly painted room in his new house. So I'd already bought the Touchdown pattern from Cluck Cluck Sew, and knew I'd put this on the back. However it wasn't enough yardage, so I had to go to my LQS, A Stitch in Time, in Leamington and see if, in her entire room of Minky, no lie; she had something that would coordinate. I found the polka dot fabric and figured it would work! It's also by Shannon Fabrics.

I machine bound the binding. For Minky, I cut my binding at 2.5" instead of my usual 2.25". There's a little extra loft because of the plush, so this gives a tad extra to wrap around the quilt sandwich. This is a Moda Essentials fabric I got for a steal of a deal over 10 years ago at Fabricland.
See the 'love' quilted in the blue? I ddi it on both sides of this football block.

Here's the label:

And one more straight-on shot of the entire quilt:

I forgot to get a photo of the entire back, so I'll update this post with one. With all the kerfuffle of Brady's visit and the fun times with that, I'm so glad I got the quilt finished! Okay, update: here's the back!
The Minky was 60" wide, so not quite wide enough which is why I sewed some of the extra polka dot Minky down the side. I needed a little bit of overlap for the longarm clamps to hold onto.

Quilt Stats:
Pattern:  Touchdown by Cluck Cluck Sew
Size: 60 X 75"
Fabric: scraps
Backing: Minky by Shannon Fabrics
Batting: Soft n Crafty 80/20 Cotton/polyester
Quilted: on Avril;  stitches
Threads: pieced on my Bernina with Mettler, Gütermann and Aurifil 50 wt cottons; quilted with Exquisite and Poly X thread 100% polyester. (This is wonderful thread; my LQS in North Port was where I purchased my first spool of it and fell in love with the sheen and lack of fluff.) I used the Bottom Line brown in the bobbin.

Phew! Squeaking this one in under the wire for the FAL! and linking up with Tish's UFO party because this one has been on the 'to do' and 'to finish' lists for some time...

Linking up
Quilt Fabrication
Confessions of A Fabric Addict
The Madd Quilter
Dizzy Quilts for the Q3FAL
Clever Chameleon

15 comments:

  1. Sandra, that's such a great quilt, and so perfect for Brady! I love that he helped to quilt it! Fun to read about all your "vintage" fabrics that are included - I know I have some like that, too. :) Wonderful finish!

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  2. Fantastic quilt, Sandra! I love all the fabrics you used and enjoyed seeing your wonderful quilting! Such a great quilt for Brady!
    Hugs,
    Barbara xx

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  3. What could be more fun than hanging in the quilt room with your grandson! Brady did a super job meandering those backgrounds. His grin makes me grin -- what a fun quilt and so much happiness for the two of you! Great finish, Brady and Sandra!

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  4. Hi Sandra! Love, love, LOVE how this turned out. And Brady's face while lounging underneath it tells the true whole story. He adores it as well. It turned out perfect, in spite of the fact that it's for a Detroit Lions lover. HAHA! Thanks for the closeup shots of the quilting. I can easily see how the laces poof up - very cool detail. Nice job, Nana! He'll be lounging and sleeping underneath your love for many years to come. ~smile~ Roseanne

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  5. Lucky, happy Brady! This quilt turned out so fun and his smile says how much he loves it. What a great Nana you are :)

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  6. Brady, you and your quilt are winners!!! Great smile,and will you need another case to take it home? Enjoy it every day.

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  7. You nailed it - every football fan's dream quilt!

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  8. He sure looks happy under that quilt! Fabulous job, Sandra (and Brady!). I have a few vintage fabrics hanging out in my stash, too, and it's always fun to get to use them :)

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  9. Oh, Sandra, I love every photo in this post, but that first one of the proud owner and partner-in-quilting is precious!! How neat that he is a quilting natural and that you got to spend time working together. This quilt is going to be such a treasure to him. I love how you combine old and new fabrics and tie it all together with your fabulous quilting.

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  10. Brady looks so happy snuggling under his quilt! That smile is contagious!

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  11. Looks like a touch down for Brady!

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  12. Congrats on the finish! It looks like a special quilt for a special person, always a winning combination. And minky on the back...so cuddle-able! On behalf of the entire FAL crew, thanks for participating!

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  13. Well done & with slippy backing. Love the footies & can see it's very much appreciated. Take care.

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  14. Super fun quilt, I really like the extra special quilting touch you added.

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