Friday, December 28, 2012

Proverbial Sunshine!!!!!!



Quilt stats

Name:  Proverbial Sunshine
Design:  Proverbial Quilt, Denise Schmidt
Size:  75" by 78"
Fabric:  Scrappy yellow and grey, with Wild Carrot in Straw, Madrona Road, Violet Craft for Michael Miller.  Bound with Haystack in Graphite from the same line.
Quilted: by me with Aurifil 50 wt in white


Last summer, Krista from Poppyprint started a low key quilt along making use of Denyse Schmidt's Proverbial Quilt pattern.  I hopped on board and ordered the pattern.  Then I had to think of something to say on a quilt.  It didn't take me very long to figure it out as this has long been something I sing... just because.  I knew it had to be in yellows and greys.  I had lots of fabric.  I wanted the letters to be scrappy grey and the background to be a mixture of yellows.  I added in some yellow prints like the Seed Catalogue fabric, some with clocks and there are even some yellow prints with fleur de lis. Husband is French Canadian, a farmer and has an interest in time from a Physics perspective.  I knew that the Wild Carrot print in straw from Madrona Road would be perfect to add into the quilt and that the Haystack in graphite would be the perfect binding.  I just had to make all the words.  So I did.  I worked away at it one word or phrase at a time.  I sang a lot.  How could you not? Then I had a quilt top!   I love it.  I backed it with a vintage sheet with faded yellow daisies.  It is just the right back.


I had quite a debate about which spelling of "grey" to use.  As a Canadian, we tend to use "grey" but the original lyrics of the song use "gray".  So I did too.


The quilting was a bit of a puzzle.  I ended up quilting the sashing in straight horizontal quilting, about an inch apart in Aurifil 50 wt in white.  I waited to do the rest until I opened my Christmas book wish, Angela Walter's book on free motion quilting.  I used the u-turn quilting leading up to words and between words.  The quilting is quite dense in these u-turns and adds a great texture to the quilt.  I will say that the u-turns are not perfect but I really like the look.


I am delighted to see this quilt finished.  I made it for my husband and it brings with it sunshine, love and song.  Proverbial Sunshine.  A finished quilt.  It feels good.  And a perfect finish for the end of the year.


 Linking up with Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it up Friday!





27 comments:

  1. Wow. I love this so much. I've been anxiously waiting to see the finished product. It's gorgeous! The colors, the quilting, the words. Perfection. You must feel so proud. Congrats on a great finish!

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  2. Fabulous finish! I see much snuggling in your future ; )

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  3. What a fabulous quilt! So fun and unique. I love this song, love the colors you chose - beautiful and perfect for the song lyrcis. The backing fabric is great too! Amazing!

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  4. Fantastic finish! Love evrything sbout it... The colours, the song, the quilting, the backing! It's just great.

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  5. Congratulations on the Finish! i've watched this one evolve from the beginning. What a great quilt!

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  6. I really love your quilt, it is a great finish. The quilting is perfect for it as are the sashing and back.

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  7. That quilt just makes me smile! Congratulations on the finish.

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  8. WOW Cathy! What an amazing finish! Way to end the year with a blast!

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  9. NICE!!! I like the quilting on this and all!!

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  10. It's fantastic!!! Way to finish this sunshiny quilt. Great sashing choice, excellent back and cool quilting! Thanks for joining in the (very) low key quilt along and sharing your work.

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  11. So amazing Cathy. The variety of yellow prints on the front is really neat. Love it. I did some dense straight line stuff on my proverbial quilt too, and really really like the effect.

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  12. This is one of my favorite quilts I've seen in 2012. I just LOVE everything about it!

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  13. Really nice quilt!And I love the quilting, too. I have always wondered about the spelling for grey/gray. I didn't realize one was Canadian and one American. Nice to learn something new.

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  14. It looks great Cathy! Well done in the finish. I, too, have Angela Walters book and am feeling more prepared to diverge from stippling and straight line quilting. I have fond memories of this song. We had to learn it and sing it at my first school concert when I was 5, 30 years ago!

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  15. Love the quilt. Love it. The time you put into this is revealing. Nice work.

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  16. this coulda been my quilt - you are my sunshine was the bedtime song I sang to my sons when they were small, but now, i don't sing so much, even to myself -- maybe Life's a Gas, hope its gonna last... Love your choice of colours and your set up of the words. Lovely.

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  17. Just spectacular! We love this song at our house too...and yellow is a "proverbial" favorite!

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  18. Wow!!! You must feel very proud. Its beautiful and perfect in every way. Divine backing. Well done. I would not be able to leave this alone if it were mine....

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  19. this is lovely and bright and so sunshiney!

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  20. To heck with perfect - this looks incredible! Love how you decided to quilt it.

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  21. I so love this quilt. This is my now 22 year old's favourite childhood song. It's the first one he would request every night until he was at least 12 years old and many times after that, too. It's dear to my heart and if I ever feel accomplished enough, I just might try something like yours. You did a fantastic job of it!

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  22. Hi Cathy! Just catching up on some blog reading and I'm thrilled to see your finished quilt! It's gorgeous!

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  23. This made my day! Now the song is ringing in my ears ;) Cheerful and beautiful!

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  24. Just saw this over at Poppyprint's blog. It's fabulous! And it makes me so so happy. Well done!

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  25. I would love this pattern to honor my gram and poppy

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