In February 2012, I was approached to make a king sized "Delft" quilt for my long time friend, Shawn. Long time as in I have known him since Junior Kindergarten. The pattern was a fairly simple, classic, window pattern and something I had made in the past. I hadn't, however, made a king sized quilt. Ever.
I am always very confident that I can achieve anything when it comes to sewing. So I said "Sure. No problem. It will take me about 6-8 weeks max." Wow, was I ever wrong! Just over one year later I had the pleasure of passing over this quilt to my VERY patient, understanding friend. Honestly, I can say that it felt like I was giving a part of me away with it. After one year, I had grown pretty attached.
I am always very confident that I can achieve anything when it comes to sewing. So I said "Sure. No problem. It will take me about 6-8 weeks max." Wow, was I ever wrong! Just over one year later I had the pleasure of passing over this quilt to my VERY patient, understanding friend. Honestly, I can say that it felt like I was giving a part of me away with it. After one year, I had grown pretty attached.
| If you are not familiar with the word "Delft", you may recognize it when you see it. Delft Pottery is known for it's blue and white hand painted images and symbols. It originates from Delft in the West Netherlands. You may have seen it in antique stores, in your grandparents home or even your parents home in the form of Dutch wooden shoes, windmills, or tableware. Even though Delft has a very antique feel to it, the direction and feel for the Delft quilt was to be "european-hotel chic." It had to be "delft" without be too over the top. The quilt's eventual home would be my friend's guest bedroom entitled "The Holland Room". |  Photo Credit: www.marriot.com |
| The fabric for this quilt was purchased from several sources. Some were purchased from various shops on Etsy, including one shop located in Holland. Others were sourced locally. In total 1256 pieces were cut for the quilt. These pieces were assembled into 224 squares, which made up the entire top of the quilt  |  |
Once the quilt top was assembled, my next task would be to find a space large enough to lay it out and pin it to the batting and back. I do not have a space in my home large enough to do this. Fortunately for me, my sister does.
Making a quilt sandwich
Since starting this quilt, I had my mind set on quilting the top with a free motion pebble technique that I had once seen. My friend's home is located in a small town and is historically referred to as "The Olde Stone House". I felt that the pebble quilting technique would be very fitting for this home. Before applying this technique to the quilt, I spent a lot of time practicing. Like a king size quilt, this technique was new to me. The tutorials that taught the basics of this technique warned that it was time consuming and was not the best for large projects. Again, being over confident I thought "Really? How hard could it be?"
Pebble Quilting close up
Once I got into the groove of quilting the "pebbles", the process wasn't too hard. It was however, a very long process and it used A LOT of thread. 6.5 Kilometres of thread to be exact.
The next challenge I faced was quilting the entire surface of the king sized quilt with my little ol' sewing machine. About the same time I was figuring this out, Elizabeth Hartman of Oh Frannson!, guest wrote a tutorial for The Modern Quilt Guild. It was extremely helpful in getting started. Even though I did eventually need to adapt it to my own technique, I am forever grateful for this tutorial.
The next challenge I faced was quilting the entire surface of the king sized quilt with my little ol' sewing machine. About the same time I was figuring this out, Elizabeth Hartman of Oh Frannson!, guest wrote a tutorial for The Modern Quilt Guild. It was extremely helpful in getting started. Even though I did eventually need to adapt it to my own technique, I am forever grateful for this tutorial.
My sewing table turned against the wall to support the weight of the quilt.
After 14 weeks of quilting the top was complete. The top was trimmed, bound and ready to go.
I have to say a big "Thank YOU!" to my friend, Shawn, for being so incredibly patient and not pressuring me at all to finish his project. It was an absolute pleasure to create this quilt for him. Being well aware of my sentimental attachment to his quilt, Shawn assured me he would give it a proper home. And I know he will!
Another big "Thank YOU!" to my clients that were patiently waiting for me to finish this quilt to start their project.
Days before I handed over the The Olde Stone House Delft quilt to Shawn, it snowed that beautiful type of snow that sits just so gently on the branches of bare trees. I couldn't help but resist to take photo fo the quilt with the snow. (Don't worry, there is another blanket under the quilt to protect it)
Another big "Thank YOU!" to my clients that were patiently waiting for me to finish this quilt to start their project.
Days before I handed over the The Olde Stone House Delft quilt to Shawn, it snowed that beautiful type of snow that sits just so gently on the branches of bare trees. I couldn't help but resist to take photo fo the quilt with the snow. (Don't worry, there is another blanket under the quilt to protect it)
