Dahlia Quilt
I made our children quilts when they were married as I'm sure you have or will.
My daughter told me that she'd be happy with whatever I made, the quilts would be lovely. OK, that gave me free rein.
After my mother died, I was looking through some of her old quilting magazines (black & white newsprint!) when I ran across a photo of a Dahlia quilt. I hadn't seen any dahlia quilts for many years. There used to be several dahlia's at the relief sale every year but they aren't popular now. I showed our daughter the picture and she said she'd like one of her quilts to be a dahlia. That was 10 years ago.
She's been married 8 years now so I decided it was time to get the dahlia quilt made. I pieced the flower center at the guild retreat in February. The pieced border was pieced at the Jane Stickle retreat in April. I sewed the rest of the quilt together in May.
Those bias seams about drove me crazy! I have never been so stressed about piecing a quilt, it was puckery and wouldn't lay flat. There was no way I was going to hand quilt this thing. I had told Tammy and Allison from Three Sisters Fabric that I would be sending them a quilt for quilting so they'd be ready. I had also told them to quilt this thing into submission! They said that was the first time someone had told them that.
Tammy and Allison did a lovely job, the quilting is beautiful! But I'm never!, EVER!, EVER! going to make another dahlia quilt again! One is enough for me.
She measures 88" by 91".
I persevered and made the flimsy. This quilt did not beat me!
Originally she was supposed to have been larger but this quilt had a mind of her own and wanted to be this size. Enough said, she's gone to her new home now and will be loved.
I almost forgot to show you the label. Normally I make a triangle and sew into a corner with the information on it. This time I used a preprint label. It doesn't really fit with this quilt but I wasn't in the mood for anything else, just get 'er done!
I forgot to take a picture of the back of the quilt. The backing fabric is wide back fabric from Connecting Threads.
To end on a cheerier note, here is a nest of young barn swallows ready to take the big step out of the nest and soar away. There are actually 5 birds in the nest.
Linking Needle & Thread Thursday, Peacock Party, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, TGIFF!, Brag About Your Beauties, Finished Or Not Friday
14 comments:
The quilt is beautiful Gretchen. I guess the reason they aren't so popular anymore is because of the difficulty in putting them together. We've not had barn swallows nesting on/in our barn for a couple years now, in fact we've seen almost no swallows this year.
Gretchen it is beautiful! BUT I certainly understand about not making another one! I think I have had some experiences like you. So glad you continued on with the quilt and of course, I love the colors! Beautiful quilting job! Have a good day - no wonder you wanted to just only work on small quilts this summer. I now am going to do the same for the rest of the summer!!! Have a great day Hugs
Gretchen I just LOVE this dahlia quilt and glad it will be staying in the family.. your quilter did a GREAT job too... but your piecing had to be great for the ending to be sew awesome I think!
Good photo you got of the little swallows... enjoy your farm life friend :D Kathi
What a beautiful finish! You could've fooled me--it looks absolutely perfect and flat and is definitely a generous size. No surprise your daughter loves it! And those 5 big baby swallows--too cute seeing them all squished in there together!
The quilt is gorgeous! I hope you can look at it without remembering all the difficulty you had making it. There are times when quilting a finish into submission is required...it's gorgeous!
It is gorgeous! We should not focus on the problems but be proud of the lovely finish.
Beautiful finish.
It is a beautiful quilt! I always admire Dahlia quilts but I am afraid of curves. I guess counting your experience in, I will not make one - good thing I can still admire them on blogland/IG :) Hope it will be loved lots! And enjoy your finish xo Melanie
www.mellmeyer.de
What a wonderful quilt, you will be glad you just got it done. And now, no more Dahlia's for you! I hear you on the bias issues, shudder. Thanks for linking up to TGIFF!
That dahlia quilt is beautiful!!! I have always fancied making one, but after your comments, I think I changed my mind !! Love visiting your blog, Gretchen ! x
This does look like a challenging pattern!
Great job and A++ for perseverance!
Gorgeous! It’s a wonder that this quilt design has fallen out of favor. I know your daughter was thrilled!
Gretchen, that quilt is just beautiful, I'm so glad you persevered and kept at it, the finished quilt is a wow!
Beautiful quilt! Thanks for linking up. I have similar feelings on the Broken Star Quilt. :)
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