The Gone Fishin' quilt for grandson Ian, 8, is all done. I still need to finish the pillows and the label.
The quilt measures 76" x76". Daughter-in-law Amy found the cross-stitched blocks at a secondhand store. There were six cross-stitched fishermen (fisherboys?) on each of two large sheets of fabric. I cut them into blocks.
The alternating block pattern is called 'Crossed Canoes'. The printed fabric is from a layer cake (10" x 10" stack of 42 pieces of fabric) son-in-law and daughter Kurt and Victoria gave me. I'd been saving it to make a throw for Kurt, but when I was searching through my somewhat meager stash of fabrics, I could find nothing that looked right with the cross-stitched blocks -- until suddenly I spotted that layer cake. Ah-ha! Just the thing. I managed to use up every last bit of that layer cake, with only a few slivers of fabric left over, pieces too small to save for anything. (Sorry, Kurt.)
I designed the quilt in EQ8. The blocks measure 9", finished. I used Quilters' Dream wool batting. There is Omni 40-wt. bright white thread on top, and Bottom Line 60-wt. light silver thread in the bobbin. The quilting was done on an 18" Handi Quilter Avanté on a 12' Studio frame. My machine is hand-guided, not computer-driven, and the quilting is a combination of free-motion and rulerwork.
I've added a few photos that are highlights from previous days' quilting. Photos 3 and 18 show the back. 4 through 8 show the binding, which I put on entirely by machine. 9 and 10 are the pillow tops -- and yes, I'm going to make two, rather than one with the Crossed Canoes on each side. I asked daughter Lydia (Ian's mama), and she said, "I think two pillows would be nice. Seems a shame to hide one of them. 😅" So two it is.
I will give the quilt and pillows to Ian for Christmas. That's a long time from now; but I plan to enter them in our county and state fairs, and possibly another quilt show. And with this, 12 of the grandchildren's quilts are done! 17 more to go.
