Friday, January 16, 2015

Friday Finish - C'est fini! Un cadeau pour une amie!

And here it is! The much blogged about retirement present for Mme SS! Mme SS was an wonderful mentor to me over the eleven years we worked together. I'll never forget the adventures (and great meals) we had on our annual chaperoning gigs to Québec City, nor the extraordinary kindness she has always shown to me and Himself.  Though we taught in different buildings and saw each other infrequently, I always knew she was there for me - whether it was to listen to me vent or to cheer me on with some crazy idea I had for my classroom. To say that I missed her last year at school would be an understatement. It's just not quite the same without her... not that I thought it would be.
This is the second project I've made from The Modern Quilting Bee: Block Party. I've fallen in love with improv piecing. I just feel so creative when I'm doing it. And I don't have to worry about putting things together "wrong" or not having a perfect 1/4 inch seam. Just sayin'...
I also fell in love with these fabrics, even though I'd not normally choose something with so much floral. They're from Amanda Murphy's Bonjour Mon Amie ... even the name of the fabric suits! The colours were just so good together.... and Mme S-S thought they were perfect! Of course, I had to slip in a little bit of Kona - Coral, Green Tea, and Chocolate!
I'm happy to say that this quilt has finally made its way home... it was actually finished in the summer of 2013. Shocking! Mme S-S came over this week with a fun hand-made present for DT and I sent her home with one of her own!
I knew that if I didn't use up as much of this fabric as I could, I'd end up "saving it for something good." To combat my pack-rat/sentimental tendencies, I decided on a pieced back. It uses up lots of bits! The idea was to mimic the wonky stripe block.
For the quilting, I went all out! The goal was to emphasize the vertical-ness (if that's even a word) of the individual blocks. I stitched in the ditch on the edge of each of the pieced sections and continued that line of stitching to the top and the bottom of the quilt. The spacing between the vertical lines of stitching varies greatly - from a quarter inch to a few inches.
 
A little local colour for you... bits of this building are just incredible!


Merci mille fois, mon amie. Tu me manques et tu me manqueras!
The Deets
Title: Mme S-S's Wonky Retirement
Fabric Used: Various prints from Amanda Murphy's Bonjour Mon Ami line including Grand Dame in Brown, En Bruns in Brown, Trellis in Turquoise, Bijou in Green, & Jeune Fleur in Blue

Konas Used: Green Tea, Coral, & Chocolate
Quilting: Straight line vertical using Gutterman White (Colour - 20)
Binding:  Bijou in Green, Hand stitched with Gutterman 
Backing: Majority of back is Grand Dame in Brown 
Favourite Part(s): Improv piecing, making a pieced back that mimics the blocks on the front

I'm linking up with Finish Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts, as well as TGIFF hosted by Val's Quilting Studio this week.
Hope you're finishing up some of those New Year's Resolution quilts... we're just 16 days into the new year! Don't tell me you've forgotten about them already! ☺

J

16 comments:

  1. It is a striking quilt. I would not necessarily have combined those colors together, but they work really well, especially with the print that pulls in the bright orange.

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  2. Great building and the quilt is wonderful!

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  3. Beautiful fabrics! Love the colors & designs! I, myself, saw Mme SS this week - warm hugs & talks of France, she is still involved with the Musical (Which makes me wonder, when I retire, will I still be lurking the halls? gakk!) Such a lovely person is very deserving of this very lovely quilt!

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  4. Would you say that the book, Block Party, is a book worth buying? Because this is a beautiful pattern and it looks amazing. Plus I love the lack of accuracy required. :)

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  5. What a beautiful gift, hand made with love. I'm sure MMe SS will treasure it forever.

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  6. Très réussi. Ça me donne le goût de faire quelque semblable avec tous les restants qui traînent un peu partout. J'aime beaucoup l'idée d'incorporer des tissus unis dedans, ça uniformise.

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  7. This is a beautiful gift - such lovely, fresh colours :)

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  8. I'm so glad she liked it. I thought it had already been gifted.

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  9. I'm new to your blog from hosting TGIFF today and LOVE LOVE LOVE the name of your blog! You had my attention immediately and I'm your newest bloglovin' follower! Looking forward to seeing more of your crafty work! V:) myplvl.blogspot.com

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  10. Boy that Coral Kona is just amazing!! Great finish!

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  11. Tres beau! Et finalement a destinatiion! You also have a knack for finding great places to photo shoot...

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  12. fabulous finish! and great pics

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  13. I love the improv quilt , especially the different widths of the columns. I'm enjoying the improv process myself and hope to do more and more of it.

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  14. I like how the vertical stripes make me think of a forest. Does that make sense?
    Beautiful building - something to do with Finland?

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  15. Wow! Beautiful quilt! I'm sure Mme SS was pleasantly surprised :)

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  16. Oh I really like it. Nicely done Jenn.

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