flea market fancy quilt

Over the weekend I was able to finish this quilt. Trying to take a decent photo of it was pretty challenging. (To say my normal spot is snow-covered would be an understatement!)

So here's one half...

and here's the other.

I love how the white thread shows up subtly on the grey in this block.

And here's the pieced back. Normally I wouldn't use quite so much white on the back, but I was determined to work from my stash. I LOVE the patchwork strip. I really really love the entire backing-it's actually 2 quilts in one. And those wrinkles at the top, those are just from the dryer.

The quilt measured about 65" x 80" before quilting. After quilting, washing and drying it shrunk up to 61" x 75". I think it's because of all the muslin. The quilt will have that just-out-of -the-dryer crinkled effect all the time. Which isn't a bad thing. At all.

Here's the time breakdown for making the entire quilt:

5 hours to piece top

1 hr 15 minutes to piece the back

35 minutes to pin baste

3 hrs 30 minutes to quilt

55 minutes to make and attach binding

3 hrs 50 min to hand stitch binding

25 minutes to make and attach label

for a grand total of 15 hours and 30 minutes.

If you would like to make a quilt similar to this, you can find the measurements here.

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On a completely different note, Christmas vacation is kicking my butt. Yes, it is the first day. If you think I'm exaggerating, you can ask my sister. She came to visit me today and got taste of the lunacy going on around here. She'll back up my story, I'm quite sure of it. :)