Friday, November 11, 2011

Corduroy & A Birthday

The Corduroy Quilt
approximately 53 inches by 70 inches

Welcome to a special edition of Indigo Threads!  Just in case you didn't know, today is a perfect date: 11-11-11.  A once in a lifetime event.  Those of you who are regular readers will know that I love these fun dates. 

Well, today is much more than "just" a perfect date.  It's also National Corduroy Appreciation Day.  LeeAnn over at Nifty Quilts invited anyone who wanted to to participate in a corduroy quilt-along.  So, if you've come here from Nifty Quilts, welcome!


Initially, I thought the Quilt Along sounded like fun, but I had no corduroy.  I'm not purchasing much fabric lately, as I already have a large stash.  But it didn't include corduroy.  So, I decided not to do the quilt-along. 

Then, unexpectedly, corduroy entered my life!  A lady at quilt guild was giving away a bunch of fabrics, and there were 2 2-yard pieces of corduroy!  Another lady noticed my interest in the corduroy and offered me her corduroy scraps too.  So, it seemed the Universe wanted me to play with corduroy!  Who am I to argue with the Universe??


I ended up with 2 yards of wide wale burgundy, two yards of wide wale tan, a pretty good-sized chunk of purple, some pieces of black, a small piece of yellow and a little larger piece of bright green. Amazingly, it worked together pretty well, except for this piece of bright grass green.  (you can't tell from this picture exactly what color it is/was)  First, I washed all the corduroy together.  The black cord scraps kind of dulled down the bright yellow and dulled the green some.  But not enough.  So, I hauled out the dye and had some fun!  I decided on the blue overdye that the arrow is pointing to.  It didn't really come out great, but it was much better.  Sadly, that was the only fabric dyeing I managed this summer. *sigh*  These colors are not easy to photograph and get true colors.  Some of the color differences you're seeing are just the nap going different directions.  


the challenge is fitting these all together!


I decided early on that I wanted to do something in the Gee's Bend style.  Those ladies made a lot of corduroy quilts, and I knew cord didn't lend itself to fussy. (just fuzzy!)  So, no rotary cutter or rulers, just me and my scissors.  I  tried to just work intuitively.  It was fun!  When I could, I ripped the big piece of cord.  What a mess that made!  I used a walking foot to sew this together, and used 1/2 inch seams.  I don't think this will come apart anytime soon!


I paid no attention to the nap of the corduroy, I just cut and sewed whatever fit together, and patched in other bits when something was a little short.  You know: "if it's too large, cut it off and if it's too small, add on to it"!  I used even the smallest pieces.  I completely used up the yellow and the blue-green.  I have only a small handful of scraps left of the black, the purple and the burgundy!  Oh, and I have the entire 2 yard piece of the tan left - maybe another corduroy quilt in the future??  And, my scissors are now incredibly dull!
 

In true Gee's Bend style, this top is kind of lumpy.  It will never lie flat!  And I'm OK with that.  It's heavy and cuddly and soft and will be warm! 


I had fun, and did this in pretty much record time, at least for me.  It's not tied or quilted yet, but the back is pieced and ready.  I'm using flannel on the back, for even more coziness.  I'm going to making a little test swatch to decide if I want to tie or machine quilt this.  I've had 2 people offer to help me tie it!


The other reason today is a special date?  It's my birthday today!  So, this quilt is my present to myself!  Yay!


I'm not planning anything special today, maybe just some more time in the Quilt Studio.  That sounds like fun to me!  And maybe we'll go out to dinner tonight.  I just have to decide if I want Mexican or Chinese.  Hmmmm . . . . They both sound good!


Thanks, LeeAnn, for the fun Corduroy Quilt-Along!  I got a yummy quilt out of it, and had so much fun making it.  I can't wait to go visit all the other Corduroy Enthusiasts to see their corduroy quilts!  Be sure to go visit Nifty Quilts for the Corduroy Quilt show!

Now, I think I have to take the sticky roller to the carpet in the Quilt Studio before I take the vacuum to it!  Yikes!  Fuzz Attack!

32 comments:

  1. This is fantastic! Love the colours.

    Happy birthday. Hope you have a lovely day and enjoy your meal this evening.

    xx

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  2. Happy Birthday! I love the quilt. Your start was similar to mine. We were observers at first until corduroy landed on our laps. Wasn't the process fun?

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  3. Love how corduroy fell into your lap! hehe! looks great!

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  4. It was meant to be! You made such a beautiful quilt. I am glad that corduroy entered your life, we would have missed out on a very gorgeous creation!

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  5. Love it, and Happy Birthday!!! You got so lucky here with the corduroy scrap hunks. That worked out perfectly! Go Chinese, all the ones in the date remind me of chopsticks.

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  6. Very interesting post, beautiful quilt & colours, and
    JOYEUX ANNIVERSAIRE ! xxx

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  7. I love your quilt! Have a wonderful birthday sewing and eating a yummy dinner!

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  8. it's so striking in it's simplicity!! love it! and it just 'fell' into your life...

    thanks for sharing!

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  9. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! Hope you get to spend time doing what makes you most happy...have a great day!

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  10. HIPPO BIRDY TO YOU! What a wonderful gift to yourself. I LOVE your quilt and your Gee's Bend process. Even better, the fabric just fell into you lap. You can't get more improvisational than that! I had fun tying mine, and now you can hardly get me away from its cozy warmth. I'm so glad you could join us. Have a wonderful day!

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  11. These colors are absolutely fantastic! I am so glad the corduroy fell into your lap. You did great things with it.

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  12. Happy Birthday!! How wonderful that the universe sent you corduroy!! And in such cool colours! Such a fabulous quilt. Enjoy your special day on this extra special date.

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  13. I love your corduroy quilt - what a great show this is! And you are not the only who mentioned happening on some corduroy fabric, it was meant to be! Happy Bday too!

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  14. Happy, happy birthday! You did a wonderful job with that corduroy that fell into your lap. I was going to beg the top off you but then you said it was your birthday so I figured I'd better not. ;- )

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  15. Lumpy is good, flannel is perfect, and your colors are fabulous!!!

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  16. Happy, Happy Birthday! Love your story about how this quilt came to be. Sometimes it is the way the stars are aligned in the universe, for sure. BTW, I go for Mexican!

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  17. Regally gorgeous quilt!
    Happy Day to you!

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  18. Happy Birthday and happy quilting! What a wonderful quilt!

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  19. Very pretty and interesting corduroy quilt. Now that I'm seeing these, I have an itch to do another one!

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  20. Happy Birthday! Lovely quilt! I'm inspired to make a purple and aqua quilt. Have fun tonight!

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  21. I happened onto a few pieces of corduroy and thereby put it in some crumb blocks. I loved it. So for you to have a full quilt of it, all I can say is lucky you. I love the look you've created with the colors!

    Happy Birthday!!!

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  22. That is sooo awesome!! I love it to pieces. It must have been fun and carefree:):) I have never seen a corduroy quilt,it must be nice and warm indeed.

    Happy Birthday and enjoy your evening!

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  23. Happy Birthday! What a great way to celebrate. Such a fun and eye-catching quilt. Glad you shared how you did it, too. Enjoy your dinner!

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  24. Happy Birthday, Sharon!!! I love what you did with this corduroy. The quilt is beautiful.

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  25. That is a gorgeous quilt! Love the Gees Bend aspect of it. Whoop whoop!!!

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  26. Happy birthday, Sharon! I LOVE your quilt!!!

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  27. Great corduroy quilt--the purple is so rich and the color combination is splendid. Also enjoyed your other quilts and photos. Your Amish quilt is so lovely--a classic.
    best from Tunisia,
    nadia

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  28. A day late, but happy birthday!

    Love love love love your corduroy quilt ... the colors are wonderful together. It is so COOL when the universe helps you find the 'perfect' project for a given point in time ... so very cool.

    Enjoy the rest of you quilt's journey and being able to use it!!

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  29. Swoon! Great job!
    Whoop Whoop!

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  30. Wow! I love it. Love love love the colors!

    Vicki @ Quilting Lodge

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  31. Great quilt! I bet it weighs a ton, which will make it extra cozy!

    Happy, happy (belated) birthday!

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  32. what a hoot that all this fabric just fell into your lap and begged to be a quilt. turned out awesome! love it! you did a great job, but eeek, sounds like a mess. I never got my corduroy even washed....

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