Friday, April 03, 2015

Finish it up Friday: Jacob's Ladder

It's finished!  My Jacob's Ladder quilt is done.  All 2,728 pieces!!!  It's easily one of my most favorite quilts I've made.  It's from a Blue Elephant Stitches tutorial found here.  I started it after finishing my Penny Sampler, actually craving a project that would challenge me more (but I still really love that quilt too!)  It's been nearly a year since I began this project and it feels so good to wrap it up before the baby and summer comes (no one wants to be hand quilting on a hot day!).


 I spent many evenings hand quilting it, a process I will admit I did get a little bored of.  I used perle cotton, four different variegated colors available from Joann's.  I don't think I am particularly good at hand quilting, even after so much practice.  I never learned to "rock the needle" and let's just say the back of the quilt is definitely not as pretty as the front.  But I am still glad I hand quilted it, I don't know how I would've machine quilted it, and the pattern seemed to call for a very traditional quilting approach.






The backing is a pretty choice from Anna Maria Horner's Innocent Crush line.  I bought a bunch of it on sale for $5 a yard at a LQS just before I finished this quilt top.  I came very close to buying fabric for the binding but finally used some Lizzy House Constellations asteric print from my stash- it was perfect and I actually had a full yard!


Linking up to Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.

Total stash fabric used in this post: 1 yard (most of this quilt was completed in 2014, so I am just counting the binding towards the total of stash fabric used)
Total stash fabric used since 1/1/15: 30.5 yards
Total stash fabric used to date: 31.5 yards

11 comments:

Sarah Fredette said...

I can't believe you hand quilted this!!! And I'm sure the back looks better than you think -- after all, you've had your nose and fingers pressed against it for months. :) Yay for a finish!!!

Amy said...

Beautiful quilt!

Alison V. said...

Gorgeous! :)

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

Wow, that is mind-boggling how many pieces! You are amazing. The skill and patience is so far beyond me :D

Pieced Brain Quilt Designs said...

Oh, this quilt is gorgeous! I bet you are doing the happy dance now!

Daytona Damsel said...

Wow that is a lot of work on the piecing and quilting. Great job. I love quilting with perle cotton, I think it gives the quilt great texture.

Carie @ Space for the Butterflies said...

Wow - just look at all that hand quilting - that's a labour of love and definitely worth every stitch!

Jennie @ Porch Swing Quilts said...

Absolutely stunning! I'm always in awe of those who have the patience to hand quilt. I need to slow down and give it a try.

Jennie @ Porch Swing Quilts said...

Absolutely stunning! I'm always in awe of those who have the patience to hand quilt. I need to slow down and give it a try.

Gretchen Wylegala said...

so beautiful!