The Really Long Quilt Post

It has been forever since I made a post about Nolan’s graduation quilt.

I have been diligently trying to get it ready to put on the hand quilting frame.

I’m so excited to say that it's loaded and ready to quilt!

I enjoyed putting this top together. It has so many different elements to it: hand applique (the dragon), traditional piecing (the Celtic blocks), and foundation paper piecing (Nolan’s name).

I started cutting the pieces for the dragon back in August. About the time I began my shop training I started to hand applique the dragon to the background. I worked on it some of the evenings when I worked the long shop hours. I also sewed during my lunch break after I went back to the office.

After the dragon was finished, I sewed the Celtic blocks. The original block design, which I found in my quilting software, was also applique. I didn’t have enough patience for more applique. I reworked these blocks so I could make them using traditional piecing. I’m so glad I did this. They were relatively quick and easy to put together. I even took fabric strips to work and cut out the parts during my lunch break!

It worked out great.

Nolan wanted Celtic rune letters in the quilt. I did some research and didn’t like the typical symbols and meanings that kept showing up. I opted to use the rune alphabet from the How to Train Your Dragon movies. I used them to spell out his name. He loved it. Using my quilting software, I drew out each block and then printed the pattern. I used a technique called foundation paper piecing. It’s basically sewing by number. It takes difficult looking blocks and makes them super easy to make. I couldn’t believe how easy these turned out to be. I’ll admit I was a bit intimidated before I started. I had only done a few things using this method. I literally sewed on the lines! 

The paper is ripped off the back when it's all done.

Even the “z” was simple to tackle.

This is from my EQ8 quilting software.

I'm amazed at how close the mock up is to the finished product!

Once I had all of the parts sewn up it was a matter of putting it all together.

All done!

 I had planned on a simple backing. Then this cool blue dragon panel was released in the quilt shops. Nolan really liked it too. So I used that for the centerpiece of the back and cut up coordinating fabric for the border. I then added a mix of left over fabrics to complete the backing. Honestly, if this panel had been released before I started the dragon on the front I would have used that for the front instead.

Oh well.

Now it’s a two sided dragon quilt!

It took me a couple of days to load the three layers on the frame.

This was be the first time I’ve loaded a full-sized quilt.

It was a little nerve wracking trying to keep it straight.

I think I got it aligned fairly well.

I have ordered a stencil for the borders.

Let the quilting begin!