Show + Tell :: Who Doesn't Like Cotton Candy

January 25 2016,

So in my previous post I showed you my work area while working on a quilt for a friend who is going through chemo. She loves pink, thus the color choice. I came up with the title because the thread I had used for the quilt "I Love Love Love" was from Superior Threads was called "Cotton Candy".

So below is the finished top. It's the method that I learned from Kathleen Loomis call fine line piecing. I took Kathleen's method and made it my own. Note that you'll see more of the fine line piecing method in my next few quilts.

I contacted my quilter (Jean Konopacz of JK Threads) and since she knows the friend also, Jean offered to quilt it for free. Jean said that a fleece back would be more comfortable and cozy, so we went with that. Thanks Jean for quilting it, binding it, sending it off to the post office.

(Picture courtesy of Jean Konopacz)

(Picture courtesy of Jean Konopacz)

Below is a detail view of the quilt. Isn't the quilting beautiful?

(Picture courtesy of Jean Konopacz)

I always wanted to know how long a quilt takes. I decided to time myself. I bought the timer from Amazon.com. It was the only timer that would go upto 99 hours. It's the Marathon TI030017BK.

So I messed the timer a few times, including dropping it from a chair. If you do buy this, put masking tape on the back of the battery cover, so that if you do drop it, the battery cover will not pop out and reset itself. So the total time for the quilt top that measures 80x42 took 22 hours and 23 minutes, plus or minus 30 minutes. Note that the quilt top was made in 5 days, and yes I did sleep.

Sometimes I would forget to start the timer, sometimes I would forget to stop the timer. Sometimes I would reset the timer by accident. So this 22 hours and 23 minutes does not include fabric shopping. So that's only the top. If we did not use fleece for the back, it would be another 10 hours for the back (because I never do a simple back right?) Then you have to include the time or cost for the long arm quilter, then the stitching of the binding and the hand sewing of the binding.

I came across a a few other breakdown for cost and would like to share it with you.
- From Turtle Dove Quilts 65" x 65" = $941.51
- This one has been floating around the interweb = $888.26
- From Kathy in Flickr 65" x 65" = $852.65

If you have more time, read this article it's pretty interesting.
- Quiltonomics: The Real Cost of Quilts

Now think about it. The next time somebody gives you a quilt, think of the many hours it took them to make. Please cherish the quilts and love the quilts, because quilts are very time consuming and are made with love.

Now go make somebody you love a quilt.

Quilt & Bitch