Unbreakable Ties is finally finished!

If you’ve been following my Saga of the Quilt Seeds (ooh look! a conveniently placed link to that article right here. lol) you’ll know that I was trying to finish up a large quilt for my cousin’s wedding along with a baby quilt for my other cousin (his brother) all before a family wedding in August.

I’m not sure how it all managed to work out (well…caffeine, persistence and sheer willpower helped…) but we actually got it done! I say “we” because my loving (and very well-trained in being my quilting “sous-chef”) husband helped tremendously. There is simply no way this all would have gotten done without him…a statement that is true in most things in my life.

Admittedly, I stayed up until after 3am on the day we were driving out of state to the wedding, AND I spent that morning/early afternoon washing and drying both quilts in between hair appointments and packing. I also admit that the quilts did not get packed into their boxes until the hotel room either. However, hotel rooms are super convenient for photographing quilts! Who knew? The bed is made perfectly as long as you don’t throw a suitcase on it or anything like that, and generally the colors are neutral and there’s never any clutter…just saying.

I was really thrilled with the end result of this quilt. In the middle of laying out the blocks before sewing the final rows together, I had a fear that it would look too busy or disjointed when it was put together. Luckily, as it was finally pieced and did what most quilts do: look amazing and blend perfectly.

This quilt is named “Unbreakable Ties.” It’s name is a play on so many things. My cousins “tied the knot” (and of course, to quote the amazing man who married them after a slight delay of game due to a downpour, “Wet knots can never be untied”) and the quilt was based on the vintage quilt block called the bowtie…and I even tied the quilt, instead of quilting it….a signature I’ve had for years as I feel it’s a nod to the practically ancient sewing technique. But even more front and center is the fact that as cousins, we have an unbreakable tie. I consider my “family” to be one of the most important things in my life. I say “family” because I have found that in my thirty-five years on this planet not all family is made up of blood relatives. I have both extremes in my life. I have blood relatives that are my rock and refuge and who I would walk through fire for. I have blood relatives who I do not acknowledge, nor do they acknowledge me. I find this a healthier relationship and I thank them for leaving me alone and “abandoning” me, as they did me the favor of removing their toxicity from my life. Sometimes people do you a favor by leaving you. It saves you the tumult, drama and heartbreak of having to cut them off later. But, I have also found that I have a family that is above and beyond my blood relatives. A small, amazing, and caring group of people that have been adopted into my family or have adopted me into theirs. These are the true family….the ones who stick it out even if they aren’t obligated to do so.

I hope this Quilt serves as a reminder that the tie between the recipients and myself is indeed Unbreakable. I consider myself lucky to have them in my life and don’t know a better way to express that then in my love of sewing.

Okay. Okay….enough of the sappy stuff. Here’s some technical notes I have. When using the AccuQuilt to cut fabric (I hate and love this thing at the same time…..more about that later, I think) I’m a heckler for not wasting fabric, and this causes trouble. To actually keep the grain lines properly aligned on the cutter, you will waste more fabric. (UGH!) So I didn’t do that…I paid for that by having a lot of stretching happen in my cutting. Luckily, with pins and time, I was able to have everything line up pretty well, but just know that moving forward if you are using that product.

I’ve been on a kick for the last few years to try and only use stash fabric for a quilt. Although not always possible (especially for backings), I’ve been pretty successful with this goal. This quilt definitely utilized some of the stash, but then added to my scrap pile….I’m working on a few “no waste” quilt patterns to solve this problem. We’ll all have to see what I can come up with.

Here’s the details on Unbreakable Ties

Title: Unbreakable Ties
Pattern:  Loosely based on the Pattern “Bow Tie Quilt” in the book Quilt Big by Jemima Flendt
Size: Queen, finished ~81″ x 90″
Fabric: from the stash, the majority from the fabric line Kira by Stof Fabrics and Grunge Grey by Moda
Piecing: Machine stitched on Mavis, the Bernina 770, with Connecting Threads Essential 50 weight, 100% Cotton, in White
Cutting: AccuQuilt dies: 5″ square and 2.5″ square
Quilting: Tied with Takhi Cotton Classic, 100% cotton yarn purchased at Cornwall Yarn Shop
Backing: “Uncorked” by Another Point of View, 108″ fabric purchased from Connecting Threads
Label: Hand Embroidered by Anne Lemin of Quilted Lovelies, hand stitched by Danika to attach to quilt
Batting: Warm and Natural, by The Warm Company
Finished Date: August 2021
Total Hours: ~90 hours