Friday, June 1, 2018

Ta-DONE: Tabby Mountain Disco Kitties Wrapped Up & Relinquished. Hallelujah!

HEY, YOU GUYS!!  My Tabby Mountain quilt is officially Quilted, Bound, Laundered, and finally, FINALLY finished:


Highlights from the Tabby Mountain Photo Shoot
Having been inspired by the mad photography skills exhibited by other quilters on social media, I dragged my husband around against his will took advantage of an overcast Saturday afternoon to drive around in search of the perfect location for a photo shoot.  My favorites are the ones where I wrapped the quilts around the bronze bull statues in the Ballantyne Corporate park.  


2000 lb. Bull Sculpted by Peter Woytuk, Quilt Made By Me
But you can't really get a good look at the quilt in the bull photos.


A Bridge Over a Golf Cart Path at Ballantyne Country Club
I picked this spot because I liked the texture of the stone bridge and the flowers below were just the right shade of purple, but alas the quilt is tiny in order to get the bridge AND the flowers in the shot, and you can't see any detail.


"Tabby Mountain Disco Kitties," 57 1/2" x 72"
You can see the quilting texture better in this shot.  By the way, the sides of this quilt do lay nice and straight and flat.  It's an annoying optical illusion from the diagonal quilting lines that is making the edges of the quilt appear wavy.


"Tabby Mountain Disco Kitties," 57 1/2" x 72"
The vibrant colors look best in this photo, taken on a shady patch of the lawn.


Gotta Have a Rear View
Here's how the back ended up.  I ended up really liking this extra wide backing fabric, even though it was a bit of a pain.  The sateen weave frays like crazy and is especially prone to being snagged by pins and needles during the quilting and binding process, but I love the soft sheen and it feels really nice to the touch, too.


Post-Laundering Texture
And one more for the road:



So, to recap, this is the free Tabby Mountain Quilt pattern that was designed by Tula Pink for Free Spirit Fabrics, showcasing her Tabby Road fabric collection.  You can get that pattern here.  I understand that some of the prints in this collection are already selling out, but I found an etsy seller who has fabric kits still available for this quilt here (you're welcome!).  Honestly, this quilt is ALL ABOUT THE FABRIC.

I did swap out some Kaffe Fassett prints for the weird eyeball fabrics that I didn't care for in my own quilt, and I found near-equivalent solid color fabrics from other lines because my local quilt shops don't carry the Free Spirit Solids that are specified in the pattern.  Also -- and this is important -- if you follow the cutting directions and yardage requirements in the pattern, your large scale print fabrics will be SIDEWAYS and/or UPSIDE DOWN instead of right side up in your finished quilt.  This would bug me SO MUCH -- I'm glad I caught that and purchased additional yardage of my prints.  And I fussy cut my absolute favorite print, the Disco Kitties, so that a kitty cat would be featured and centered nicely in each of those triangles.
Disco Kitty from Free Spirit Fabrics in 2 Colorways

I used this Creative Grids ruler to make it easier to cut out the large 30 degree triangles quickly and accurately:




The Creative Grids 30 degree triangle ruler was definitely a worthwhile purchase, in case you're considering making a Tabby Mountain quilt of your own.  I doubt I'll make another quilt EXACTLY like Tabby Mountain, but I think something similar would be a really cute way to showcase Christmas fabrics or novelty prints for a baby quilt, especially now that I've finally figured out how to piece the giant triangles together accurately.  


Using the Creative Grids 30 Degree Triangle Ruler to Fussy Cut Prints


And now, for the Nitty Gritty on the Disco Kitties:


  • Tabby Mountain Disco Kitties is only my SECOND quilt with my APQS Millenium longarm quilting machine.
  • This is my FIRST custom quilt on the longarm machine, FIRST time quilting with acrylic rulers and templates on the longarm, and many other firsts (winding my own bobbins with the scary Turbo Winder, first time ripping out bad stitches, first time with lots of different threads...).
  • This was supposed to be a "quick and easy" quilt for practicing with my longarm machine.  I started it in January and it's now the end of May, so it has been a good 5 months in the making (let's all roll our eyes together, shall we?).
  • I used Hobbs Tuscany Wool for this quilt, a variety of different quilting threads (primarily Isacord and Glide trilobal polyester), and the backing is a luscious extra-wide sateen fabric also designed by Tula Pink, "Freefall" in Orchid colorway.
  • All of the quilting is hand-guided -- unfortunately I don't have a computer on this machine.

Today I'm linking up and partying with:



22 comments:

Ramona said...

Beautiful finish, Rebecca Grace. And you are right... the fabrics make this quilt. Your precision and quilting make it extra special.

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

Rebecca it turned out great! I love the photos with the bull. The texture shows up so well I think you did a wonderful job - from here it will be easy peasy!

Frog Quilter said...

Love the kitty prints. Beautiful finish. The more you long arm the better you get. Keep stitching tops.

Frédérique - Quilting Patchwork Appliqué said...

Great quilt! I love your quilting too!

Diane in TX said...

Rebecca Grace: Your Tabby Mountain Disco Kitties quilt is fabulous!!! Well worth everything that you put into it!!! Congratulations on conquering so many firsts! The photos are wonderful too. Thanks for sharing your journey.

Alison V. said...

This is absolutely gorgeous! :D

mangozz said...

Beautiful job on the quilt and nice fabric choice!

chrisknits said...

Pat yourself on the back, jump up and down, do cartwheels!! It's done and it is GORGEOUS!!! You are a master.

KaHolly said...

A truly delightful post about a gorgeous, colorful quilt beautifully showcased in the best photo shoot ever!

creationsbypaulamamuscia.wordpress.com said...

I have loved following you on this journey! This quilt is amazing!! You've come so far working with your long arm . . . I'm impressed with your tenacity! I need to get my sewing mojo back in get into my studio!!

Jenny K. Lyon said...

All of it absolutely fabulous-the photography, the location, THE QUILT!!!!

Leanne Parsons said...

A gorgeous quilt and the pictures with the bulls are so much fun! The quilting looks great. Thanks for linking with TGIFF this week :)

Rebecca Grace said...

Thanks, Ramona!

the momma said...

It's FANTASTIC!!!

Rebecca Grace said...

.

Kathy S. said...

Great colors. Congrats on your finish. I LOVE the quilting.

Sandra Healy Designs said...

This is such a fantastic quilt. What are you going to do with it now that it's completed?

Rebecca Grace said...

Thanks, Sandra! I gifted the finished quilt to a good friend of mine. :-)

Unknown said...

It's a beautiful quilt. I'm just cutting out the triangles to give it a go myself, but you mentioned that you had "finally figured out how to piece the giant triangles together accurately". Have you got any handy tips on this - for someone who is about to start?

Rebecca Grace said...

Hey, Unknown commenter -- I tried to reply to you directly, but you're a "no reply" blogger so this is the best I can do. I hope you check back for an answer! The tips and tricks that helped be line the triangles up for accurate piecing are in this earlier blog post: http://cheekycognoscenti.blogspot.com/2018/02/omg-its-february-tabby-mountains-is-my.html. Good luck with your quilt!

Alison Clements said...

Hello Rebecca Grace, sorry I didn't put my name in first time. Just wanted to let you know that I've just finished sewing the third line, and your piecing tips are working very well. I'm using the 'lines halfway' tip rather then the 'dot in the corners' one.
The first line was a bit of a struggle as I got the hang of it all, but it's coming together well now. My main concern is whether all the triangles are going to line up with each other at the end, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.
Best wishes :-)

Rebecca Grace said...

I'm so glad it's working out for you, Alison! :-). Good luck with your quilt!