My Long Time Gone quilt is officially done, almost 5 months to the day after starting with the rest of the sew-along back in March. I put the last few stitches in over the weekend and celebrated by throwing it on top of one of my kids. Ha! I’ve posted bits and pieces about this one here on the blog, but you can also find all of my progress shots on Instagram if you want to see more detail about how it came together.
For the backing, I pulled a large piece of Luxe wideback fabric by Michael Miller. After all the piecing involved on the top, I admit that it was nice to not have to sew a single seam for the backing, and as a bonus, this fabric is super soft. For the quilting, I did a grid of horizontal and vertical wavy lines. I toyed with several other ideas but ultimately wanted to keep the quilting pretty simple. A straight line grid seemed too rigid, so the wavy lines fit the bill perfectly. For the binding, I echoed the sashing by using the same Carolyn Friedlander Architextures print. I thought about making a scrappy blue binding, but in the end, keeping the binding calmer was the right decision.
I really, really love this quilt — and it’s first one I’ve ever made for myself, if you can believe that. I’ve made quilts for lots of babies over the last 6 years, but never for me! I suppose it’s fitting that when I finally made one to keep, it was a truly epic undertaking. Long Time Gone is now long time finished!
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Yvonne @Quilting Jetgirl says
This is a beautiful quilt, Sarah, and I am so glad you are keeping it for yourself. There is so much work in that quilt top! The backing and binding are great finishing touches (as are the quilting). I am a bit stunned that this is the first one you have made and kept for yourself.
Sarah says
Thanks Yvonne! I know it’s crazy — I’ve had “make myself a quilt” on my list for a while but kept working on projects for others first. We have a couple in the house that I’ve made that my daughters use, and I’ve made myself mini quilts but this is the first one for me that’s large enough to snuggle with. It’s about time!
Jennifer says
It’s beautiful. I’m sure you’ll own and treasure it for many, many years.