Thursday, April 5, 2012

Cúchulainn Is Slowly Moving On

I have shown sneaky peeks of Cúchulainn in the past, but have not shown you the entire quilt top before.  Want to see my little sea dog?  


He's been the focus of my last two days and will be my buddy for the night.  

Cúchulainn is part of a quilt instalment made by the Irish Patchwork Society (Western Branch) for the International Quilt Festival of Ireland.  There will be 20 quilts total with 10 looking like this, or 10 facing the other direction.  They're all (hopefully) perfectly aligned, so one will knot into the other when all in a row, or when displayed in a square interacting both horizontally or vertically.  It was quite an intricate design!

Anyway, Cúchulainn is made fully with batiks never my first choice, but the committee chose them and they look good together.  They were secured with bondaweb and I'm spending my time now securing Cúchulainn with a satin stitch around each and ever little piece.  I needed to use the batting as a stabilizer, so that's what you see floating behind the quilt top.  That's taking FOREVER and a football stadium of thread.  I'm nearly there...just missing a small bit on the right swirl that will be finished tonight.  

Before the Easter holiday is out, this beast will have his back on and will be quilted.  Eva, of Pippablue, drew on my quilting lines last night to make life easier for me...so now I just have to follow her path.  Easy peasy...right!?!?  

You know, in many ways this would never have been my first choice of a quilt to make.  The batiks, the theme, the appliqué, the size.  However, I wanted to try something new, to contribute to our local community, to grow my skills a bit more.  In the end, I am absolutely glad to have taken this project on...but will be just as happy to see it end :)


20 comments:

Mrs Flying Blind... said...

Oh Cindy it has turned out amazingly!!
Not sure why they even make mustard batik, but it works, and they will all look amazing together - be proud!

Nicky said...

Hadley's right why mustard? - hehe - no I mean it is stunning, amazing and don't forget to get pics of the whole thing!

Canadian Abroad said...

It looks absolutely fantastic. Not our fabrics but they work for this project.

beaquilter said...

the quilt looks amazing, is it an irish creature or a made up thing? looks a little spooky. can't believe you are doing a satin stitch, it looks great if that's the black skinny line I see from the picture outlining everything, I mostly do button hole stitching. good idea with the batting as a stabilizer!

Katy Cameron said...

Whew, that is quite the project! I'm sure they're all going to look amazing together though, hope you can get pics :o)

Gill said...

Stunning! although like most other I'm not a big fan of batiks!
BTW how do you pronounce 'cuchulainn'? and what does it mean??

Sarah said...

It is good to challenge yourself and get out of your zone from time to time :-) Looks like you've done a cracking job too.

Trudi said...

You HAVE done a cracking job! It WILL help to have your quilting lines marked out, but don't feel constrained by them, it is hard to follow a line exactly :) You'll do a wonderful job I'm sure :) Give yourself an extra pat on the back, or even a sneaky egg :)

Dianne Neale said...

Wow this is amazing. You must feel really proud of yourself doing something like this.

Dianne Neale said...

Wow this is amazing. You must feel really proud of yourself doing something like this.

Cherie said...

Wow that looks awesome!! =D

Di said...

Cindy, you have done a fantastic job. I, like Gill, am curious to know what 'cuchulainn' is! Di xo

Linda Coleman said...

This is another masterpiece from you.

Judith, Belfast said...

Your satin stitch applique will be perfect by the end of this masterclass! Jxo

Siobhan said...

It's beautiful Cindy, very vibrant.

Judy said...

It's an eye-catching quilt! I can see why you are using up the thread given how big it is. That would take some time to do a satin stitch around something that large. Happy Easter to you and your family.

Susan said...

Wow! This looks amazing! I hope you take lots of photos of the whole display..it will be incredible! You should be very proud of this and what you have learnt in the process!

CitricSugar said...

It's absolutely beautiful. Just stunning. Meaning and beauty in the same place is a wonderful thing.

Outside inspiration said...

Wow, this looks amazing, and will be really amazing to see with all the other ones that fit together!

Lynne said...

I think you've done very well!

(Yes, I'm back and catching up with all posts from 1st March forward! Excuse me if I don't comment on every one!)

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