Monday 24 August 2015

Nearly Insane Quilt (Salinda Rupp Quilt) - August 2015 Update

'Nearly Insane' Quilt - August 2015 Salinda Rupp
'Nearly Insane' Quilt - August 2015
Well here it is.  The Nearly Insane Quilt in all its glory.  Once I started those Dear Jane blocks I knew they would be difficult to put down, so I put them aside and made sure that this weekend was a Nearly Insane Quilt finishing weekend.  I actually finished all the blocks, sashing and cornerstones last August (2014) and got them all together last November
Tour de France - July 2015
Tour de France - July 2015
The last stretch was the hardest.  The border really tested my resilience, but I set myself a target and it was finally completed and stitched onto the quilt on 26th July 2015 - the final day of the Tour de France as the cyclists were cycling up the Champs-Élysées in Paris.  The removal of the papers took longer than anticipated (doesn't everything ...) and I estimate that it took me about 7 WHOLE days. The final pieces were taken out yesterday.
'Nearly Insane' Quilt - Detail red white
'Nearly Insane' Quilt - Detail
Now it is done, I am delighted with it.  It looks really lovely now all the tacking thread has been removed.  Without the paper it is also much lighter!  Would I use English Paper Piecing again? Yes, I think this quilt done on a machine would have really driven me insane, some of the pieces are really tiny.  Perhaps I would have removed the papers as I went along ... 

'Nearly Insane' Quilt - reverse
'Nearly Insane' Quilt - reverse
I have recently purchased a photographers studio stand to display quilts from, which you can see in the top photo. I took this photo from behind the quilt with the light flooding through which makes it look like stained glass. The real joy of this quilt is that I am looking at the blocks and remembering all the different places around the world where I stitched my portable sewing project (France, Switzerland, USA, Buckingham Palace!), so it has a lot of good memories. If you are just visiting my blog for the first time you can go back to February 2013, where my journey started. I cover every block, using Electric Quilt software and you will see what a great contribution Suzi the cat made along the way.

I guess the next question is 'How am I going to quilt it?'  If you pop over here, you might just get a clue.

Joining up with Connie at Freemotion by the River. and Crazy Mom Quilts.

23 comments:

  1. It is just stunning! I've had fun watching your progress :)

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  2. What an accomplishment! It is stunning. I wish you lots of fun with Dear Jane as well.

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  3. Congratulation.
    The Top ist amazing.
    Have fun with your Dear Jane.
    Greetings, Manuela

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  4. Magnificent! You're not insane, just extremely talented and patient!

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  5. How fantastic. I've been following your blog waiting to see the finished quilt top. Congratulations - it looks amazing. Those corner stones are so crisp and really add to the quilt. I remember the photos you took of blocks in Switzerland. I'm sure the quilt contains many lovely memories.

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  6. This has been such a huge achievement! It looks wonderful - congratulations! Good to see someone else stitching away to the Tour de France - I got a lot of quilting done that way too :)

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  7. Truly amazing. Wonderful. Love it. All the superlatives.

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  8. Gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous!

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  9. Oh my gosh, this is amazingly beautiful and all the work it took to accomplish it. Congrats!!!!

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  10. Oh my goodness it is spectacular! What a terrific effort!
    It must be amazing to see it in real life!
    Congratulations on finishing!

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  11. Great photos with your new frame! I really admire your persistence and skill, which are both apparent with this quilt. I want to come back and see how you quilt it. Oh, and I love that it has memories from where you stitched blocks around the world.

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  12. OMG! what a beautiful top - and you added special cornerstones too. I have made about 35 blocks of this project and I am ready to stop! And I don't plan to do the border in that style either! Congrats on your project.

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  13. Wow! It's absolutely breathtaking! What a teat of skill and dedication, you must be immensely proud. I've been following your journey (quietly) since 2014 so it's been lovely to see it come together. I wonder what your quilting choices will be?

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  14. How fitting that you completed this beauty on the final day of the Tour de France! Your accomplishment is no less amazing France. 7 days to remove the papers...yikes, are your fingers sore? I'm a red and white fan through and through and yours is one of the most gorgeous quilts I've ever seen.

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    1. Sorry - accidentally left the s off the end of your name whilst thinking about the race.

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  15. This is the most beautiful Nearly Insane I have ever seen!! You can certainly be proud of it. ;-)

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  16. Hi Frances,
    We loved your version of the Nearly Insane quilt and so we included it and a link back to your blog in an article about intricate samplers over on Quilting Focus, our quilting directory blog.
    https://quiltingfocus.com/2015/12/dear-jane-quilts/
    Hope you enjoy the article!

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  17. is there a book to go with this ??

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  18. I bought the book to do Nearly Insane. I love your Red and White one. You did an amazing job! Its beautiful.

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  19. Your quilt is wonderful! I enjoyed reading about the border and how you changed it and reevaluated the size and fabrics. Wise decisions because it looks perfect. I found your blog when looking for photos of zigzag borders, as I'm planning to use one with scraps from my latest project (City Sampler--Tula Pink). Any helpful hints? (like don't do it?!) The scale was obviously really important. My sampler blocks finish at 6". How does that compare to Nearly Insane?

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