A quilt made of happiness

Hi everyone!  How was your week?  Mine was very full, as usual, and full of lots of noise, hammering, and the descent of the pollen monster.  I've had a headache for days.  But it was still a pretty good week, with the end of some major home projects in sight.

I hope you're all in the mood for some happiness today, because I have a very happy finish to share!  You may recall that our daughter got married a year ago--really, it's been a year!  Hard to believe.  For their wedding present, I made them a quilt! (Of course.)  After hundreds of hours of work, I was finally able to give it to them, so now I get to show it to you!

Yahoo!  I think it turned out great!

They loved the quilt and were willing to hold it up, but wanted to be cropped out!

This is the Eureka quilt, made from a pattern by Jackie Robinson at Animas Quilts.  The pattern is amazingly good, with very clear directions and very logical construction.  It's broken into easy steps and goes together well.  However!  The blocks have so many pieces that it took forever to make them.  After making the "A" blocks, I kept track of time for making the "B" blocks.  I stopped counting at 30 hours for those blocks alone.  FYI, the blocks are different configurations from A through I.  So, yep, lots of hours! 

I think this was totally worth the time, though!  And even though the pattern is great, I still managed to mess up.  See the center blocks bordered by those pretty dark blue triangles?  The blocks there are supposed to be arranged to make a star.  I somehow turned the blocks so that there is no star.  I didn't realize this until after it was quilted, of course.  I felt bad for a little while, but I think I'm over it.  I'm calling mine a "variation."

Another thing adding to the hours in this quilt was a poor color choice at the beginning, which meant a lot of ripping to change things.  You can read about that HERE.  I think it worked out for the better, though!  Sometimes time spent ripping is time well spent.

The wedding quilt was quilted by Alycia of Alycia Quilts, and she did an amazing job.  I told her it was a wedding quilt and that I wanted it to be special, and she really made it that way.  She must have spent forever on this, and it turned out so great.  Thanks Alycia!  (I bet she would be willing to quilt one for you, too!)

This quilt is about 87 by 105, which the pattern calls a full/queen.  In reality, I think this will fit even a king bed if it's turned sideways.  I think a king size would actually be enormous and really too big.  I used a cotton/wool blend batting that is fairly thin and light.  The top itself was very heavy because of all the seams, and wool is always nice and warm in addition to being light. 

Overall, this quilt just screams happiness, and I hope the kids enjoy it for many, many years. Even with all the hours in this quilt, I would make it again. Smaller, and in different colors. And with an actual star in the center. I'd like to make one for myself in pink and green, maybe with a black accent.  Let's put that on the "someday" list, because I have other things to do right now!

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!  I have fun weekend plans--a trip to the AQS quilt show in Lancaster, Pa! I'm meeting up with a friend there and I'm sure it will be a great time.  May not be great for my pocketbook, but I know I'll have fun!

Sharing at Confessions of a  Fabric Addict, Finished or Not Friday, and crazymomquilts.