City Sampler 100 Quilt

I did it! I finally finished my Tula Pink's City Sampler Quilt. Her book, 100 Modern Quilt Blocks was definitely put to use. I did realize that I only made 98 blocks when I discovered I had unintentionally repeated 2. So I went back and made the missing 2. I think my quilt should be called the 102 City Sampler blocks - ha!

I won the fabric collection I used for this quilt top. All I had to do was add the few yards of Kona Ivory for the background. That is until I got to the backing. There was hardly anything left but a little pile of scraps so Jeff and I took a day trip up to Bungalow Quilting and Yarn in Ripon, WI where I won the fabric. I bought about 5 yards of matching fabric to piece the back and make the binding. Not a bad investment and what a fun day trip. It is always wonderful to talk to Judy Gauthier, the shop owner. Being in her presence is refreshing as she is so bubbly and sweet.

I would have finished this quilt sooner, but I really wanted to put it on a longarmer. The problem is that since I do not own one, I had to buy time on one. So I joined the local senior center where they have a Gammill. I got my name on the list and waited for my turn to come. It was late August when I got the call that September 14th was the first available date. Wow! That's a long time but I was willing to wait.

So yesterday I got to use the Gammill for the very first time. It was a lot of fun even though I was quite nervous at the start. I was so afraid of screwing up the quilt, but I reminded myself that I did use a smaller longarm quilter already so it should be no big deal. The ladies who volunteer at the senior center were so very nice and knowledgeable that it was very easy to quilt this extremely large quilt.
They did all the setup. They wound the bobbins with my thread choice, they loaded the backing, batting and quilt top onto the rollers and set up the pantograph. All I had to do was run the machine. Easy peasy. The whole process took less than 3 hours and cost me $59.

When I got home I was exhausted. I wanted to attach the binding but I was just too tired. So I relaxed for a few hours then got up the energy to make and sew the binding to the back of the quilt.

Today I finished the part where I folded the binding to the front and stitched it down. I was a little concerned about the thread. The only match I had was a new spool of Gutermann. There's not much thread on those little spools and this quilt is a monster. With a decorative stitch on the binding, I knew it might be close. With a wish and some luck, the binding went on with almost no thread left. What a close call!

I am so very happy that this quilt is finished. It's been quite a journey from start to finish. I feel I stepped out of my comfort zone with this fabric collection. It is called Adventures by Amy Ellis. The colors and patterns are beautiful but I don't think I would choose them on my own. And the City Sampler was quite an accomplishment. 100 different blocks. The cool thing is that after making all of them I know I will use some of these blocks again in another project.

Early in the project when some of the blocks were hanging on my design wall my son would walk by the room and ask what they were going to be used for. He really like the color combinations. How perfect...he just bought a house on  Lake Winnebago so guess what he's getting for a housewarming gift? Ha!