I'm am so, SO glad to finally be posting about the finished quilt!
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Finished size is about 79" x 84" |
This quilt was commissioned by my brother's girlfriend Andrea, who is now my friend of course. Now that she has one of my nicest quilts she might as well be family though (
hint hint). She originally asked if I would make her a
TARDIS quilt for her full sized bed. I bought a TARDIS panel from Spoonflower (which is no longer available), thinking it would make it a quick, easy quilt. Then I asked what she'd like on the back and she mentioned something inspired by this
Dr Who fan art of Starry Night. She meant something simple--just blues and greens and maybe some stars.
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I put navy binding on the sky section and green binding on the hills. |
But my brain exploded with the possibilities and I started drafting patterns for a full sized Starry Night on the back of the quilt.
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Concept sketch/quilt pattern. |
I started really working on the quilt at the end of August, though the design process started back in April (with a house move in between taking up 2+ months). So it feels as though I've been working on this quilt for the better part of a year! Thankfully, I
love this quilt. Even when it was driving me crazy, I felt incredibly proud to see my vision turning into something tangible and beautiful.
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I'm a little disappointed that the quilting doesn't stand out better. |
By the time I finished the quilt top, I wasn't sure it was worth putting the TARDIS panel on the back anymore (because clearly the Starry Night side now had to be the front!). I just knew the quilting I had planned wouldn't do the TARDIS panel justice, so I turned it into its own little lap quilt you can see here:
TARDIS quilt.
And I did something else on the back--some navy fabric and strips of globe fabric that resembles Gallifreyan.
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Where the swirls meet! |
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I quilted the first lines about 1-1.5" apart, then went back and added three more lines of quilting in other thread colors between the first lines. It was a LOT of work on a domestic machine! |
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Trying to capture some of the texture all those lines create. |
There are lots and lots of posts on the process I went through, which you can browse
here.
I used one layer of Warm and Natural batting for the quilt. The mini TARDIS I quilted separately using two layers of scraps (I think one layer was poly and the other was some mix) and then hand appliqued it onto the quilt so there wouldn't be stitches on the back.
I used almost entirely Aurifil thread from
Pat Sloan's collection called
Eat Your Fruits and Veggies I won earlier this year. The threads are just gorgeous! Here are the ones I used on this quilt: #2605 (med grey, which I bought seperately) on the back, #2740 (
royal TARDIS blue), #5005 (bright blue), #2545 (royal purple), #2887 (sage green), #1147 (bright green), #1135 (light yellow), and #2000 (cream).
I wish all the quilting/thread was more visible in the pictures! Here's a close up of one area:
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Five colors of thread in this photo! |
For all Andrea's patience and flexibility in the design, she's gotten a
TARDIS zip pouch, a
TARDIS lap quilt, a Gallifreyan mini quilt of her name (you can see the
process post here), and this full sized
Starry Night quilt!

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