This is the quilt that started it all. When my uncle was going through my aunt's things including her stash of fabric, he came across many 'boxed quilts' ready for someone to put together. He took the box over to my mom to ask if she wanted to have it to which my mom said, "No, I'm done with bias seams for now. Give it to Angela." Thanks mom! This is before I knew I would receive half my aunt's fabric stash. I had just purchased a king bed and had no bedding so there was incentive to get this one finished as soon as I could.

Little did I know this would be the deciding factor for my uncle to share her stash with me because he knew then the fabric would be used and enjoyed.

tumbler pieces

The box included 13 packets of light/med/dark tumblers that included enough to put together two rows. I emptied all the envelopes and put each value in their own piles from light lights to dark darks.

tumbler layout

A few quilter friends, including my mom, would come play with the tumblers and stage them in rows (light/dark alternating). It lived on my floor for weeks as it was fiddled with row by row. All 29 of them to make sure there wasn't a duplicate tumbler too close to another on another row.

tumbler layout

I learned a lot working with pre-cut shapes. Not all the shapes were cut equally and I wasn't aware of this until the row wouldn't align with the one above. I would fiddle with the seams, sometimes swapping out the tumbler, so it would fit. When all the rows were assembled, I squared it up to get it ready for the borders.

tumbler layout

With the borders assembled, down on the floor for one last look before taking it to the quilter. The outer border fabric is also the backing fabric to this quilt.

tumbler layout

Whew! With a little over 80hrs and three months working on it, it was done. Just in time to cover our new king bed.

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