Last year I created an origami crane cross stitch pattern and in the back of my mind I kept thinking about how neat it would be to stitch 1000 cranes. But my logical side told me that idea was crazy and I should focus my efforts on reasonable projects instead.
I seriously started thinking about it again last week and was trying to figure out how to make it happen. My first thought was to get an enormous piece of fabric and embroider them all onto it. While I think that would have looked cool, it seemed silly because then what am I going to do with a giant piece of fabric with 1000 cranes stitched on it?
So then I decided to add yet another layer to this enormous project and turn the 1000 embroidered cranes into hexagons to make a quilt. If I’m already going big, I might as well go really big.
Our wedding colors were red and aqua, so that’s what I’m going to do for the quilt. I did the math and using 1.5″ hexagons, I will need just over 1,400. So there will be 1,000 embroidered hexagons and then 400 plain ones.
I’ve been using Sulky Sticky Fabri-Solvy Stabilizer* for the patterns but I don’t have the sheets, I have a big roll. It can be cut down and printed on, but I haven’t wanted to deal with that so I’ve just been tracing the pattern by hand. Which definitely is not going to cut it for 1,000. I love the Sulky Sticky Fabri-Solvy but I would love something easy that doesn’t have the added steps of washing off the stabilizer, waiting for it to dry, and then ironing.
So far I have 16 embroidered hexagons and 32 plain ones. I still have a long, long way to go but it’s a start! I can stitch them pretty quickly, they take about 30 minutes. My ultimate plan is to finish this for our 10 year anniversary July 5, 2018. It’s definitely doable, especially if I keep going at the pace I am now. But I’m not sure if that’s sustainable or if I will lose steam. I’m going to need a lot of red and aqua fabric!
What’s the biggest project you’ve ever taken on? Any tips for staying focused?
If you want to follow along, I’ve started posting my progress photos on Instagram using the hashtag #1000cranequilt
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Wow! Looking forward to seeing your progress 🙂
I, err, err, *blinks*…what? Err, have fun with that…want me to call the lovely men in white coats? Awesome idea though, I hope you enjoy it all 🙂
When I first told my husband about it he thought I meant to finish it by our anniversary this year in July. I’m not THAT crazy. Haha
I loooove the idea of this quilt <3 I've always been a fan of the 1000 cranes. Red and aqua were almost our wedding colors too! But we ended up doing lots of red with some white and black.
I'm working on a long term EPP project too – using red and cobalt blue! I'm going for scrappy too – finding that many fabrics is daunting! If you'd be interested in swapping some charm or layer cake squares of red fabrics (I could throw in some aquas), let me know! My email is jmeigenbrodt at gmail dot com, and I'm @stars_sunshine on IG!
Have you thought about one of the “iron on” pencils or pens to mark the design? I think there are some that are washable, as well as permanent. If you can get a fine enough line, permanent would work.
I think I’m going to try a handful of different techniques and see what’s ultimately the easiest. The Sulky Solvy stuff is nice because you can just print all the designs onto it. So I’ll have to see if drawing the pattern by hand is worth not having to soak and iron it after…
I think this is marvelous. I’m working on a hexie EPP Tula Pink Marquise quilt right now that’s 1400 pieces plus a machine quilted one that’s a Tokyo Subway Map that’s 1600 pieces so I’m not afraid of a challenge. Last year I did Tula Pink’s 100 block City Sampler which was a thousand some pieces and sooooo fun. @tubaville
I’m glad to see other people take on multiple enormous projects at once! I love having a lot of projects going on at once because if I don’t feel like working on one thing, I’ve got plenty of other options. I really want to see this Tokyo Subway Map, that sounds incredible!
Soo excited to see this progress!
Try the new iron on transfer pens from Sublime Stitching. They leave a very fine line so easy to stitch over and you can get at least 3 or 4 pressings out of one tracing. Good luck with your project! I am currently contemplating embroidering a bed throw and am quite intimidated by the idea – but I’m inspired by your ten year plan…. great idea!