Power And Glory: Part Two

Right, so where were we? Ah, the quilting and the big reveal.
So I was all impatient to see what was inside(like unwrapping a present) but before I could cut out the top layer and see if my Hammer Of Glory had worked I needed to stabilise the quilt to make sure everything would stay where it was supposed to. So I stitched in the ditch between each block, and over the outline of the Hammer a couple more times to be sure until finally I was ready to cut it open and see what was inside.

I cut my Hammer out about 1/8" inside the outline I'd sewn and quilted over, making sure I kept the cut-out intact as much as possible too, so I could then use it in something else. And to my relief it had worked. It even seemed fairly sturdy. I may even have done a little dance of excitement but I'm not telling you for sure because I'm a terrible dancer. :P

Now for some, the quilt would be done here. I'd secured all the layers together by stitching in the ditch and cut out the top layer to reveal the hammer underneath, but to me that's like getting out of the shower in the morning and only putting on underwear. I like my quilts to be dressed, thank you very much. And I definitely wanted this one to be dressed to impress.

I usually don't like all-over quilting designs, preferring to highlight the piecing by custom quilting within each block but this quilt definitely needed an all-over design outside of the Hammer, in order to make the Hammer the star of the show. My design for this was inspired by the logo of the band, and after drawing it out a few times I quilted it on a sample to see if it was going to look right.

So much texture!

I loved the texture it brought out, so I started it on the actual quilt, keeping the logo and one of my drawn practice pages in sight to make sure if I got lost I could look at those to help me find my way again.

Bonus picture of a chimaera my daughter drew for me. :D

Along the way I realised that some parts of the design looked decidedly nipple-like. Oops!

But it was too late to change it, as I'd already quilted almost a quarter of the quilt so I just had to be mindful and try to make sure those little "nipple slips" didn't happen too often. :P

And it was really only noticeable when you got up close, the overall effect of the design was thankfully decidedly un-nipply.

So with the all-over quilting done, it was now the part I'd been looking forward to. Time to dress up the Hammer, turning it from an ordinary warhammer into the Hammer Of Glory. To do this I'd decided to quilt a copy of the Gloryhammer logo onto the head of the Hammer, and the word "Glory" on the haft. These were traced from a Gloryhammer t-shirt, and the only things on the quilt not designed by me, but they were needed to truly make it a Hammer Of Glory.

I traced them with Glad Press N' Seal, modifying them slightly to fit my hammer. Again using the Press N' Seal on the quilt to mark my quilt without having to draw on the quilt top itself, tracing around the shapes with my quilting and gently tearing the Press N' Seal away afterwards.

This was taken after the quilt was washed. 

After that it was just a matter of quilting in the little details to make the Hammer seem more real and then I could bind it, ready to give to Gloryhammer on their Australian tour. In the rush of "Gloryhammer Weekend", with seeing all those shows and even remaking two Gloryhammer t-shirts into lady-shaped shirts, I actually only finished binding it in the car while waiting for the Sunshine Coast show(their second last of the tour)'s venue to open. :P

The back. You can see the detail of the Hammer more clearly on this side.

I named this quilt 'Power And Glory' for the Hammer of Glory, the glory of power metal and the Freedom Call song  which I'd first heard on the same 70000 Tons Of Metal festival Gloryhammer had also been on. I even made a label but I hope it falls off because I made it in a rush and it was ugly. :P

I gifted the quilt to the Hermit himself(Ben Turk, the ever-awesome drummer for Gloryhammer) on the last night of Gloryhammer's Australian tour. He graciously accepted it, even though I think he wasn't quite sure what to do with it. :D

Here's the quilt being held up in the background on stage (thanks Seamus!) with Gloryhammer, Lagerstein and some beautiful Princesses at the end of the show.

So there we have it. A quilt that probably absorbed a great deal of my love for power metal, and Gloryhammer in particular while it was being made, and hopefully will be keeping the Hermit or the people he loves comfy and warm for a very long time. (And Ben, having never made a quilt quite like this one before, I am not as sure of its longevity as I usually am so if it ever does fall apart, my apologies, although just let me know and I'll fix it. :D)

-Strange
Final photo by Dallas Handcock. Used with permission. Thanks!

(Part One of this quilt's story is here.)