2012 Finish - April

This year's resolutions included finishing all the UFO's stashed in various corners of the sewing room, and other places in the house, and taking the pledge to complete SewCalGal's Free Motion Quilting Challenge.  Now, just over halfway through the year, I'm happy to report completion of four bed size and one lap quilt, one wallhanging, and one toddler quilt will be finished later this week.  Now, that doesn't amount to much by many quilters' standards, but for me this is an all-time high!  I'll start posting some of these finishes as time allows, and some won't be made public until after Christmas.  There are now two remaining UFO's, both queen size, one of which has been in the hand quilting hoop for more than a year now and may not make the goal.  But then that quilt has been aging gracefully, probably more so than its maker, for the past fifteen years!  What's another year or so among friends?  That's the problem, we're no longer friends, that quilt and I, and I'd gladly chuck the whole thing were it not for the many hundreds of hours already invested in intricate piecing, hand-appliqued Rose of Sharon border, and over half of it laboriously hand quilted.  It HAS to be finished, and we will drag ourselves to the finish line ... one of these years.

Enough of that, on to a 2012 finish.  This is a quilt begun nearly two years ago after my daughter had casually mentioned she would really like a queen size "summer quilt".  Her last quilt was made for her early college years, over ten years ago, and while it has held up well considering its constant use, it doesn't fit the queen size bed she now has.  After completing three months of the FMQ Challenge I decided to attempt free motion quilting this huge quilt on my old Singer 15-91, using the designs we learned during the first months of the Challenge:  the leaf design taught by Frances Moore, Diane Gaudynski-style feathers, and the loops and flowers meandering designs taught by Ann Fahl in March.  Moving the bulk of this huge (84x106) quilt through the machine proved to be a real challenge but also a great learning exercise.   Entire quilt took nearly a month to quilt and bind, and was finished two days before our trip.

Photos had to be taken indoors as the weather was cold and rainy when this was completed.  Still is, for that matter.   The finished quilt was delivered to its new home with my daughter in early May. 

Fabrics and the pattern are from Wilmington's Natural Splendor line.  Hobbs 80/20 cotton batting and Aurifil 50 thread for quilting, both top and bobbin.

Feathers quilted in the border of each large flower block.  Freehand feathers were also quilted in the outer borders.  They did not photograph well with my little camera but actually show up quite well on the quilt despite being quilted over a flower print border. 

Most of these photos were taken after the quilt was washed, all nice and soft and crinkly.

Hopefully the toddler quilt will be ready to post in the next few days.  Have a safe and happy 4th!