It's Friday and there's a Finish!

 After finishing the baby quilt earlier this month and perusing the bulging closet and general chaos surrounding me, I decided the next big thing needing tackling is the quilt tops awaiting machine quilting. Not to mention the two bed-size hand-quilting projects still currently underway.  So, the "needing machine quilting" tally was 3 bed size and one toddler/young child size quilt.  Then there's another bed size top approaching completion at quilt ministry.  And all the "wanna do" projects list that keeps growing!  I'd really rather start a few new piecing projects than endure the tedium of machine quilting, don't you know!

That said, my nose to the grindstone for the past couple weeks, I finally finished the oldest and largest of the list, the "Lines and Boxes II" quilt, which is nearly a clone of the one finished around three years ago for donation to the annual camp auction.  This is the latest one, which will stay with us as an additional winter quilt when the snow flies.  Shown here on the guest room queen size bed.  It finished at 86x96 inches.  

Quilting this one was more than a tad tedious and hard on the wrists, as it is quilted entirely with diagonal lines, stitched in the ditch on every stinkin' seam!  Or as close to the ditch as my eyes and coordination allowed, lol.

A lot of wonderfully scrappy pieces went into the making of these quilts, both from a few generous donations and my own stash.  My hubby loves the colors and so this will be "his" quilt. 

It has been way too hot and steamy for outside photos, with intermittent thunderstorms and wet ground, so all photos were indoors before the first wash/dry which is happening as I write this. 

Wishing you all a good weekend, and for those in the path of Ida, please be safe!  Til next time, happy stitching!

An Early August Finish

 Another baby quilt finished yesterday.  This one will go to our young neighbors who are expecting a girl next month.  Much happier with this one now that it's quilted with the binding added.  It never ceases to amaze me how the character of a quilt changes with the quilting texture.  Here it is immediately after the binding was added, before its beauty bath with the stencil markings still visible. I've become a huge fan of continuous line stencils for much of my FMQ, especially in sashings and borders, much easier to see what's going on and where to head next.  

No rain today, so we went outside for a few more photos.  

Tried a photo with both the quilt and this gorgeous hydrangea but the bright sunlight washed out the quilt colors.  

In the shade of the maple tree in the front yard. 

And the purple polkadot back, the free motion quilting in the panel squares is more easily visible in these next photos. 

We wandered a bit more before going back inside to prep this morning's blueberry harvest for the freezer.  A few blooming things:

The dog days of August, lol!

And one last photo of the baby quilt across the thrift store rocking chair I found last winter, it reminded me of a photo of myself in a similar chair at my grandparents' farm when I was a toddler.  I painted this one white to more closely resemble the original.

A long time ago:

Have a great day, and don't let the doomsayers destroy your joy!