Blush and Bashful

Last week I finally finished quilting Kay's pink and pink quilt Earlier this year I showed you how I photocopy sections of the quilt to determine what the quilting design should be. I used that same technique to figure out the quilting in the 9-patch sections as well as the borders. I'm having a hard time loving this quilt. It was quite challenging to piece, I made mistakes in my quilting, and in the end I'm not really satisfied with the color selection (although my daughter will LOVE it, which is all that matters) but the Mavens came over on Monday morning and really seemed to like it, so that helped a lot. Sometimes we need to see our work through other people's eyes.

I hope to find time during football watching this weekend (GO GATORS!) to at least cut, if not also apply the binding. If not it will have to be a Wednesday project I think. I am determined to have this quilt bound, labeled, wrapped and ready to put under the tree the day after Thanksgiving. It's been 21 months in the making. (Which means many months of lying in varying stages of doneness waiting for me to either get motivated to do more, or figure out what comes next.) It feels good to get such a significant UFO off the list of projects waiting to be loved. Kay hasn't seen this quilt since I've started quilting it. I can't wait to watch her unwrap it on Christmas morning.

Quilting detail:

Then There Were Three

My husband occasionally makes quilts, and of course, I make quilts. But I am very pleased to introduce you to my daughter who is now officially a quiltmaker. Earlier this year my dear friend Melinda gave Kay a sewing machine of her very own,





and when Tiny Stitches, our LQS, offered quilt camp for kids she proudly carried her machine off with her for several days of lessons, during which she completed her first quilt!

2008 Piecemaker's Exchange

As you may remember, the Piecemakers exchange blocks each year. Here are the Piecemakers enjoying the display of each member's efforts before we did the swap:



This year we decided that instead of choosing a single theme fabric, or a block pattern to make, everyone would choose her own fabric and give every other quilter a piece of it. Each quilter also chose a block she would make. In the end, everyone made her choice of block in 16 different color ways to suit all the fabrics she was given, and then we met to swap blocks. It was a great success, and the swap itself was great fun.

I chose to make an applique wreath block, here are the 15 blocks I made (I didn't make one for myself, more on that, later)



The fabric I chose to give to everyone else was a victorian Christmas theme printed on black. I loved this fabric when I bought it 10 years ago, and I've been waiting for that "perfect project" to come along. I finally decided to bite the bullet and use it for this exchange. I'm glad I did! Here are the blocks I received from the Piecemakers:



I received a 15th block after the picture was taken. I"m sure you'll see pictures of it at some point. I did not make a block for myself, because all along I intended to make a large applique block for as a centerpiece for my quilt. Originally we had 16 other Piecemakers making blocks, so my plan was perfect. One dropped out after we began the exchange and I thought I might end up needing to make a wreath for myself after all, but in the end another solution presented itself. I'll tell you about it another time.

Here are the other Piecemakers contributions:

Confession Time

I took some time off. From blogging. From quilting. From quite a few things.

It's been good. I had a great summer, and a I'm enjoying the early fall. So what HAVE I been doing?

I took some good classes, spent several days with Mary Lou Weidman, and collected projects in my head. I cleaned out my "fabric room". (Couldn't call it sewing room, because there was NO SPACE to put a sewing table in there.) Now I can at least stand in there and still think clearly. I sorted through my UFO bin. I gave away a few things I know I will never finish. I took apart a quilt top that has been languishing for 9 or more years, I love the blocks, but hated the setting, so now I have a quilt's worth of really pretty blocks to think about setting. I made an initial decision about the Marti Michelle block of the month pattern I did last year. (I never liked the way the pattern had the blocks set with log cabin blocks zig zagging through the rows, but I love the blocks.) I pulled out two finished quilt tops that I liked well enough to want to quilt pretty much as is. Finally, last week, I finished my daughter's pink and white quilt, well, I finished the quilting. I need to cut and bind it. All of which will happen in the next couple of weeks so it will be ready to be wrapped and put under the tree in time for Christmas. I completed all the blocks for the 2008 Piecemaker's exchange, and have started laying out the design for completing my quilt top from that exchange.

Finally, I got Melinda's president quilt put together with the help of a few friends from the guild, and it is being quilted as I write.

Pictures to follow, but I felt the need to plunge in and get the blog re-started.