Sunwashed

Last weekend I loaded "Sunwashed", a Fig Tree quilt top, onto my Millie. 

I used the "Blue Lagoon" panto to quilt this with an aqua thread , "Sew Fine" to match my fabric....top and bobbin. 

Got this quilting done in a day.

Then I got right to it and started applying the binding that has been ready and waiting. 

Got DH to hang my quilt outside from the eaves so I could get a good picture of the completed quilt. 

Here it is in all its glory. 

Here's a close up of the quilting on the finished quilt.  

 I pieced the backing to make it fit. 

.....and here is a close up of the quilting on the back.  

This is another one off the UFO list and I am jumping up and down for joy.  

What's next?

Just contemplating....

Thinking about the next UFO that I want to pick up.  

My friend Sandy is working on some scrappy stars and I remembered I had a whole box of some.

I have 89 - 6" scrappy stars.

If I make a queen sized quilt (I tend to go large), then I would need nearly 200 more.  

I could add a scrappy solid  as an alternating block (but that wasn't the original plan).  My friends and I saw an antique quilt and we were thinking we wanted to replicate it.  

I could make the quilt smaller....just a throw...then I would probably only have to make one more block. 

I could put them on point. 

I could put them back in the box for another few years.  

Decisions....decisions!!!

AQS Quilt show, Grand Rapids

I attended and not ONE picture did I take. I'll bet you can't believe it.  I can't either.  

I went for the inspiration along the quilting lines and it is all stored in my head; and I had a short shopping list which I pretty much stuck to.  

, 

I only attended one day this year (which helped me to not be a compulsive shopper this year), plus the show was scheduled  for the same time as the Woodward Dream Cruise and my DH takes off that week so that we can participate with his 71 Nova.  Hard to be in two places at once.  

Anyways, I went for the Sew Fine Superior Thread and got what was on my list; plus I am trying out a new thread that mimics my favorite thread (Glide).  It is called Polyseda Iris by EnMart.  It was being used by the crew at the APQS booth and they were having a lot of luck with it.  When he heard me talking to them about that, he just "gave" me this spool on the condition that I would report back to him on how I liked it.  Absolutely!!  I will do that for him.

Not on my list were the other two things I picked up; hand warmers and Moda shirtings.  

The hand warmers are reusable and they made neck rolls and lower back rolls.  I thought I would give the hand warmers a try especially since they are re-usable.  I am under the assumption that everything else out on the market is a one time use only.  So since we live in MI and I don't like being cold, I am going to try the hand warmers in my mittens this year.  Heck....I work in a frigid office.....I may have to try them there, too.  

As for the Moda shirtings.  I think the next UFO that I pick up will be my scrappy star quilt.  The more backgrounds I can find for this, the better it will be.  I'll be posting something on that pretty soon.  

Well, even though I don't have pictures, you know every other blogger that attended the show has an array of pictures, so I suggest taking a look at all those lovely quilts.   

Now that life and vacations have settled down around here, I hope to get back into the sewing room and should have something to report real soon.

So....happy quilting everyone!

Ended up doing some "whacking"......

This is where I ended my last post with three borders attached. 

As I mentioned earlier, the designer said the last border of half square triangles would NOT fit, so to just "whack them off".  Sorry, but that made me cringe.  

I would have to figure out a way to get around that.  

But first I have to say that I had to remove the left, pieced black border as my quilt measurements were not coming up quite square.  The bottom measurement was  a good 2" larger than the top.  Ugh!!  I hate ripping out, but  I think the culprit for this was the  homespuns/brushed cottons that were thrown in here and there.  So, I removed it, cut out some of the stretchiest fabric and sewed it back on.  Darn if it still wasn't about 1/2" too large, but I think it stretched again, so I am going to work with that.  

Now, I don't know if you can tell in the above photo, that my border wasn't quite long enough for the quilt.  Although the designer said THIS border fit perfectly.  NOT!!  So I put it on with the thought that I could just trim the upper black border if need be and no one would be the wiser....so don't tell anyone.

Now to avoid "whacking" off any of the hst, I added a strip of fabric (all scrappy here) at this point and made the rest of the border hst.  The original pattern had a plain block at the other end and then both "end" hst were "whacked" off to fit.  

If I had thought this out a lot earlier, I could have added another narrow strip to the top of that plain square and then I wouldn't have had to "whack" off an inch on the upper black border, but I just wasn't about to take off another border.  I hate ripping out.  Besides, this is a folk art quilt, so I am thinking this one little strip is far less noticeable than what two "whacked" up hst would look and who is going to go and measure my top and side borders to find out that they are not exactly the same?  Remember, I said,  "don't tell".  It now measures 81 x 88.  

I made it fit and it looks good to me.  

As for that 1/2" excess that I have, I am going to baste that and pull it up.  I don't want anymore stretch to those homespuns that are on the outside edges.  

I now have a completed top.  This quilt has been waiting to be finished for a couple of years, so I am excited to get it to this point.  

I have a great toile for the back and the binding will be a scrappy black.  I hope to get this one on the long arm very soon.  

Now to find the next UFO...or maybe I should just get to my "to be quilted" pile now. 

We will see.