DQS7

Thanks for everyone's nice comments about the medallion quilt photo yesterday. I realized as I took it that the background (and evening light) matched the quilt top really well! I really do live in a beautiful part of the world and am appreciating having a relaxing summer this year to enjoy it.

I've been trying not to participate in too many swaps so that I can concentrate on some larger projects (and UFOs) during the summer break, but I just couldn't resist this one. Here's a peek at the back of my quilt. I just need to put a label on it, but am going to hold off a bit on mailing it - it's not due to be mailed until the first week of September!

Dear Swap Partner,

First, I will be happy with anything that you have fun making! But if you'd like to know more about my tastes, you can check out my Flickr favorites here. I was just thinking that the super traditional piecing and more muted colors I showed this week on my blog might be misleading. :)

I'll sign off with a photo from my balcony that inspired the color scheme of my DQS7 quilt!

Does Anyone Remember This?

I started this medallion quilt (as a wedding gift, I'm embarrassed to say) back in November 2006 and last posted about it here. I've been trying to wrap up some UFOs this month, so I thought I'd add a few more rounds to this. I'm going to put it aside again and work on a few smaller and more modern-looking projects, but I really intend to get back to it again sooner, rather than later! It's up to 66"x66" now - still aiming for 90"x90".

Leafy Rosy Hanging Out to Dry

Here's Leafy Rosy for my mom, finished and hanging out to dry. I'm a bit concerned that the bamboo batting is bearding a bit, but hopefully it won't do it any more! The finished size is about 82"x82", the pattern is a modified version of Leafy Rosy published in a few of Kaffe Fassett's books.

Quilting Leafy Rosy

Victoria asked me how I was going to quilt this top, so I thought I'd post the answer here. First of all, it took much longer than I thought it would - and much more thread! The entire quilt, including piecing, took about 2000 meters of thread! I used Aurifil Mako 50, my all-time favorite thread. I'm happy with the results, though! Now I just need to sew down the binding and then I'll do a proper photo shoot!

This first picture is the overall quilting design. Not sure if it makes sense to anyone but me. Very few starts and stops, starting with straight lines 1/4" on either side of the large (7.5") blocks, and free-motion 'roses' on the diagonal through the large blocks. This left me with the nine-patches. I like doing this back and forth squiggle and wanted to come up with a way to do it in each of the nine patches without having to start and stop in the middle of the quilt. Here's what I came up with:

I hope it might be useful to someone out there!

Round Robin Quilts I Worked On

The three quilts I worked on for the 3rd round of the Spring Fling Round Robin over the past few months have all arrived, so I can finally post more than just a peek here. I think all the quilts turned out great, but this is my favorite of the whole bunch so far.

I added the first border to this one (the solid blue background with simple applique).
Center block: Solidia
Second border: Laila
Quilting: John

I added the second border to this one (the dark squares).
Center block: Tami
First border: Judith
Quilting: Alicia

I quilted and bound this one.
Center block: Gina
First border: John
Second border: Margaret

Many, many thanks to Margaret for organizing the round robin!

I'm still waiting for mine to arrive - think it's been mailed. In the meantime, quilting the Leafy Rosy quilt is taking f-o-r-e-v-e-r......

Another Top!

Despite my wishing that July would last longer, I have nonetheless been pretty productive this month. I've finished another top and am having trouble deciding if I should quilt this next or if I should move on to the next project (another UFO). I should probably quilt this first, but that would require cleaning my floors so that I can baste it!

The pattern is Kaffe Fassett's Leafy Rosy, more or less. The large squares are 7.5" finished and the whole thing measures approx. 82"x82". The borders are two rows of 3.75" green squares. Not really a border in some people's book, but more than I usually do!

Apologies for the rather glum photo, but it's raining here today.

Q4L Number 21

This one is for Austin in Utah, USA.

Blocks made by (from the upper left): Tanya in Japan; Joyce in Canada; Sue in the US; Heather in KS, USA; Katherine in Canada; Anne in the UK; Michelle in OK, USA; Caron in MN, USA; Bea in Germany; Anne in the UK; me; and Caron in MN, USA. Backing fabric donated by Tiina in Finland, batting by Susan in ME, USA. And the whole thing was coordinated ably by Clare!

If you'd like to get involved in this project, find out more information here.