Another completed quilt

I finished another quilt this week. It has been sitting on my handi quilter frame since December. It is the first quilt I attempted to do on the frame in a few years. It was not a pleasant experience.
I decided to use a large stipple pattern, and I had a good flow going. Everything looked to be going well, until I got a look at the underside of the quilt. UGH! Eyelashes on all those curves! My tension wasn't quite right, and I had terrible looking stitches underneath. So, I ended up pulling the quilt from the frame and ripping those stitches out. Oh the frustration of it all! Now I know why people said the put a mirror on the table under the quilt frame. I will definately invest in one before I attempt another quilt on the frame. I requilted without the frame the second time around.
What a horrible experience. At least it is done, although certainly not my best work. This quilt is made from blocks I swapped in an on-line quilting group. The swap for this hole in the barn door quilt was probably my favorite swap so far. The idea was to send the center square for your block to each swapper, and they make the block in the colorway you request. I asked for a sand colored background and the colors of the ocean. And my centers are turtles that I stamped onto sand colored blocks. I used a twist setting because it reminds me of waves. I really like how it turned out, even if the quilting is a bit inferior.

I made my deadline with a day to spare

I was a bit worried that I was going to have to give my dear hubby an unfinished quilt. But, I managed to pull myself together and finished the quilt. I used some stitch in the ditch and some free-hand free motion quilting. I think it turned out pretty well. It has certainly been a learning experience for me. Someday I hope to design something extraordinary, but fot now, I am happy with this:

Dean's top is complete

After making blocks in every spare moment, I have the top for Dean's quilt complete. I like how it looks for the most part. I am a bit concerned about the salmon colored fabric though. It really pops out at you, and I am worried hubby will hate that color. Too late now, I haven't got time to change it if I want to finish before his birthday. I am getting the backing fabric ready to go now- it needs to be pieced. Binding strips are cut and ready.

My baby has returned home!

I got my quilt top back today. It has been a long anticipated wait and I really did not know what to expect. I guess the most surprising element is the addition of white fabrics. I don't know why I didn't expect it, maybe because there was no white in my original center block. But I think it definately works. I am happy with the top overall, although there are a couple of things I think I would have done differently. But I will definitely not make any changes to that which already is part of the top. I do think I may add a round to complete it and make it a bit larger. Or maybe just add a plain border.

I am adding an update, as the final quilt from my group made it home to her owner. This is Jackie's top. I did the first round on this one using some fabrics that I hand painted. The suggestion for round one was rail fence, so I made a modified version, where half the blocks look like butterflies. I like the garden theme her top ended up having.

Update on Round Robin

The deadline is fast approaching and quilt tops are returning home to their owners in the Quilts Your Way round robin. I am still waiting anxiously for mine, but three of the five in our group have found their way to their proper homes. I thought I would share some pics of these tops.

This first top belongs to Kimberly. You may remember seeing the picture of this after my round, as I posted it in a previous blog message. My addition was the kites between and including the two lavendar borders.

This top belongs to Barb. I wish I had a better picture of this one to share, as you just can't appreciate her beautiful applique center with this one. I added the third round on this one, which has the green corners and diagonal purple/off white blocks. I really like how this one turned out. And her beautiful applique is what has inspired me to try a few applique projects.

Here is Marge's top. I added the final round to this one. My thinking was it looked a little like a sunflower, tieing in with the sunflowers in the center of the quilt. I struggled with this one, because I felt the stripe fabric in the previous round was so strong. I was afraid My addition would fight with it. But I like how my addition finishes it off.

I will add another post when the last two from our group arrive home safely. I have enjoyed this experience more than I thought I would. I was a bit nervous going into it, as I wasn't sure how everyone's skill levels would compare to mine.

I've been snowed in- great for quilting progress!

It has been quite a weather week here. We had blizzard conditions this weekend and now we have wind chill advisories. Schools have been closed the last two days, and churches were closed on Sunday. Even the malls were closed for a time.That left me with plenty of time for working on quilty things. :)

I managed to complete my third round of the ostrich round robin- dreaded applique and all. Considering I am still learning to applique, it looks pretty good. I do need to be shown just how to get those nice sharp points using needle turn techniques, as mine are rather blunted. But, I am happy with the results for now.

I also finalized my design on a quilt Iam making for my husband as a birthday gift. He is an avid fisherman, and loves going out on Lake Michigan in his boat. So I am making him a fishing themed quilt. I took a class a week ago on making a mariner's medallion. I thought it would be perfect for Dean. But, it was only wallhanging sized when the class was over, so I decided to add to it with my own design. Here is a drawing of the quilt as I designed it in EQ6. It depicts his boat and the

channel and light house at Grand Haven, the area where he does most of his fishing. The lighthouse will need to have a catwalk added to it, but Iam still working out just how I want to add that in. I have already finished several of the blocks, and hope to have the entire quilt done in a month. Wish me luck with that one!