It's Been a While...

...since I posted anything about my alphabet stars quilt. My mistake for not sharing the progress I've made on it so far! 

Over two months ago, I finished all the FMQ on the top. I knew from the start that I wanted fairly dense quilting and was planning on all of it being concentrated in the black spaces on the quilt.

After all, I reasoned, if I'm using black thread then my mistakes won't be terribly obvious! Brilliant thinking, right? But as I spent what felt like hours doing FMQ "straight" lines,  I came to the sad realization that all this work was going to stay relatively invisible on the front. Head smack.

But, I plowed through and got it done working on and off through a long weekend. When I finished up, I knew immediately that the star centers needed some extra attention. In an hour, I went through the whole alphabet and did some FMQ flowers with white thread. I really like the loopiness alongside the straight lines!

So what the heck is taking me so long, you might ask? One final quilting element - I decided to hand quilt the inside of each star with variegated perle cottons in 6 different shades. I love the effect, but I am definitely a sloooow hand sewer.

At my speed, this will last the rest of the summer. But I think the effect is so worth it, I don't mind taking things easy!  It's come on vacation with us, so maybe I'll get more than a few letters done sitting lakeside.

Enjoy your summer everyone!

Sari Feathers...

It's been quite a few posts coming, but my queen-sized feather quilt is finally finished!  All those deep purples, pinks and oranges were such rich colors that the finished feathers reminded me of an Indian sari.

I love how you can see the backing print as the sun is streaming through the quilt here!  I've written quite a bit about the quilt top itself, but there is a whole new layer of amazing-ness on this quilt.  Peer a little bit closer with me...

This was my first time sending a quilt out to a long-armer and I was a little nervous.  But as soon as I opened up the box from Margaret Gunn, all anxiety was banished.  I was simply blown away.

The feathers in relief!

The beautifully detailed side borders done in different shades of taupe!

All those clams and feathers together with intersecting waves outlining the single feather shape of the blocks!

I dropped everything - seriously everything because laundry and cleaning can WAIT - and got right to trimming and binding.

I had a whole roll of this gorgeous Tile print from Joel Dewberry ready and waiting for binding - a perfect complement to the Heirloom print I chose for the backing.

This quilt finished at 82 x 102 - by far the largest quilt that I've ever made!  Now that it's finished, it's headed to the "master" bedroom to keep us snuggly in modern style.

Linking up:

Crazy Mom Quilts - Finish it up Friday!