Finished

All finished with Denice's quilt. Binding is on, sleeve is on, and it is delivered to the person who will take it to her next month. 

Here's some of the quilting from the back. I like how it turned out. Those l's and e's on the border were fun and quick and look good, if I do say so myself.

I'd love to be there when she opens it up, but will rely on Jo for a report on her reaction.

Jelly Roll Day--Not!

I knew yesterday was National Jelly Roll Day, but when I sat down to my machine, I was on a mission: to quilt this wall hanging for Denice, our quilter friend who moved away from our midst. I quilted flowers here and there over the surface and quilted around each heart.

Then I quilted loops in the borders. I had never tried that before, but I think it was simple and effective. Now I need to label and bind it, and it will be ready to go to Denice when Jo visits her next month.

My next quilting project is "Oh, My Stars," a pattern from Pat Sloan. It is now sandwiched and ready to put under my needle, as soon as I figure out how I want to quilt it.

I have spent a lot of time at my husband's 50th HS class reunion this weekend, and we're not done yet. They are gathering yet today. It has been fun. (I know most of them from living here for 45 years now, but I met a few new ones.)

Frond Designs

I am in love with Frond Designs' fabrics. This is a panel that Stephanie Brandenburg (owner & designer) created. I used her fabrics in the borders too, cutting the big leaves from a large leaf print.

I used several different colored threads and did different FMQ, depending on what I was quilting--thread painting on the white flowers, leaf shapes around the little leaves and in that area, straight lines in the background. 

I didn't take a close up of the outer border, but I used Lori Kennedy's rose FMQ for it.

Even though it's really too big for me to use as a wall hanging, I will hang it somewhere in the spring.

Thanks, Stephanie, for your lovely fabrics!

Strings

Our last Cerro Gordo Quilters lesson was string piecing. I taught the lesson using 5" squares for the background and adding strings on each side. Four squares make a "star."

For my sample, I also made the back by string piecing. Takes awhile but uses some strings...

the problem is, I can't tell any got used! And that's with some of the quilters taking strings too.

Anyway, these are fun projects! Try it sometime!