Mrs. Sew & Sew

 The first setback was deciding on a border.  I had planned a pieced border but never got started on it.
 After a while in the ufo pile I decided on an appliqued border.  I'm glad I did because it's my favorite part of the quilt.
 Then I couldn't decide how to quilt it.  I wanted to handquilt the border but not the pieced center.  I would have machine quilted it but I didn't know what to do in the border.  This time it sat in the ufo pile a long time.

 Last night I quilted the year and my initials into my Corn and Beans quilt.  It`s a bit hard to see in the hst`s but it`s there as a surprise for anyone who looks closely.

This quilt I have been machine quilting.  It`s a big heavy monster and I can`t wait to be finished.  DD2 has been patiently waiting for months for this to be done.  On Mother`s Day I found a few hours to do the free motion feathers I wanted in the border.  They don`t show up too well either as the border print is busy but, I know they`re there  :0)
I should be back next week with 2 finishes!
Happy Quilting!!

 It was fun to pull fabrics from my stash.  I decided to size the hst's a bit larger than Lori's instructions. I took care to carefully study the color combinations and orientation of the hst's and I copied it as closely as I could with what I had at home. 
 I found myself wondering if this end result was what the maker had in mind.  If somehow some of the pieces got turned around and the maker - loathe to take stitches out - just kept on going  :0)  Sometimes when making a reproduction I want to "fix" what I perceive as "mistakes" however, then in my eyes the finish inevitably loses the charm of the original.   I am eager to handquilt this little top and throw it in the wash - hoping to capture the worn, used look of the original.  But...  I don't want to lose momentum on this big quilt I am handquilting.
 I debated for a while how to quilt the border of this quilt.  I wanted to echo quilt the vine but after consideration decided that quilting would be too dense compared to the center.  I took it to my guild meeting and liked the idea a friend suggested to do clamshells in the border.  In the end I decided it could be difficult to mark them and execute the corners so I opted for boring old diagonal lines.  It is going quickly and I hope to finish before the annual outdoor quilt show in late May. 
So the little Harmony top will have to wait.  I do need to remember it though, when I get this bigger quilt finished.  I love to participate in Lori's quiltalongs but I've only actually finished one of the quilts...

Happy Quilting!!

 The binding is on and I can start using my new tablerunner  :0)   I like how long and skinny it is and how it dresses up the table. 
 I have one more Christmas project to sew - I better get at it!!

 The basket block reminded me of a quilt my Grandmother made - probably mid 1970's.  (my sister would have been a toddler at the time)  It has the date embroidered on the binding along with my sister's name but I don't have a picture of that.  It was intended as her wedding quilt.  My sister was married in 2002.  I'm glad Grandma made these quilts for us long in advance as she didn't live to attend any of our weddings. 
  I love how scrappy it is  :0)  

 I celebrated my birthday on 12/12/12.  A date like that won't come around again for awhile.  My DH spoiled me with this absolutely lovely book. SO MANY beautiful old quilts with lots of ideas for how to display them.

Now for the mistake...  This quilt has sat around in the ufo pile for a long time.  I didn't want to hand quilt the center but I also didn't want to machine quilt the appliqued border.  I decided finally to handquilt it.  There are WAY too many seams to make handquilting very pleasant.  I knew this but I went ahead anyway.  I'm quilting these big circles - I'll be at this for awhile...

Happy Quilting!!

It has been a good weekend for finishing things (rainy) :0) On Friday evening I finished up with the border for my Corn and Beans quilt. I decided to leave the corners without the extra leaves. Valentina put in words what my DH sensed about the corners. "I like the fact that it visually rounds off the border keeping your eye looking toward the quilt" Thanks Valentina!

The deadline for finishing the quilts bound for India was moved up so I'm glad I was able to finish getting this top together yesterday. For the border I used up lots of little scraps leftover from making the blocks.