Sometimes the Applique Just Sort of Gets Out of Control Around Here

 I finished up all the Flower Power blocks so you know what that means.  'Next up' in the applique queue! I don't know if it was technically next, but I've been hankering to work on this add-on to the 2nd improv. strip quilt made during the quilt meetings last winter.

Added a quiet little bird on impulse

It wasn't strictly necessary to add applique to this 'Blue #2' and some people definitely urged me to leave it as-is. Which would have been fine, really, in the scheme of things as I don't have a major attachment to this particular project. The problem is when it comes time to do the quilting. If the quilt top doesn't speak somewhat fondly to me, then it keeps being pushed to the very back of the line. 

Gotta get the underside stitched down first

Why are we pushing ourselves to keep taking part in this quilting adventure if the end result doesn't tug on our heart strings? So yeah, it's ridiculously easy to talk myself into doing just a little bit of applique here and there. 'Cuz like it or not {the work entailed}, that's what usually does it for me. It doesn't take that long I tell myself. It's easy to drift off into all the unexplored what ifs? that might possibly make a quilt top shine just a little brighter. Or, maybe I'd like to experiment with this, or that, or the other motif... And on and on it goes till everyone is totally shocked {except me} when there's a finished quilt with zero applique included. It's not like I set out thinking that's the way it always and forever has to be.

I'm really happy with how quickly this particular applique is coming along. Always so helpful to have the prep work done and out of the way so when you're ready to do the stitching, it's right there waiting. Preaching to the choir I know, but all the stitching with the flower, leaves, the birds and even half of the scallops were done in one day. If I would have been having to do the prep work still? I'd have probably moved on to another project. 

Which brings us to one of my 'surprise' applique additions. Well, more like a border addition with applique touches. To be clear, I was NOT looking to purposely add more applique to this quilt at all. Uh uh. In fact, I honestly thought it was one of those magical, marvelous quilt tops that are actually completed. Truly, it has been cheerfully resting in the quilt top drawers for close to a year. No problems whatsoever with haunting or nagging at me for more! 

Loving this already

It was nearing the top of the quilting list so, as happens commonly around here, I found myself casually admiring it laying on the guest bed upstairs one day. Just for a few moments while I pondered potentials for quilting design. Hmm... And the more that I looked at it, the more that I realized that the quilt actually felt a little cheated. It was gonna need one more border to feel well and truly finished and that was that. 

So the short story is that I found this dark, midnight blue fabric in the stash totes. It works perfectly well to do what this quilt needs a border needs to do. The long story is that I wasted a couple hours online looking for a more perfect fabric because the first glance through the stash totes had me instantly discounting this fabric completely. I mean seriously, it was obviously intended to be a superior binding fabric choice some day! {Does anyone else have a mind that works this way or it is just me?}

Then there was the partially sleepless night thinking about how dumb a solid blue fabric was going to look framing this spunky looking quilt and was I really going to go for it? How about these other choices in the stash totes? and Oh NO's they are all the wrong color and/or much too little amounts to be of any use. How dull and traditional this was going to look with that almost solid look, blah, blah, blah. 

It all abruptly clicked into place the very next day when the little basket-handle-applique popped into my brain. Of course, problem solved! But you see how my brain works sometimes doing the applique end run on me! When looking at the quilt top right after pulling it out of the drawer, it didn't instantly scream out to me that it needed or even wanted applique. No sirreee, it was much, much sneakier than that, simply insisting that a dark blue border would be very nice thank you. Ah! Not so quick! Are you really not going to give us more attention to detail than that? Come on, just think of all the possibilities? Whereupon, we have currently arrived HERE. Right in this spot where I precipitously cannot even imagine this specific quilt without the immediate application of a pink, lacy-like applique border. It practically boggles the mind how quickly it went from thinking about the possible stitching texture clear to a brand new border with hours of hand work needed. 

Looking a little more perky

But wait. The drama continues. Somehow this churned up thoughts about yet another quilt top that was bugging me. Because I just can't leave well enough alone, here is the Roman Stripe quilt for your viewing pleasure. If you remember, there was two of these tops, with the smaller one being completed in July of last year. Though satisfying on a certain level, these quilt tops just haven't really resonated with me like I prefer that they do. Call me a snob, but they don't seem to have any extra redeeming qualities that would make them special. Initially I thought to give them away as comfort quilts, but now I'm rethinking that plan for the case of the 2nd quilt.

In this latest little burst of unexpected creativity, the larger Roman Stripe quilt found itself being experimented on too.*sigh  Do you recall the Ode to Joy quilt top? There's just something incredibly endearing about these heart shaped flower {or leaf or whatever they are} elements, and I want/wanted to make more of them some day. They've been calling me. Seducing me. Enticing me. Yep. A couple hours of mad, crazy drawing, cutting out and then the subsequent auditioning, now there's a strange yellow flower with larger-than-life pink leaves on top of this quilt top. And it feels so very right. It's quite bold and a little sassy. A bit of folk with that sunny, happy vibe that says, 'Don't take me seriously'. Now I can only think that his quilt was not meant to be merely comforting, but something a little bit more perhaps? Not to mention, it definitely needs a new name now. I'm thinking 'Chrysalis' in honor of the new look and feel!

Ready for the next step

The machine stitching for the brown binding on Seedpod Flower quilt is all done now. I'm thinking this could be a good project for when the kids are here later this week and next week. Hard to make a mistake from distraction if all you're doing is hand stitching a binding down. If I even find time to quilt, sometimes I don't ever bother!

Glory Be next up in the hoop

Next up for the hand quilting hoop is Glory Be. This top was completed two years ago and I've been crossing my fingers it could be in the hoop in time for this years 4th. Nope. Just too much taking up time and energy around here and the hand quilting has been sloooower than usual. Oh well. That's what happens when your husband tells one of his customers that, 'Oh, did you know that my wife sews?' And next thing you know he's bringing home pants for me to hem. Groan....  

Looking across the quilt

Anyway. I am already enjoying this quilt tremendously. Still in love with the asymmetrical layout and all the different fabric print play. Spent one evening marking the sashing with a white fabric pencil for a basic grid and yeah... It's already disappearing into the ether. So frustrating, but I should have known. Much better to mark each frame as I go!  

In the hoop

There's just enough residue left on the blue sashing that I can see little wispy bits of it here and there so I've decided to 'wing it'. Which will make the grid a little funky and off the precisely marked measurements. And you know me, that is making me smile and enjoy the quilt even more. Why didn't I think of that in the first place? 

Trying new needles

When ordering new applique needles off-line the other day, I impulsively added some Size 9 Straw Needles by Jeana Kimball's Foxglove Cottage. I've seen them recommended by Jen Kingwell I believe, and thought to give them a go. After about 3 or 4 stitches, I promptly decided that I do NOT like them and put the needle back in the container. I don't know why I even bothered, straw needles are not and have never been something that feels 'right' to me. Anyone wanting a free container of these? Will mail them to the very first person who requests them IF and only IF I can access your email so as to learn your mailing address. Otherwise, they will have to go to the second person etc. I'm sure they are wonderful, just not my style and you know how that is! 

Okay, that's it. Will probably be missing in action for a couple weeks here. Gonna enjoy our kids and grandkids and then when they leave, will have to rest, recoup and relax. Oh. And clean. Never can get out of that part for some reason!

Cozier Looking Than I Thought It Might Be

 Baby quilt is done, washed up and already gift wrapped! Big, big sigh here. It was on the get-done-before-Thanksgiving list and I didn't want to have to bump it off till Christmas or try and mail it through the USPS during the holidays.

Baby quilt is finished!

It's got a slightly different look than what I normally do for baby quilts, but it still seems to work. Definitely turned out to be cozier looking than I ever expected.  Crossing my finger baby's mama will like this one, though thankfully baby Ellie won't care a whit!

Hand quilted with perle cotton

I tried to hand quilt in a way that would hold down all the bulky seams and yet still allow for a lovely drape after being well used. If I was an absolute perfectionist, there would have to be something temporarily stitched down at the edges of the border so that there wouldn't be any pull or stretch in the outside border. Uh huh. That's so not me.

A simple 'x' to help keep the corners secure

The dark green background is the part that still makes me sort of scratch my head, but it's nice to use something other than cream for the backgrounds. Love, love, love that all of the fabric in this quilt is from the stash. The cream fabric at the border is part of what I received from my aunt with the moth ball smell. After all that washing and bleaching, it's super soft and smells just fine.

Extra stitched flowers just for fun

And yep, I know what you're thinking. The cream background look still happened at the borders.*sigh  When we have a style, look, vibe we gravitate to, it's hard to deviate too drastically, right? And it softens the look of the quilts nicely. Don't you like the stitched lollipop flowers mimicking the appliqued ones? It's been a long time since I tried that. Always makes me smile!

Looks wonderful in certain lighting...

Crazy Daisy took a few days to plow through the sewing of the borders. It's such an important step and we want to make sure and do it properly. No sense taking care with the rest of the quilt if our rows can't match up and align properly.

Trying to sew up the row lengths, one by one

At first I pinned at every single seam and then I stopped and really thought it through. Hmmm... maybe only the seams at the cornerstones and wherever the seams have been ironed the opposite direction? I probably need to put some serious thought into my sewing table set up as my shoulders and neck always hurt after too much time doing this. Have to get up and stretch, roll my shoulders before getting back to it!

Love when it becomes one piece!

Amazing how much better it looks after the seam allowance disappears! It's hard to get this quilt to cooperate with the lighting, but I did my very best.

Ready to trim up the edges

Couldn't be happier with the setting triangle fabric. There's just something about a 'directional' fabric that makes my heart go pitter patter! And the rich look of the rosy red/pink colors help accent the daisy blocks quite well.

Didn't even try to match up the stripes on the edges

I really thought this one was going to be a finished quilt top at the setting triangles, but then I had a random idea. What if?

Always adding a border or two...

And you know there would be just barely enough fabric in the cheddar and the pink/red print to make it happen. Of course!  So I'd better be sure before cutting anything out! Okay, that's the last post before the holidays are in full swing. I'm planning on eating lots of goodies and spending prime time with the kids and grandkids. Sounds like all my siblings will be hanging out at mom and dads this year, so it's shaping up to be a hopping busy time all around. All the best to my American readers! Hope you have a great holiday too!

August Update

Decisions, decisions. It was either take the time to go quilt or take the time to actually write a post. Today I decided the post had to come first. 

Seedpod Flower quilt top is done!

What can I say about this quilt top? You already know that the flower itself was kind of an impulse, use-up-the-abandoned-bits sort of start. 

The full view

You also know that the inspiration pic was one that I fell head over heels in love with a very long time ago. Or did you? Regardless, I'm pretty impressed to actually see this interpretation finally come to reality. I do so adore a scrappy, utilitarian sort of look!

Scrappy goodness

I suppose this quilt would have looked fine without the Seedpod Flower center. Maybe. At this point I can't even imagine the quilt without it though. Once I wrapped my mind around how it all needed to fit together, then the top went together relatively easily. The anxiety and avoidance up to that point was stupid. Why do I always tend to overthink?

Trying to UP the 'busyness' factor with the prints this time!

All the economy blocks are the same size which means the horizontal rows are the exact same width. That was an important detail moving forward. The random placement thus relies strictly upon the differences in the various lengths of the connecting rectangles. 

A new color palette for me, but somehow it seems to work!

While they are not nearly as tall as the ones used in the inspiration picture, these started out from the scraps leftover from cutting the economy blocks. That was a good place to start. Hard to throw away the very narrow ones!  And so... determining approx. vertical measurements for the connecting rectangles became unexpectedly very simple. After all, I really didn't want the differences to be super extreme. A couple inches at most and there I was. Easy peasy.

Looking across...

Crazy how the bright, sparky applique addition to the inside border brightens everything up. I do wish the very slight, lighter blue outline above the curves still showed, but it ended up being turned under for seam allowance. This was just another one of those impulse rabbit trails that turned out to be a wonderful idea in the end. Sometimes it's nearly impossible to keep myself from traveling down the path of 'I wonder if x, y, or z would make things look better....'. 

Sometimes it works to the good and other times I find out that it's clearly wasted time. Never really know till you try though! I love how the yellow in the applique surround is more citrus than the rest of the yellow golds in the quilt. Yet it works as a very definitive framing for the Seedpod Flower, which of course, is the star of the entire quilt. Why not emphasize that even more!

This quilt top has a very distinctive mood, one that I can't quite put a proper label to. Is it retro? Vintage? Does it just convey fond memories of my grandmothers house dresses or perhaps it was the aprons she wore? Whatever it is, the mood as a whole, brings a smile to my face every time. 

Working on Spring Flowers

Another project that I've been spending time on in Spring Flowers. After seeing how washed out the flowers looked, I decided they needed a little bit of pzazz added in somewhere. After debating several different ideas {most of them ridiculously complex}, I ended up going with a very simple rail fence sort of block as the alternate. Lots of turquoise used to wake things up, but I also made sure to add insome clashy blue. For value and interest of course. There's just something about doing the unpredictable that always strongly appeals to me when it comes to quilting! The long narrow strips of the cream background fabric were added in after I realized that the flowers now needed some breathing room. So glad I had enough of that particular fabric because everything else just looked sloppy.

Auditioning border ideas

The brown and light cream striped fabric was something that I locked onto early on in auditioning border ideas. There's just something about a good striped border that speaks to me. Lots of ideas in play until abruptly I was completely done with dithering. The pink/rose fabrics were totally scrapped and simplicity became the name of the game. While I kept the strong chrome yellow, narrow, inner border {the blendy mustard gold fabric that seemed obvious was boring}, everything else got stripped down to basics. Will see how this border turns out in the end, but the thrill was just gone. Oh, and all the other orphan bits were dumped back into the totes too. So done with this particular project.Time to move on when it's not fun anymore!

Peachy Cameo in the hoop

The hand quilting is moving quite slowly on Peachy Cameo, but there's nothing very complex about what I'm doing. Sensing a theme here? One last hoop on the blue circle areas and then I'll be working on the two outside borders. I think they both will fit into one hoop {as far as width} so that's good. We're entering the long, long home stretch!

A closer look

As you can see, I often take the clamp off of one side when hand quilting. In this case, two of the blue 'circles' are right where the clamp would be, making it impossible to quilt in that area if it were to be attached. Honestly, I don't know if this is laziness or efficiency, but with this sort of quilting, having one clamp off is rarely a problem. The funny thing is, after all these years of working with only Perle Cotton thread and a long needle, my stitches are getting smaller. Still not super close together, but it's not exactly big stitching any longer. Oh well. Love the look regardless. All that instant texture is very addicting!

Will try to catch up with my emails and reading and/or commenting on other blogs in the next couple days. Have seen several posts in the Bloglover app that feel important to comment on, but the time simply hasn't been there. With time being diminished for quilting around here, often times there's really only one choice!

Here We Go Again

It was way past time for the Bullseye Medallion to get another border. I've been itching to get the red border on as the fabric just feels yummy. Only waiting for available floor space to properly lay things out and take a 'whole' quilt look!

The red border to Bullseye Medallion

My son {who has had the adjacent space next to the quilting room} finally moved out just last week. It only took him a month after he started talking about it and so I've been so {im}patiently waiting on him. Not that I wanted him to move out especially, but because I have been longing to have a clothes-free floor to lay out quilts. He is still eating dinner with us most nights during the week so this isn't something to be terribly upset about. He's just living a block away!

Trying to plan things out in the usual space...

Awhile back while digging through the applique-parts-and-pieces totes I happened to stumble across these leftover basket handles from a much older quilt. They seemed like a lovely element to try and add into this particular project. So very glad to find them and put them to good use. You know how I am with the orphaned and abandoned bits!

Always a piecing or applique unit to each round

For whatever reason, it was absolutely no trouble at all this time, to keep to the stated goal of having each border finish out at 5". Usually there is an internal debate that happens while I rebel against 'ridiculous' constraints. Ha  Might actually be the quilt that stays within the self-determined boundaries!

Love that the focus is on fabric

I'd say that I was finding my groove with the simple piecing efforts and primary focus being on the fabric and color rounds. Then I started in on the yellow border. Hmm... This one looks like it's gonna be a little bit harder. That's what I get for feeling like I had it all figured out. The quilt is currently 55 1/2" with three borders left {yellow included} to go. Adding all those borders will make it approx. 85" finished. However tempting it is to stop at the red border {and call it good}, 55 inches really isn't a good size for me. Plus, when have I ever backed down from an interesting quilting challenge?

So determined to use this old yellow plaid!

Next up in the hoop is the Playing With Scale #2 quilt. I guess technically, this one shouldn't even be in the running for getting finished quite yet. I like to work on the oldest quilts and then move forward, but as usual, that order does and can get changed around according to the slightest of whims.

Playing With Scale #2 getting sandwiched and pinned

This quilt is small, colorful and more importantly, requires zero marking. Sometimes that's really all that counts when making the decision about which one to favor!

A lot of spiky bits

I can see already that this one is going to go really fast. Every time I hand quilt a quilt top with strippy units it makes me fall in love all over again. There's just something very sweet about the old time 'utility' look to improv. strip piecing. Must do more!

Such a joy to see this one in the hoop!

All quilts should look like this after quilting. Why didn't I learn how to make quilts like this 20 years ago? I could have oodles of them by now.....

Folksy Flower Medallion Quilt is a True Blue Finish

This quilt has been finished up for several days now. First it needed to be soaked. Gotta make sure all that red dye doesn't ruin the light colored tulips! Then to find time for pictures. Right on time there was that couple days with the Internet down {how does the equipment degrade that much in five years?}, and then finally...

Folksy Flower Medallion

I paid attention to that niggling little voice inside my head that insisted each of the black petals needed more hand quilting. So that took several long, long hours of filling in. {Ignore the crease in the center of the quilt.  Apparently didn't leave it to dry flat on the floor for quite long enough, and folding it up gave it an attitude.}

Trying to get a decent picture

No hoop because I was worried about popping the previous stitches. Ugghh...  The center of a largish quilt is so very much fun to have to go back and add in stitches. NOT! I'm not sure it made a huge difference in the look of the quilt, but I do feel better about it. Now that it's done and all the grumbling is behind me. Or will be as soon as I quit writing this post....

So happy with the blue triangles poking out into the black border

The only picture which shows the extra stitching on the petals is the very first picture. At that point I was headed into a busy weekend and just wanted to move on dot com. Big plans to post pictures about this brand new finish on Saturday morning before the day started going crazy on me. Alas, our whole town lost power for about half or more of the day. By the time it came on, I was knee deep in a book, and of course that put me way behind schedule for all my other plans. You know the ones. They're obviously way more important than blathering on and on about a wonderful new quilt finish. Well, to the rest of the fam bam maybe. I'm perfectly fine with blathering on about quilts any 'ol day of the week as most of you are so very familiar with...

Still so happy with the center of this quilt.

Then there was today. One of those days where I didn't want to get out of bed. There was one too many phone calls. Lunch seemed like more trouble than it was worth and then.... my husband needed me to run some errands for him. Immediately if that was at all possible? Oh, and bills needed to be paid. Yay. One more reminder that I can't really afford to buy the new roll of batting that I'm sneakily trying to convince my family I would adore getting for mothers day. Okay. Maybe not so sneakily. They've started rolling their eyes at me lately.

My one and only medallion quilt turned 'on point'

Uhuh. Just post a magnet over my head with an arrow for negativity. That is me about right now for sure, but you can be glad I'm leaving out other essential parts of the story line. I'll simply imagine that you're patting me on the back and saying 'there, there' and it'll all be good.

Loving getting this quilt finished up. Truly. It's a real sweatheart of a quilt. But now that the initial euphoria is over, wondering how insane I would be to hang it in the regional quilt show later in the summer? Hmm... It's not exactly square since I cheated at most border ends and wound up with a little wonk. Yeah. Probably be better off as one of those quilts that need to shine brightest from a crumpled ball at the end of a bed, right?

Ta-da! The Hst Medallion is a Finished Quilt Top!

It's been awhile.  Earlier in the year I had determined that this quilt top was going to be finished up just as soon as I could drum up the energy. Eventually it became obvious that I would never truly feel up to this particular task. And so I set a timeline, made promises to myself. And finally, there was nothing left to procrastinate over or 'accidentally' nudge in front of this difficult project.

Hst Medallion Quilt top finish

Ughh.. Whose idea was this to recreate this antique quilt anyway? Pretty sure it was mine. Regardless, I have trembled in my shoes a time or two over the amount of work involved. I like dreaming up ideas, not sewing hsts and other mulitiple border units for literally days on end...

So many borders

You have to know it was a LOT of work. So many hours spent on this quilt. Mind numbing amounts of time. Crazy amounts of TIME wrapped up in this quilt. Am I repeating myself? I think I might be repeating myself....

256 flying geese units to piece

Cutting. Sewing. Ironing. Trimming. Sewing. Measuring. Pinning. Sewing. Ironing. Repeat and rinse... Cutting, Sewing, Ironing... I thought it might possibly never end. Obviously patience is not my strong suit these days.

Sewing, sewing, sewing...

I worked a little bit on the accuracy issue with this particular quilt, but I'm still me. Oh, am I ever! On occasion, it feels good to know that seams actually can match up, that everything learned has not been lost. And that seemed to pay off, until it didn't. In the end though {which is all that matters}, the quilt turned out relatively square. I'm very satisfied with 'relatively' and know that the planned future of hand quilting will, um... distract from anything obvious? Make it look amazing? For sure, make me forget about any supposed inadequacies!

I did wonder about not using pink for the square in a square border. The original quilt went off on a completely different tangent, color-wise, at this point. Nothing auditioned hit the happy button though, and almost all of the fabric used was dug straight out of the stash totes. Buying new would have had to involve strong motivation for its 'rightness'. When I couldn't determine a color that would almost definitely make things sing, then I went ahead with more of the pink. Oh well. Honestly, in some ways, I'm a little disappointed with the look. Playing with values with the blues and pinks apparently limited other color-use though. At least in my minds eye. That's the only thing that makes sense.

Getting ready to sew on the pink square borders

Every single strip and border had to be sewn on with lots of pins keeping things where they needed to be. So many seams.... I had to take a million breaks and go do laundry or file my nails. Do the dishes. Something really, really important. Whatever. My primary goal {quilty-wise}, was to not work on any other quilt, other than hand quilting which is always fair game, until this quilt was crossed off the list. This was a nose-to-the-grindstone sort of finish it up project. Many, many times I questioned why. Why? Why did I think the last two border additions were so important?

The very last pink border sewn on...

The last two borders measurements were cut out knowing that every single strip would undoubtedly end up being 'off' by approximately half an inch. At the very least. There was just no way I was cutting the pink squares or the geese units in 16th inch increments. I made an executive decision to not stress over perfect math. Ahh.. I do know myself so very well. Because it worked out just fine with my oh-so-accurate piecing. Nothing is ever exactly the length it's 'supposed' to be around here!

The pink strips ended up being more accurate than the geese ones, maybe because there are less of them per border length. All I had to do was lose between 1/4" and a 1/2" per length to make the borders fit. The flying geese borders were a bit trickier. Even going by the 'math', I somehow mis-figured by a lot. Each flying geese border should have had 64 units per side. Uh huh. That did not happen because I somehow ended up with 60 per side! The thing is though, I rarely ever trim them to an 'exact' size before sewing them into a border. So yes, you could say that I totally set myself up for variable border lengths! My feelings are, if the flying geese units are trimmed straight on the top and bottom sides, then they're good to go. Perfect quilts are so... boring!

I also decide what is most important before diving in with my make-it-up, make-it-do, make-it-work sort of work ethic. For this quilt? Keeping the tops points of the geese. That was the number one goal! After sewing on both side of the geese units, there will definitely be some side points disappearing into the seams. I know that. If the geese keep their pointy tops, everything else is well camouflaged except from the pickiest of quilters. And they can go jump in a lake!

Working on the flying geese borders!

To recap, the end goal was only to have borders that {fingers crossed} did not make for a wavy-edged ,waving hi! sort of quilt. Count the borders. This was a LOT of measuring and fiddling and fudging. Though I started out with a 'goal' measurement per border, in reality, they just had to fit nicely. Most of the black strips were used to whip the stitching errors back into place. You don't know how many times I had to grin at the original makers probable intent at the 'why' those specific strips were included. Wonderful design element, but wow! so genius for a subtle, but consistent course correction. Just for the record, I did eliminate one border from the original quilt look. Increasing the size of the hsts at the start made for a problematic finished quilt size

Uh oh! My bad!

Most of the time I don't take pictures while family members are at home. They would think I'm a weirdo, right? Somehow today, I got caught. There's that hypocritical thing that happens when moms do things they've always yelled at their children for doing. Who stands on a couch??? Seriously?

It's a big quilt, even folded into quarters...

Well, this quilt is obviously too big to take be taking pictures of inside of the house. I'm quite positive that other quilters do like I do though and make the best of what they have to work with. Including standing on the furniture if that's what it takes!

The spot where the best quilty pictures are taken was just kind of a joke today. That place works best for lap sized quilts and maybe bed size quilts if they are more narrow. I included the picture below so you could know how much bigger this quilt is than what I normally try to take pictures of. Perhaps we could get rid of the dining room table so I'd always have enough room, even for the biggest of quilts. lol

It's an old design, but it still somehow works!

Maybe too, I can somehow bribe my children to be quilt holders for me once again. Right now they seem to think they have better things to do, like take funny, ha ha pictures of mom doing things she hasn't ever liked for them to do. Did I mention that sewing this quilt together was quite tedious? ha! Only once or twice. I didn't ever feel very creative about the whole endeavor, to be perfectly frank with you. The design was already set, the colors mostly repetitive and the entire thing was more about implementation than true creative brain storming.

Antique quilts make for the best inspiration...

But I love it anyway. All 103" inches of it. I did it! Yay me! Now I'm left wondering if I'll ever let anyone use it after it's truly finished up some day in the future?