It is Finished!!  I did  the happy dance when I got the binding finished during "Castle" on Monday!.  #2 for  2013 - A  Lovely Year of Finishes hosted by Melissa of Sew BitterSweet Designs and Shanna of Fiber of All Sorts,

          I like how it turned out and hope the woman who will receive it, gets a bit of joy during a hard time in her life, as I am donating it to the local women's shelter here in our county.  Our quilt guild donates quilts to the women's shelter and makes youth and baby quilts for the Children Resource Center.

           The pattern is Bonnie Hunter's "String X", found in her free patterns.  I didn't use a foundation for the strip.  I just pieced the strip and then trimmed the ends with the template.  I only had a few places not match by doing it this way.  I  had picked up a lot of the scraps from the guild's free table and added some of my own.  I did have some trouble quilting as I quilted all of the straight lines first  but got some creases when I was quilting inside the area I had stabilized. 


I had fun doing the flowers in the green part and decided to change up my 'go to' flower

and try some squared off petals

and then some narrow petals.

 These daisy blossoms were fun to do.    I put them around the edges.

 (Sorry for the too light pictures!  I will try to do better next time. :-) I quilted the border with straight lines of stitching.  Each time around, the the line of quilting was wider then the row before.  I think the border could use a bit more quilting as it does have a  little wave in it.

So glad this project is finished.   Have tried some new quilting designs and learned a bit about quilting borders! 

Thanks Melissa and Shana for the deadline!

Keep the Joy!
Marsha 

Three Day weekend to Sew!
        
I have a 3 day weekend and have been making some good headway into quilting my quilt for this month's goal for  "A Lovely Year of Finishes". 

Friday night, I starched and ironed the backing, and top and got it sandwiched and pin basted.

           Saturday, I didn't get to do any sewing but it's ok.  I had a great day with hubby and son.  We celebrated son's 27th birthday by taking him to a movie  (Argo) and then dinner at Granite City.  The movie kept you on the edge of your seat,  and while I was a young adult during that time in our history, I don't remember anything about the 6 who came home before the other hostages.  The meal was wonderful.  I had the best hamburger with toppings! I couldn't pick it up so I ate it with a fork! 


             Sunday,  I did get to sewing and made some headway on quilting the top.  I decided to outline the lattice work and then do a design through the lattice work.  In the green squares I am going to freemotion  a flower design.  The thing that drove me nuts last night was getting "lost" in the maze of outlining.  I didn't want to go over lines twice so I would get stuck somewhere.  At the end.  I took the quilt and marked every seam I need to quilt with painter's tape. 






(I hope it sticks on until I get to that place)  Today, I am planning to finish up the outlining and then start the quilting.  So onward I go.


Marsha!

Wow, it's the 6th day of the month and I haven't had time to link up with A Lovely Year of  Finishes! 

 I have been sewing, piecing really;  working on an old Block -of-a-Month.  I finished block 7 and now working on block 5.   These 2 blocks also have pieced blocks for the first border.  It is 'Northern Skies' from Thimbleberries.   I will have some pictures, once I find my camera.  I was using it on Sunday, but now can not find it. LOL!  It drives me crazy some times.

            Anyway!  I decided  what project I do want to finish this month.  It is a quilt that is all pieced with bright pinks, purples, yellows and lime greens.  I love how happy it it.  It is a Bonnie Hunter's pattern from her blog.     Here are 2 blocks

 but to be fair, I have the entire top pieced and the back ready to go.  Just a good pressing/starching, pin baste and then quilt and bind.   Whew!  that sounds like a lot to do, but,  I am going to try really hard to get it done this month.






Best wishes to everyone to meet their February goal!

Joyfully sewing along,

Marsha