Let the hand quilting begin....4-27-15

Picking out the quilting designs is always a challenge. Each time I hand quilt I like to try new designs and improve my stitches. Sometimes I get anxious to get it all done. With being retired and more time on my hand I can relax a bit and enjoy the process even more. Now what gets in the way is all the lovely posts of quilts. Pintrest has been very helpful with designs completed on quilts.

For this quilt the blocks are much bigger than I am used to. They are also more square in appearance. I would like to try some feathers and more curves in my quilting. I am going to try to focus on one block or border strip at a time.

Then first block is a lovely block and one of my favorites. I finally decided on a simple feather design repeated four times in each corner. I will admit that the feathers are not identical, but I still love the effect on the block. They do not take up the whole block song was looking for some kind of filler. At this point I will leave it as is. This actually look me 3-4 days to complete. I used chalk to trace the design which works for me, but by the time I go to second block some of it got wiped out. I had cut out a template that I used to guide me in my remaining blocks.

My next area of focus is the bold red border that surrounds the center block. I have searched pintrest for ideas and asking the quilt to speak to me on a design. I have decided on half circles with a few intersecting at a few points. I thought a simple design here with the red and then the ivory switching would be a good choice. So will begin this today.

Our weather has been cool so it has beeb great to get a warm quilt on top of you. I have found that with spray basting, no hoop is the best way for me to quilt. I sit in my recliner with the foot part unto support the quilt. Moving it around provides a bit of upper arm exercise.

Progress picture....

Let's catch up

Dan and I spent 5 wonderful weeks in Tucson AZ. I did have on my agenda a stop at the SAS fabric store. I heard so much about the store, fabrics and the cost. I recently completed my insurance health assessment and got a 75 dollar debit card. I knew exactly where that money was going. I think it took me about an hour and a half sorting thru fabrics and coming up with a selection that I could use in the quilt for the backling. Original fabrics were the Egyptian fabrics, but felt I could substitute the southwest theme, especially since we have not been down here for about 15 years. I also will be a second home during the winter months as we did purchase a home on the last day of our stay. Actually the colors of the fabric go with the house and plan on making some placemats for the kitchen. So here is the pictures to get this all caught up. I have sandwiched the quilt and have picked a quilting design for the center block. Hope to begin quilting soon. Plan to take my time with quilting, but would love to have it completed prior to returning to Tucson. We will see.

Loved how it turned out

 Here is my southwest backling...I love how it turned out.

Here it is below my top, I remembered now that I will need to ad some borders to it.

Here it is with the borders.

Here is out kitchen of our new home in "Sunflower"- Marana Az.