In the Light of Day

Ok, I left the Twin Sisters quilt on the design wall last night and when I looked at it this morning, I decided that I really do like it. The border really brightens it up (I really do love mitered corners) and the cornerstones really aren't too bad. As a reader commented yesterday, had I used brighter fabric for the cornerstones, it would have overpowered the flow of the quilt. And like my husband and  a couple of others said, the qult has an old or washed out look to it, which makes it feel comfy. Thanks Vrooman's Quilts for the reminder that we are our own worst critics!

Here's a better picture of the quilt.

Today, in between baking the 15 dozen cookies for an order and packing for the retreat, I'm putting the binding on my Big Ten quilt. This is a fun and big quilt (86" x 106") by Swirly Girls Designs. I'm loving the orange binding!

Met the Goal

I wanted to finish my Twin Sisters quilt top before I went on retreat and I was able to do that tonight. If you click on the picture it will enlarge it and it does look better. I really do need to learn to take better photos!

Adding the blue and floral stripe borders really helped brighten this up a bit; but I really wish I had used brighter fabric for the cornerstones. Oh well. It's ready to be quilted and then I'll bind it with the same blue that was used for the first border.

I do like the fact that this is now a more "user friendly" size for me (about 70" x 80"). Who knows, by the time it's quilted I might really like it.

The REALLY good news is that this is a UFO that is close to being DONE, DONE and DONE (pieced, quilted and bound)!

Design Wall Monday

This is going to be a busy week, but I hope to get the borders added to the quilt that I put on the wall tonight. It's a UFO, of course, and it's called Twin Sisters, by Eleanor Burns from her Quilts Through the Seasons book. I've made a couple of these but this is the only one that is still in my possession. I think the fabric that I used was mostly from April Cornell's Sunshine line for Moda Fabrics and I know it's a few years old.

 I know exactly why I stopped working on this. I was disappointed in how it was turning out. I thought it was kind of dull and even if I added a narrow dark blue border and then the floral border, I just wasn't going to be thrilled with it. (The picture isn't the greatest, but I can't blame it all on my lack of photography skill. This quilt is pretty bland.) I'm probably still not going to be thrilled with it when it's done, but I will be thrilled with the fact that I will have finished another UFO.

Here's how I picked this project to work on. This evening I finished up my Weave It To Me quilt (my first DONE, DONE, and DONE of 2012), and I decided that I didn't want to start something new before heading off to retreat on Friday. That meant that if I was going to sew, it had to be on a UFO and it probably shouldn't require too much work. Since I've been working in blues and yellows lately and I have a pretty full light blue bobbin, I decided it was time to finish this puppy. I'm sure that if If don't like the end product, I can find someone who will.

Here's a few pictures of my Weave It To Me (front and back). I really like how this turned out, including the back. I don't usually piece my backs this way, but I had two large pieces of the floral that, pieced together, would be about 6 inches too small for a solid-fabric backing; so added a strip of the yellow fabric and it worked perfectly. I like how it compliments the front of the quilt.

In case you didn't see my post about the Missouri Star Quilt Company Iron Quilter contest results, be sure to take a few minutes and check it out. I'm thrilled to say that I won third place, but even more exciting is that there are LOTS of fabulous projects to see and put on your "to do" list. I think their site is down for repairs right now, but be sure to check back later. It's worth it!

If you need inspiration or just want to see some really talented quilters, check out the Design Wall Monday links at Judy L's Patchwork Times.