Finished!

The quilt is done. It's a wet and cold day, so no good picture of the finished quilt. I started this quilt four months ago and have worked on it every day. I am glad it is done.

Here is a photo of the binding going on.  You can see my sewing machine is very basic and old.

Borders on botannica

The side borders are now on. I'm undecided if it's more problematic to quilt an entire queen size quilt in a machine with a six inch harp or to do it as qayg. I'm not convinced that qayg ends up with a flat quilt once you add the borders, as they get added first and then get quilted, ending up with the dreaded shrinkage. Still, I'm happy that there should only be a couple of weeks left in this quilt. I've been either planning, sewing or quilting it since February. I still love it.

March 2012 FMQ Challenge

Here is my attempt at feathers, as taught by Diane Gaudynski - I decided to incorporate these into a quilt I was already making.  Not flash, but not too bad for a first effort

May 2012 FMQ Challenge

For May, Leah Day was the guest teacher. Leah set us the task of creating a large meandering stitch and then stippling over the top of it. Here is my attempt.

January 2012 FMQ Challenge

I didn't join the challenge until May, so I'm playing catch up.  Here is my January block, as taught by Frances Moore.  Completed in June.

June 2012 FMQ Challenge

Cindy Needham was the teacher for June.  She suggested we break an area into smaller sections and try out different quilting styles.

While this looks quite nice, I really only quilt baby or bed quilts, so find this too dense.  I found this a difficult challenge as I had lots of thread breaks (about 30) and thread build up.  It took me about four hours to complete - guess I need more practice. 

I would have done another sample, but my sewing machine and I aren't talking to each other any more - it's well and truly overdue for a service.

Anyway, here it is.

June Challenge

I've joined all three columns and included a new panel at the base.  Here's a photo of halfway through quilting the new base panel.  My sewing machine is making strange noises and I've had a lot of thread breaks.  Looks like I'll have to send it off for a service.

All joined up - side border still has to be added

Billie Jean a puppy

Just found this video of Billie - a slightly spoiled dog

All blocks done

Hooray, I've finally finished quilting the blocks. Now to join up the columns. I'm a bit nervous about how well this might go. I suspect pins and I are about to become good friends. Rather than adding sashing at the back of the quilt to join the blocks, I'm going to try using the overhang of the backing. I've trimmed this down to 3/4 inch and will use sashing on the front of the quilt - 2 inches wide and folded in half? Wish me luck.