A Very Purple Finish

I first blogged about the Purple Quilt in this post then updated you in this post, and now I can tell you the rest of the story.  This was one of the most fun quilts I've ever made.  I was making it as a surprise for a dear friend, but also blogging about it and sharing it on FaceBook.  A lot of times I asked for input and followed her recommendations whenever she commented.  I even went so far as to hint for buttons knowing she would volunteer to send me some!  

I used my favorite King Tut thread by Superior Threads to quilt the violets .....

  




















..... leaving a space in the centers so I would have room to add the buttons.  

I didn't like the way that looked on the back, though .....

..... so I ended up putting appliquéd green squares over all those spots, and I actually love the way it looks now.

After quilting the violets with purple and the background with ivory, I decided I didn't like the green cornerstones not having any quilting in them, so I went back and quilted with purple in each one.

It was so much fun putting such a variety of buttons on this quilt.  I love the effect.

Now, my dear friend has a lot of favorite things in addition to purple and buttons, and one of them is tea.  I embroidered a little teapot and cup along the edge on the backing.

Another little special touch was adding a piece of purple hippo fabric onto the back.  (Yes -- she likes hippos, too!)

There you have it.  A special quilt for a special friend, Gloria.  

Here's the front.  (It sort of blends in with my design wall, but hopefully you can see that the quilt ends at the purple binding.)

Here's the back.

And here's the beautiful label my friend Penny made for me to add to the back.

Gloria was truly surprised today when she received the quilt in the mail.  She thought sure she had figured out who I was making it for, but she was wrong.  After she stopped crying she posted this photo on FaceBook of herself wrapped up in it.  I think it's safe to say she's happy with it.

I am linking up with A Quilting Reader's Garden for WIP's Be Gone Week 11.

Finally! A Finish!!

The mostly pink Tile Tango quilt I started as a NewFo in April is finished!  This is my first finish since July so I'm pretty excited.  I used to get about 15 to 20 quilts made every year until I moved to Alabama to be near my grandchildren.  Now for some strange reason I don't have nearly as much time to sew as I did before!  (It's a good trade off though -- I LOVE being here!!)

I used Bubble Gum pink Rainbow thread by Superior Threads and quilted it on my Bernina.

It was fun cramming a 75" x 108" quilt through a domestic machine.  

That's why I decided that instead of stippling I would just stitch along the seam lines with my machine's serpentine stitch.  I really like the way it looks.

After I quilted it I cleaned and oiled my machine and changed the needle which is really important to do between projects.  I use a Q-tip to clean out the dust because canned air actually forces the dust into the machine, and blowing into it to get the dust out puts the moisture from your breath into the machine - neither of which is a good thing!  Can you tell it needed a little cleaning?

Since the pink fabric is called "Cotton Candy" and the thread is called "Bubble Gum" I had some fun quilt names running through my head, but Hubby suggested "Pretty in Pink" and I think that's the perfect name for it.  

So tonight I will sleep under it (something I always do before giving away a quilt) and tomorrow I will wash it and get it ready to mail.  I can hardly wait for Aemarys to get her new quilt.  She has loved her baby quilt so long.  She's ready for a big girl quilt!

Aidan's Star Wars Quilt

I hope you have been watching the progress on Aidan's Star Wars quilt because this one has been a lot of fun.  (Yes, I really mean it!)  It had its challenges, but it came together well and took less than a month to complete.
To give the quilting a little more interest, I decided to use Rainbow Threads in "Zebra" by Superior Threads which alternates black and gray and white thread.  

There's a little more white in it than I had hoped, but I like the way it turned out.

I ended up using orange for both the inner border and the binding and then piecing the back to use up all the fabrics.  

Here's the back.

I can hardly wait to give it to him.  He was SO excited when I told him I was working on a Star Wars Quilt for him.

This is Aidan when he's just being Aidan.....

.....and this is what he looked like the last time I saw him.  I think he may have been a Storm Trooper.  

I know that's a light saber.  Just about everything IS!