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.

Another UFO Finished!

Back in July I told you in this post about the Black and White and One Other Color Challenge quilt I was working on.  At that time it still needed borders but now it is a finished quilt.  

My friend Angela at Quilted Joy machine quilted it for me and did a beautiful job as always.  










I can't wait to give this one away.  It's for someone special, but I won't tell you about that until much later.  Don't want to ruin the surprise. 

This weekend I made five more pillowcases towards my 50 Pillowcase Goal for St. Louis Children's Hospital.  That makes twenty, so far!

I'm sure my friend Gloria will especially appreciate the hippo fabric.  It's from the Jungle Buddies line by Blank Fabrics .  The last time I blogged about pillowcases she told me I need to make more with hippos on them.

Well, this year is winding down and I haven't completed as many UFO's as I had hoped to.  Hopefully I can get another one or two finished before the holidays!