Hand Quilting… A finish and a beginning too!

Happy Sunday Y’all!

From near the most famous beach….

to the serenity we found on that beach over the last few weeks…

Now to play catch up with you all… I have been slow stitching quite a bit since we last visited on my blog…. And to link to my favorite Sunday blog linky too.. Right HERE!  Click that HERE link to see what Kathy is up to and what others who link are up to on this fine day wherever you are!!!

I reached the last row of hexi flowers in this Hollyhock Garden Quilt 🙂

 And just after celebrating my 51st birthday reached the LAST Hexi Flower stitching !!!

 Then I marked all the top border row….

 And big stitched it….

 I had several requests for a photo once off the frame and trimmed (before binding) so I obliged…

 And here you can see the quilting a bit more….

While completing this quilt my honey and I had a welcomed visitor though as well!!!  My bestie and quilting mentor Connie!!!!

This year she flew down from Tennessee for her yearly week visit.  It was so good to see her and with all that has been happening in our lives here a welcomed relief to have someone to visit with that truly understands things we are dealing with presently.

The 3 of us all have July birthdays… Connie’s is July 3, mine is July 4, and Rick’s is July 20 🙂  Happy Birthday to us!!!

My honey and I had done a bit of clean up and straightening in prep for her visit… here are a couple shots of her room she took upon arrival here…

We enjoyed preparing this space
for her and she enjoyed it too!
She also spent time in the living room
using the recliner my knees won’t help
me get out of so I rarely use anymore!

Daisy even hung out with her 😀

We also took photos … some posed…

 And some unexpected! lol

Once we delivered her back to the airport it was time to get the binding on the quilt… and get it ready for the home I had decided through prayer… this Hollyhock Garden Quilt should be destined for…

 Here is the label and the beginning of the binding started being sewn down… I add the twill tape labels to all my quilts… I get them from an Etsy shop…

 And here is the whole quilt after binding and washing and drying 😀

 Here is a collage I made of the finish!!!  I love the backing for this quilt almost as much as the front!

And Monday it will go into the mail for the lucky recipient .. my dear friend Brandy… a nurse who I trained to the PICU I worked in and who continues to serve others her nursing career.  She loves to read so I hope to find a pic some day of her snuggled in this quilt reading a good book. ❤

While finishing the slow stitching on this quilt… I finished the fast stitching of the outer borders on this quilt for my son and his new bride…

It is named Amethyst Stars Quilt …my own design from a quilt called Morning Star I found on the internet.

I used my stash and a layer cake of “country” colored fabrics to make this quilt… as well as some donations from Connie… in fact the outer border is the end of the green fabric I backed and bordered my very first quilt with.. it has now been retired do to overuse and it is needing repairs! lol  But the fabric is even better looking on this quilt!!!

Would y’all be interested in a tutorial on how to do a nice n easy mitered corner on outer borders of a quilt??  Leave me a comment about it if you would… I took pics to do the tutorial but until now I haven’t had the time! lol  Now I am ready IF there is interest!!!

The backing is a rusty brown and dark brown mix of paisley prints… very modern country in how it looks and may become the binding as well!  Here it is now on my frame… my honey helped me with that job and we got it on there yesterday… Saturday morning….

You can see the nice Hinterberg frame my honey fashioned for me from a kit we bought directly from the company here in the USA… I use a gooseneck lamp that had a torchier on it but that was long ago removed as I only need the gooseneck and love how functional it is… I left on the light for this pic so you could see how nice and bright a white daylight bulb is… they come 4 or 5 in a pack at Lowes or Home Depot… a hardware store that carries a large selection of flourescent bulbs 😉

I use a rolling chair with arms… and a rolling table and all this moves as I need it to to get to what I am quilting… by hand 😀

Check out that “relax” sign on the upper right of the picture… that was my birthday present from my bestie Connie last year… this year I got…

 <<>>

She found the funniest card with 2 nurses on it to give me this year… so fun!!! and on the right is a pin that I added a heavy duty magnet to so it can hang on the refrigerator… along with this cute vintage card that came from the maker of this vintage quilt piece that is embellished with the saysing “Ever day is a Blessing”!  LOVE IT!  My honey gifted me with a matching tea pitcher and iced tea glass… I drink iced tea (diet that is) about 50% of the day or more… between bouts of water and coffee… and we use reusable cups/glasses for most of that … so a very practical gift and a card that made me cry he found it quick he said but it was perfect for the LOVE we share with each other!!

Suffice it to say the crazy busy week we had when Connie was here was over much too fast… we didn’t even get our birthday lunch in at our fave restaurant because life was so busy when she was here… but next year she hopes to stay a bit longer… maybe that will work out too!!!

So I have shared my finish and my beginning… I did a little piecing on a project yesterday and the day before also… but now am stumped… so off to Connie I mail it to get finished….

To the left is the beginning… & to the right is the final layout.  Below is my version of a checkerboard dresden layout… with inspiration from MSQC and
Jenny Doan.  But just using the scraps from the quilt I made for Connie’s room to make this pattern work!

But how do I get the backing and batting on this without zig zagging each top of each dresden piece!!!

So Connie has a couple ideas… and I got ink refills for my printer and printed off some pics from our visit to send to her along with some requested private pics too ❤

Here is a collage I made of her time here!

And here is the stencil I will be marking today….

Along the bottom wide border of the Amethyst Stars quilt… currently I am doing the supportive stitching in the ditch… so that this fun stitching will show up nice!  More on that next week I am hoping!!!!

Have a blessed week and thanks for stopping by y’all!!!
And PLEASE in this time of strife all over the place make time to….

Advertisement