A Weeks Worth of Work, Then Some!

~ Sam approves of the finished quilt. ~

This week has been full of...hand quilting! I've had this quilt cut out, pieced together and have been hand quilting it for months...seems likes years! As you may well imagine, it's warmer to quilt in the winter months and far warmer to quilt in the summer months -smile-. Also, it's not like I've not had anything else to do except finish this quilt; seems there's always work to be done and a juggling act to keep it all together. This week, canning has suffered because this quilt had to be finished by tomorrow night. And it is now finished.

This is the Turning Twenty pattern, which I've made about two dozen times, and have yet to tire of making this particular quilt. I find joy in the putting together of the colors and prints and always use cotton material for all my quilts. Some of them have been put together with flannel but all have been 100% cotton material.

~ Lively colors! ~

The quilt back is a solid pink with small yellow flowers and coordinates nicely with the front. I used variegated threads in the hand quilting and a solid yellow thread for both top and bobbin threads. The hem is machine quilted as I absolutely hate for someone to come back to me and say, "so and so caught their toe in the hem and ripped it out; will you re-hem it?" Grrrrrr! If they catch their dang toe in a machine sewn hem, it's their toe that will have to give -wicked grin-!

Dave's cousin, Kyle, married Ruth Anne, two years ago and they were given a wedding gift at that time. I also wanted to given them something hand made and, after about six months of work, this quilt will be given to them tomorrow night. It's been a mad rush to finish the hand quilting and the last two hours were put in tonight. For the most part, each block has something hand quilted inside it...hearts, stars, clouds, crosses, floral...as well as their initials and wedding date. I've reached an age when it's more difficult to see and my quilts tell that particular story, I'm sorry to say. There are boo-boos galore and the hem is a bit wonky but it's made with a lot of love and prayers so, perhaps, that covers my mistakes. I think about five or six of the darker blocks don't have hand quilting as it was simply too difficult for me to see. Hope it doesn't fall apart on them -grin- but they won't use it anyway. It will go on their guest bed and when guests visit, the quilt will go over the foot rail; in that way, it should last them a while. I signed it "To Kyle and Ruth Anne with love, Sandra 2009."

I've already got a couple more quilts cut out and the next one is going to Dave's sister then I'll make one for me. Dave and all my family have received quilts, as well as several friends. My brother and his wife received the second quilt I ever made, a slightly larger than double bed sized quilt which she put on their guest bed but she's since put in a request for a king size quilt but she'll have to wait. She gave me a lot of fabric, thinking it would do for a quilt but it's mostly polyester and that simply won't do for a quilt. Polyester does nicely for rag rugs so I'll cut it into strips and either braid or weave rag rugs. I may even get one or two done for Christmas gifts...if I start now and HURRY!

Blessings ~ eyesight ~ quilts ~ family ~ weddings ~ rag rugs ~ cheerful colors ~