Quilt 40: Chinese Peonies - DONE!

It sat in my closet for almost 3 years - this kit from Florida. But I've finally put it together. I have to laugh - this was probably the FASTEST quilt I ever did.

Here's the panel edging and borders:

And here's a closeup. It's a shame the colours in the photos don't come through true - it looks a bit "tomato-y" here.  But in real life, they are rich, deep and vibrant.

I used the "Baptist Fan" groovy boards on this one - and here's the back (again the camera lies - the fabric on the back is sharp black, not grey as it appears)

In years past, I posed all my quilts on the stairwell rail. I stopped doing that - but hmmm... may start doing that again - as it does make a nice place to "pose".

It took about 3 hours to finish the quilting. I'm still amazed at how fast this longarm is - and the Baptist Fan pattern, with all it's uninterrupted lines, goes by very fast.

As I'm going along, I'm doing better with the longarm. I've become quite adept at dealing with it when the bobbin thread runs out. You can barely tell now where that's happened, and I'm happy with that. Dealing with the top thread breaking is still a challenge, but thankfully the thread I'm using ("Signature" brand) - as recommended by Howard the longarm dealer - has been great - it rarely breaks. Even so - it does happen occasionally, so I'm gradually learning to cope.

And dear friend Ebony now has her Chinese quilt - Oh... you should have seen the look on her face when I gave it to her.  That look of joy was worth every stitch.

Quilt 33: Royal Peacocks - DONE!

Here's the original design:

I decided to use my new "Baptist Fan" groovy boards. With the oriental prints, fans just seemed the best, most natural choice. Here's one of the groovy boards:

If you look closely, you'll see that the groves flow in one continuous line.

And here's how it played out on the quilt:

I am delighted with how it looks on the top.

The back looks great, too!

It's pretty - and it stitched up amazingly fast - the fastest of
the three groovy board designs.

And the finished quilt, after binding:

I learned a few things while doing this quilt. I mounted the quilt with the upper edge being quilted first. That turned out to be a mistake, but I didn't realize it until I got into the stitching. The boards have an "alignment mark" - a line under the bottom of the fans. The point to that line is you're to use it to line up the next row of stitching after advancing the quilt on the frame. Because I started at the top, that line wasn't in the right position when I advanced the quilt. I had to line up the stitching rows without the use of that handy mark. I did OK, though. The rows aren't EXACTLY the same distance, but nobody is ever going to notice that. The next time I use these groovy boards, I'll mount the quilt upside-down. That way I'll be able to use that alignment mark as it's meant to be - and should be able to get near-perfect rows.

Quilt 40: Chinese Peonies

I was visiting my cousin in Florida back in 2012 - and she took me to her favorite quilt shop. Oh - did we have fun!  And while there, I bought this kit:

There are three different fabrics in the kit - the printed panel (Chinese Peonies), a small amount of green (to border the panel - showing below), and a large peony print for the outer border.

Here's the printed panel on it's own.

I love the bright colours - just couldn't resist it!

And look at the little bird flying above the flowers. CHARMING!

(click the photo above for a larger image)

It took no time at all to put it all together - less than an hour, really!

The photos don't do it justice, of course, especially the red. It looks a little "tomato-y" in the photo, but it's not really like that. It's a deep, clear, rich red.  The photo below is a bit better:

I'm backing and binding it with solid black fabric. Now to decide what colour thread to use. At first black seemed the best choice - but then I saw a similar quilt hanging in my favorite quilt shop here in Australia - and that one was stitched in gold - GORGEOUS!  So gold it will be.  And I'll use the "Baptist Fan" groovy board for the stitch pattern.

Inspirational Quilts

I'm having a grand time powering my way through my UFO stash - but the truth is that as I make quilt after quilt, well... I don't really want or need the quilts. I just want the fun of making them! Many friends have stepped forward to adopt one of my projects, but eventually everyone who wants one will have one.  What happens then?

Well, it won't be a problem.  I know there are organizations around Victoria and elsewhere in Australia which take donated quilts and distribute them to people who need them. A quick Google led me to one in particular which captured my imagination and my heart:  Inspirational Quilts

Inspirational Quilts is a registered charitable organization in Victoria whose purpose is to collect and distribute donated quilts to individuals who are experiencing tough times. This includes children at the Royal Children's Hospital, families at Ronald McDonald House and so on.

I came across them when I saw this article about Nancy Gheno, the founder of Inspirational Quilts. The article tells her own story of crisis and recovery, and how she came to found the group. One of the things I like about them is the fact that you can "nominate" someone (via their website) to receive a quilt. That can be a family member or friend. I don't know how many quilts have been given away via nominations, but the idea of that really appeals to me.

So I contacted Nancy.  We've not met, but we've swapped a couple of emails. She seems like a lovely person and I'm very excited about the opportunity to contribute some of my quilts. I'm thinking I may set myself a goal of making every 3rd quilting project a quilt for this lovely organization. Heaven knows I've got plenty of material in my UFO closet!

Here's Inspirational Quilts website.