A Big Finish

I thought the title appropriate, given this is a queen size quilt we are talking about.  This is the quilt that began las October when my sister was here for my daughter's wedding.  We went to the local quilt shop and she picked out fabric.  Then, the search for the perfect pattern.  She found this:

 In this magazine a quilt designed by Amanda Murphy.  My sister loved it.  I thought it was almost perfect.  I got a copy of the issue from Fat Quarter Shop.  I then proceeded to change it a bit.

I didn't want to do all the tiny square in the center, so I omitted them and just did 4 bigger squares.  It was still a lot of pieces to put together.  I finally got the piecing done and sent it off to a local quilter.  I told her what I wanted and gave her some free reign also.  This is what she came up with:

on my picnic table

sew pretty

can you see the quilting?

my label

all folded

here's a bit of the quilting

The other thing my sister asked for was pillow cases.  So here they are...

folded and ready to go

have you ever wondered what 400 inches of binding looks like?  It looks like this:

ironed

and rolled up, ready to go

being attached

Sorry for so many pictures, but my sister is anxious to see this.  It will go in the mail tomorrow.
Statistics:
Pattern: Box of Chocolates by Amanda Murphy
Fabrics: assorted (sorry I didn't keep track)
Backing: Moda grey Marbles
Quilting pattern: A Rose is a Rose-Simple Pantograph
Pieced by: Charlotte Maxwell
Quilted by Suzan deSerres-Singing Stitches Quilting Studio

Hope you love it sis!
Have a great Sunday

Back to Work Tomorrow

I kinda hate it, but I am ready to head back to work tomorrow.  It's been a great, productive 10 days.  I am so type A, I measure the success of vacation time in terms of productivity!  Well, this wasn't meant to be a sit on my butt vacation anyway.  So here, on top of all I blogged about last week, is the weekend's work.

This is the beginning of the quilt for my middle daughter.  I won a box of scraps from Moda Lissa a while back and when I saw all the strips and even 3 little beginnings of Log Cabin blocks, I knew what I wanted to do with it.  I made these 6 log cabin blocks and now I am adding strips around them.  I am letting the colors lead me and stopping to look and consider.  The outer strips are a very pale blueish green, with some grey tones.  They look grey here.

 I am making two of these, pieced and quilted, for the arms of my new couch.  I never thought I would own a white couch, and it's really off white, but the arms need a bit of protection.  Besides, there is already a quilt on the back of the couch and two pillows I made.  I will post pics soon.

 I really did have this on my list for 2012-The Swoon Quilt.  When I saw the Swoon-Along, I jumped in.  I have had the pattern since November, but the fabric was stumping me.  I didn't want to buy any, and I didn't want it to be too scrappy.  I had a fat eighth bundle of Strawberry fields, but that wasn't enough to make it work.  So I decided on the Reunion fat quarter bundle that I got just before Christmas.  More than enough fabric in that.  I am glad for the push!

 Next there is this project.  My sister's quilt.  I drew up the plans to be similar to this quilt that she liked by Amanda Murphy.  I simplified it to make the assembly a bit easier.  This quilt will be for a queen size bed so it will be big enough as it is.

 I had to start cutting, and I dreaded it.  I wasn't sure if we had enough fabric.  We bought the fabric before there was a plan for it.  I did go back on New Year's Day to the big sale a bough 3 more half yard cuts.  The little yellow post it notes are the number of pieces in each pile.  I am relieved to report I even have a few extra pieces.

Here are the scraps from the cutting.  I love looking at them!  Now, gotta get sewing on this and get the Swoon quilt pieces cut out.  With 3 big quilts going all at once, I need to find a good way to store all the pieces neatly during the piecing stage.  Anyone have any ideas that work for them?

Have a great week.  See you back here Swoon...I mean soon. :)