I got it done!


The lone star quilt is finished. It's so large that I decided to take pictures while it was still on the machine. You can see in this picture that it's pretty flat and evenly quilted.



The border got a curling feather design.

This is the center of the setting squares. I did meandering around the rose to make it show up better. The thread (stitching) is not what makes a design show up.... it's the negative space created by the thread that your eye sees.

The outside of edge of the squares also have a feather design to frame the rose.

The rose was done on the setting triangles too.

The corners of the setting triangles.

The other side of the setting triangles.

Now for the star points. Each individual diamond got a design in them.

There is a stop and start in each of the lined diamonds and from corner to corner design in the other diamonds. No stops and starts on each one of those.

I repeated the designs in the same colors going toward the center of the star. As you can see there is still some fullness but it's spread out fairly even throughout the quilt.

Another view so you can see how I worked in the extra fullness. Washing the quilt should take even more of the fullness. Washing takes out the sizing and the fabric relaxes.

Showing you more of the designs in the star points.

We finally get to the center of the star.... the place where I had so much trouble before. I think it turned out rather nice.

The reason I did a larger more open design in the center is because heavy quilting draws up the quilt. This area was already too tight and heavy quilting would have made it worse. Loose open quilting next to heavier quilting gave this area a balance.

Here is a closer view of the center.

I had enough time to finish the binding so I called the owner to tell her it was finally finished. I thought she would be happy but it turns out that she really wanted her husband to see the quilt done before he passed away. It had been his mother's unfinished quilt not the woman's mother. The husband passed away last week. Need I say more?

Mental picture..... a dog that's cowering and slinking to a corner because the owner is scolding him. Now picture me..... I'm slinking to my guilty corner for a couple of days.

I'm making another post this evening because I may not get the chance to get on the computer tomorrow. I'm going to the fair. I'm not sure when I will get back home or how tired I will be.

Today, I got down to the last rows on the current quilt when I decided to call it a day. It's late, after 8:00 and I've worked on it continuously since this morning about 6 I think.


While quilting I had to watch for straight pins left in the seam lines of the top so I wouldn't break a needle.

Then I also had to watch for unsewn seams to prevent sewing the hopping foot into them.

So far it's looking like it will be fairly flat when finished. It probably won't be square.... but I'm doing my best.

I'll take some pictures at the fair and share them with you in my next post.

These are today's finished quilting projects. 5 pillows are being made from blocks found in a trunk filled with WWII things. The lady wanted pillows instead of a quilt so that several family members can have a piece of their history. I decided to let these relax for awhile before finishing.

Next I finished the binding on this one. I had completed the quilting back earlier this year before I got behind on my work. It's also a found treasure. Found when cleaning out the things of the customer's mother who had passed away.



Then I started finishing up this one. It's also a treasure found by a family member when cleaning out her mother's things.



I always feel happy to be a part of completing the work started by someone and never finished. The saying is.... one person's UFO is another's treasure. When I complete quilts for someone who has passed away; I think that maybe the person is looking over my shoulder and applauding my efforts. Maybe they are happy to know their family can enjoy it as a memory of them.

Sometimes I'm lucky and all the pieces and instructions are still there. Other times I have to guess at what the original person had in mind. Then there are the times when I have to search through old patterns and books to get an idea of how a quilt would have been finished. Looking through quilt books is fun but sure can eat away at the hours.

What's my point of today's post? Well I often hear of quilters who believe the family will toss or donate all their quilting stuff after they are gone. Many quilters are making out a quilter's will. Certainly, if the person who passes has tons of gadgets and thousands of yards of fabric it will get tossed or donated. But among all those things there is usually one or two ufo projects someone will treasure. I'm one of the lucky people who often get to see what the treasure is and help finish it.

If you are a quilter who starts several projects at one time. Think about storing all the pieces, all the fabrics, and all the instructions in the same bag or box. It will help your family get it finished.... if for some reason you can't.

Time for me to go to work....