An Anniversary Quilt

Here is another one of Deb’s gorgeous quilts.  It’s an anniversary present for a friend of hers.  What an amazing gift!  It’s a biggie!!!  AND it had the biggest borders to date that I’ve quilted.  Nearly 10 inches!!!!  Of course I chose to feather those right up!!  Warning…no shortage of pictures here.

Oh, I love these feathers.  Lush and gorgeous!!  I did a simple crosshatch in the narrow white border.  An allover feather type design in the body of the quilt.  It’s a feather with a little swirl.  Love it!!

The batting is wool.  My favorite.  It’s so light and pliable, plus it really shows off the the texture of the quilting.  If you are hesitant about the durability of wool, don’t be.  I recently washed my tumbler quilt with wool batting and dried it till it was crispy.  I know a few of you are cringing at that thought, but I needed to see what would happen.  Nothing.  It’s so cuddly.  Even better after I’ve washed and dried it.  Now the back.  It’s a reversible quilt!

All the quilting is freehand.  I used a very light creamy white So Fine thread on top and bobbin, so the back would have that whole cloth look.  Gorgeous.  I knew feathers would look amazing in the border of this quilt.  It’s a good thing I love quilting feathers because it was almost impossible to see what I was doing.  This is exactly what it looked like when I was quilting the borders.  No joke.  No trick photography here.

Yes, when I say my blood, sweat and tears go into each of these quilts, I’m not speaking figuratively.  I may need a stronger pair of glasses now.  I felt like I looked like Marty Feldman by the time I was done. LOL!  Scott kept coming in and saying “I don’t know how you are doing it.”   We did try shutting off the lights and using a sidelight, but it was still difficult.  I could see what I had JUST quilted, but not what I was quilting or where I was going very well.

 

So I’m still quilting like a mad woman here.  I’ve been staying up until 2:00 – 4:00 in the morning quilting lately.  It’s starting to wear on me a bit now.  Thankfully I have the best clients in the world!! Everyone has been super patient and understanding.  I admittedly get a big fat E for scheduling quilts.  I failed miserably at that.  I feel terrible about not getting quilts done as quickly as I thought I would.    On the bright side, I learned much about the process.  I’m scheduling myself much more time in between quilts for the future. 

Is everyone ready for Christmas?  I’m as ready as I’m going to be.  Hopefully, I can post some pics of decorations before Christmas.  Oh, figured out the problem with my machine.  Easy fix, just took a lot of time.  I lost a day of precious quilt time.  AND yes, I ordered extra O rings from A-1 just in case I have another melt down again.  🙂