QUILTING AND BINDING FINISHED ON GRADUATION QUILT

It feels so good when a quilt is all finished.  And after the 25th anniversary quilt, with "custom" quilting, it felt so good to do an "overall" quilting job.  

I again used Angela Walters "Free Motion Quilting" book for inspiration.  In fact I used the same quilting design as I did on the Virginia Bound quilt (in header).  Except, this time, I think I finally got the hang of the hook in the "Swirled Hook" design.  Some of these same shirts were used in Virginia Bound and they aren't used up yet!

They aren't perfect, but maybe you can see a few of the hooks in the close-up pictures.

This is Bonnie Hunter's "Star Gazing" pattern and again, even though there is a lot of piecing to do, it seems to go pretty fast when you follow each section in the pattern as she describes it and get the chain piecing going.

I didn't have one piece of fabric that I could use for the whole back, so I pieced it (just like Bonnie does)!  I had some of the musical fabric left from the front - mostly used in the red and light colored triangles.

The whole back.

I also had some "historic" fabric pieces and some blue that went with it all and pieced it together the best that I could.  I think you can see the quilting better in this section below.

I still need to make a label and plan to do that this next week.  Woo Hoo!  Now I can get on to some fun UFOs, hopefully!

We found out that our DGS will be going to college in Minnesota, so I think this will help keep him warm for the cold winters they have there.

Oh, BTW, I didn't start anything new in April.

TWO QUILTS STARTED

I have 2 quilts that I need to make as gifts for this summer.  First is for my DS#1/DIL's 25th anniversary on July 1!!  This is what I have started.  In the 9-patch there will be 4 of a dark blue print and 5 pinwheels.  There will also be a pinwheel for each cornerstone.  Here is what I have on my design wall - and that's all I can fit on it.  I put it up "on point," but I might not make it that way.  

I'm going to need a gazillion pinwheels for this quilt, so I've been making tons of HSTs and will need to get more fabric.  Since I'm not using a pattern, I still have to figure out exactly how much fabric I need to buy.  I have enough of the blues - I have 7 different ones and there will be 30 12" blocks.

Next, I need to make a graduation quilt for my GS, son of the above couple, who is graduating from high school in June.  I decided to make the "Star Gazing" quilt from this book by Bonnie Hunter.

Here's the picture in the book.

I have just started making a few blocks and because I'm making 2 quilts at the same time, I can use them for leaders and enders for each other.  I wasn't sure I would like it, but now that I have a few blocks done, I do!  I will be putting sashing between the blocks like in the picture above.  Can you see the musical triangles?  He plays the piano and organ so I thought I would add that.

I have a plan!  I am going to get one of my oldest UFOs quilted before my next guild meeting on Feb. 10.  It's all basted.  Then, if I can squeeze it in, I also have another wall hanging top that needs to be basted and quilted.  I also have my appliquéd basket quilt that I'm working on finishing up the hand appliqué for the medallion and another hand embroidered project for handwork.  I like having several different things to work on - it's more interesting that way!

Not to mention several other UFOs!  We'll see if I can squeeze a couple of them in to finish up this year.

This is the book I'm currently reading.  I love Marie Bostwick's books!  I checked it out of the library last week and started reading it; then I discovered that it seemed familiar.  I looked on my book shelf and found that I had a copy, but I decided to re-read it anyway and am enjoying it immensely!  It's in the series of "the Cobbled Court" novels and I highly recommend it.

Are you excited to get going on your quilting projects in the new year?  Good luck with them!