Meandering Feathers

For a long while I have wanted to quilt meandering feathers all over a quilt. I have practiced some by drawing on paper but I wasn't quite sure if I could pull it off. The other day I had a quilt for hire that seemed perfect to try it out on. It was a Disappearing Nine-Patch.

It was really a lot of fun to do. Some feathers went a little wonky but with thousands that look OK they are a little hard to pick out.

All in all I think it was a success. I can hardly wait to do it again.

Mountain Top is finished

I quilted the Mountain Top top and now it is a quilt. I decided since it was a very traditional style quilt with lots of right angles going on it needed some softening. That calls for the Baptist Fans.

I think the fan quilting lends a good contrast to the piecing.

I finished this just in time for the cool weather. Oh! Wait! It is July and there is no cool weather. I guess I will have to wait till Nov before I use this. Well I am just keeping ahead of the game.

Bonus: Six yards of backing out the door.

Quilt Retreat - Summer '11

Last week me and my quilt buds took off for the mountains. It is the same place we went last year. The best part is it is only 30 min. away. We spent 3 days in the cool mountain air. We decided to keep the food simple: cereal for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch and a cooked meal for dinner. We split up responsibilities for the food so it was sooooo easy.

I spent my time working on one hexagon Halloween quilt. I was able to get that one put together.

For a change of pace I put together another Halloween quilt using the Wild Thing pattern and two charm packs. Boy did I ever have fun. That went together very fast.

Since I have another hexagon Halloween quilt to do I started sewing the strips together. All in all I feel I accomplished a lot of sewing. Not to mention a lot of visiting, laughing and sharing. Oh happy days.

Mountain Top top

Several months ago I mentioned making a quilt that required 720 half-square triangles. I am happy to report that the top is together. This top is from a pattern called Mountain Top. It is from Laundry Basket Quilts. I learned several important points from this quilt.

1. When making lots and lots of HSTs it is a good idea to use the paper guides, such as Triangles on a Roll, or Thangles. I did my own with Electric Quilt and it worked out very well.

Each square was spot on.

2. When each square is equal the piecing goes together so nice. I was able to nail almost every intersection. I couldn't believe how close each joint was.

3. I learned to pay attention when cutting out. Cut the long large pieces first. I cut out the long borders first but then cut all of the short sashing pieces. When I was done with that I realized I had forgotten to cut out the sashing that runs horizontal. Doh! I was thinking about piecing bits together when I figured that if I put cornerstones in the sashing I wouldn't need long pieces. Yes! The original pattern did not have cornerstones in the sashing but mine does. I think I like it better.

This is a scrappy quilt. Everything but the neutral (borders and sashing) came from my stash. I get to count 10 1/2 yards used. Gotta love it.