Nine Months Later, and Finally a Finish!

It's been a lo-o-o-ng time since January when I began working on my vintage embroidery quilt, but this morning, I finished the last stitch on the label.   After nine months, I'm glad it finally got "delivered"!   I asked my friend, who brought me lots of the embroidery pieces from estate sales, what he thought I should name it, and without hesitation, he said "Beautiful!".  Well, I decided to name it "Beautiful Vintage Embroidery".   (Totally unrelated, but we buried his father two weeks ago, the one I made the car quilt for.  He was a classmate of mine all through 12 grades, but he had been so sick for so long, it truly was a blessing that he finally got to go to meet his Savior.  That' the third classmate we buried this summer!)

I had planned to use plain white fabric like the border for the label, but last Monday night another friend and I visited a nearby guild where I saw a great label idea.  A member there showed a quilt she had made with a few embroidery pieces appliqued onto a table topper, and she used another embroidery piece on the back for her label.    I liked that idea, so I dug through several pieces I had left and found just the right one.   I made a couple of minor mistakes in my handwriting, but I can live with them; I don't have another piece I like as well as this one for my label.  Sorry the picture is a little dark.  It is lying on the backing, and in a darker room than the rest of the pictures will be in.

As usual, I covered my name line.

I dusted the sunroom floor and stretched the quilt out - 102"L x 92" W.  Please, everyone, keep reminding me to never make another quilt this large!  I was tempted to put the name "Monster" on the label!  It fits well on both my beds, and I'm very pleased with it for the most part.  I am very glad that it is finally finished!

"Beautiful Vintage Embroidery" quilt

Center block; just couldn't cut it up!

 I could show more block closeups, but you've seen them all before, so I'll cut this short.

I have mailed my entry form and picture to enter the quilt in a nearby quilt show.  I do not expect to win any ribbon; the judge will not like it; she will say it needs more quilting.  Every block looks like it has lots of quilting, but you may recall that each seam on the nine pieces in each block was top-stitched, making the top appear to have lots of quilting.  However, I quilted only the center piece in each block.  I can live with it; I didn't want the top to look quilted to death!  So---no ribbon for me I'm sure, unless it might be Viewer's Choice, which really would mean more to me anyway.  Either way, I'll be happy just to get to show it there.  That date is October 19.  I just barely finished in time!

After a couple of days of housecleaning, I'll try to get started on my next donation project.   I scanned  back through my blog posts, and I don't think I've mentioned what it will be.  You may remember that the local firemen have always invited me to their Annual Awards Banquet since I retired, and last time they had "gift baskets" tied up with all kinds of goodies for ladies - lotions, soaps, jewelry, etc., and they were selling tickets to raise money to pay for the event and catering.  It is sponsored and paid for by the fire association, not the City.  I decided (and talked to the fireman in charge) to make and donate a quilt for them to raffle or auction, their choice.   He agreed to keep it a secret, just in case I couldn't get it finished in time.  So now I'm ready to start on it after I clean house a bit.  It will have a firemen's theme, and I already have the fabric, and it has been washed, ready to iron and get started.  I'm not sure yet what it will look like but I'll keep you posted as I progress on it.  It will be dark and dreary, but that's what a fireman's job is like.

Health issues continue to be a problem, but I'm hangin' on.  If it's Wednesday, I'll be in a doctor's office somewhere for the next six weeks!  I'm about ready to stop all that foolishness!  Nothing really has helped, and it just takes away too much quilting time!

Sorry it has been so long since my last post; I'll try to do better now that the Monster is finished!  I have been reading lots of good posts, but didn't always take time to comment.  I'll try to do better on that too!

---"Love"

No Pictures, but Some Quilting Progress

My machine and I have been struggling with each other ever since I got started quilting my monster quilt, but I think I finally got the tension set so that it will act better.  Of course, it's too late to do any more quilting tonight, but so far, it's looking pretty good.  Suits me anyway!

I won't get to quilt much more until Friday.  I have doctor's appointments Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday!  Don't know how that happened. 

I spent the day quilting except for about an hour when a quilting buddy "kidnapped" me to go get a hot fudge sundae!  It was delicious, and definitely worth the time lost from quilting! 

Hope Labor Day was a good day for everyone.

---"Love"