A Quilt Portait

     There hasn't been much sewing going on here the last couple of weeks with me working 6 days a week at my Christmas temp job.

     When I got up this morning it was nice and bright but cloudy outside so I decided that conditions were excellent to photograph this quilt. It's name is English Garden. I got it back from Regina Carter, my quilter last January or February.
 

       For some reason, it took months to get the binding on; and I just got the sleeve attached.  Part of the reason that took so long was that Regina was teaching me to do a "D" sleeve on my quilts so they would be show ready. I was conflicted about this since most of my quilts are bed quilts, and I am not sure I like having that type of sleeve on them since hopefully, they will spend more time on a bed than they ever will hanging. Also, most of my quilts don't do that well in shows, first, despite my best efforts, my piecing is not perfect enough, in addition to that, I can afford neither the money or the time to get them custom quilted. It seems like show judges hate overall quilting designs on a quilt. I have so many quilt tops in my head that I am anxious to piece, I am not likely to invest in a long arm quilting machine any time soon; besides, that would be a whole other skill to wrap my mind around! Also, though I appreciate seeing elaborate art quilts crystals, thread play, extensive quilting, I enjoy more simple piecing, and prefer to make more functional bed quilts.

     This quilt is the second in a series that began with this quilt.

     When I made these blocks, I went a bit crazy and ended up with about 800 of them. I knew I wanted a lot, because I had plans for 2 different large quilts, plus a small lap quilt that I needed for a gift. I have been working on strip units to put with the blocks and some dark blue fabric to make a third quilt that will probably be finished next year. See library series on my labels list to see where I mentioned this before; but they are just short strip sets. I am not ruling out a fourth quilt either.

     I am also trying to get the binding done one 2 other quilts before my guild quilt show in January. One binding is about halfway on. I am going to have to make a run to the quilt shop to get the fabric I want for the other one. This will give me an opportunity to get the border fabric for the Galapagos 2 quilt. I also need a yard of beautiful fabric for a fabric swap for a retreat I am scheduled to go to the end of January.

     This will likely be my last post before Christmas so I want to wish everyone a safe and happy Christmas holiday with your loved ones!

     Thanks for stopping by

P. S. Good Grief! As I was proof reading this blog post, I realized that I put the sleeve on the wrong edge of the English Garden quilt. This is why it looks so wide in the pictures! Don't I feel ridiculous! Augh!