*******************************************************************************************************

“I have given skill to all the skillful, so that they may make all that I have commanded you. “ Exodus 31:6


“O Thou who art the all pervading glory of the world, we bless Thee for the power of beauty to gladden our hearts.
We praise Thee that even the least of us may feel a thrill of the creative joy when we give form and substance to our thoughts and, beholding our handiwork, find it good and fair. “.
Walter Rauschenbusch


*******************************************************************************************************

"Come, and listen, all you who fear God; let me tell you what He has done for me.
I cried out to Him with my mouth; His praise was on my tongue.
If I had cherished sin in my heart, the LORD woud not have listened and heard my voice in prayer.
Praise be to God, Who has not rejected my prayer or withheld His love from me!" Psalm 66:16-20
*******************************************************************************************************

Thursday, August 21, 2014

The cat's out of the bag !

No, no, NO  !    Not a REAL cat !
It's just a saying, for heaven's sake !

I mean.......I can finally reveal my latest finished quilt,
"Misty Morning's Stars"
I delivered the quilt to it's recipient this morning.
 She's my childhood best friend, Shirley, and she is fighting a battle to breathe every day.  
She lives with emphysema, and spends alot of time in her chair or her bed; so I knew that a quilt would be something that she would use alot and still be reminded of our friendship.  

The quilt is pieced from 2 different sets of charm packs......the starpoints were made from one that was actually made up of triangles, called Turnovers.  That collection was "Swanky", by Chez Moi, and the squares in the middle of these stars are made from "Dream On" charms.  The grey background fabric was actually a 104 inch-wide fabric that I bought from Connecting Threads with the possible intention of using as a quilt back.   It's a bit heavier than the average quilting cotton, so I wouldn't want to piece a top with it again.  In fact, I wouldn't want it as a back either.........this quilt has a polyester batting, as I wanted it to be lightweight, yet warm, but it came out VERY heavy due to that grey fabric.
 For the actual quilt backing, I used a beautiful, vintage printed sheet .


  It had all the same colors that were contained in the prints used for the stars, and made a wonderfully, cool, smooth back.

The quilt finished with a measurement of approximately 58 x 76 inches maybe.....I can't quite remember, but it is very large for a couch quilt.  I wanted to be sure she could use it when she was in bed also.

I just machine-quilted in the ditch around the stars, and used a cable stencil for the outer border.  The binding was the same fabric as the background.


Now, I'm doing a bit of hand-quilting on my latest project.   I brought a UFO out of hiding, and pieced the backing (you can see a sneak peek of the backing underneath Lottie-dah, at the top of this post.)  I'm enjoying the slow pace of the handwork.  

Talk to you soon !

6 comments:

  1. That is so pretty....and I do admire your stick-to-it-ness. I should be knitting right now but...but. lol. It is looking like rain and I think I will run out to the garden and get a couple of egg plants. I was excited that they are doing so well.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh, so beautiful! Love the vintage ness of it all! Your heart is even more beautiful than the quilt!

    ReplyDelete
  3. That is just beautiful I know your friend Shirley loves it and you.
    I started a new blog for my quilts it was for just my reading list but changed it.
    newereaderlistofbooks.blogspot.com/ hope you will join me.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The quilt is beautiful and so is your precious caring for a long time friend. You are both blessed!
    Jan

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love the sheet you used for the backing! I had those sheets back in the early 70s, although I discarded them when we figured out polyester caused to break out with a rash. (I think they were 50/50.) I still love the pretty pattern and love seeing it on the back of your friend's quilt.

    ReplyDelete
  6. This is such a beautiful quilt! I love your color choices, especially the gray!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for stopping by !