{Post #943} Big Finish!!

Tonight at BYOC (bring your own craft) I finished my Highway Hearts quilt.  I have been hand quilting it and only worked on it at home a tiny bit.

It is in the washer now.  I can hardly wait to see it in all its quiltiness!

This one is not leaving, Julie, so don't even get your hopes up!!


~Joan

{Post #905} Highway Hearts

This modern technology!  So much to have to learn.  I emailed myself this picture from the parking lot of the flea marker from my phone.  Rachel and I go over nearly every Friday from 9 AM until she sells all her muffins and brownies.  Those who haven't gotten hot chocolate or coffee by then are just out of luck.


This is my Highway Hearts quilt.  Most of it has been sewn on the road or asphalt!  I will check later to see how much hand quilting remains, but I know I'm 3 motifs closer to being finished than I was before this AM.  The lighting has been perfect in our vehicle lately.  It's bright, but slightly overcast...perfect for hand quilting.


Looking back at my blog, I realized that I started cutting and piecing this about a year ago.  It has been to Ohio and Florida numerous times.  The stories this quilt could tell.  Several specific memories are piecing 18 blocks in a hotel room while my husband attended meetings in FL while I suffered with a sinus infection, quilting at Emily's kitchen table in between washing the mud-mixing tools for Nate at 2 AM, and hand quilting in my parents "Florida room" in Ohio (which is ironic because that's where most of the real work took place--in Florida).  That leads me to explain my blog.  It's a journal for me.  I am grateful for those ladies I have gotten to know through it (hi, Julie!), but it's is a journal of events, quilts, daily happenings, etc.  It's nice to be able to look back on it from time to time.

I had to make a quick trip home for Rachel for some items she forgot to pack, and THE UPS TRUCK WAS IN FRONT OF MY HOUSE when I got there.  My HQ frame is here...in 5 big boxes (pictures to come later).  I am so blessed to have the room and money for this big ma'am-moo...


Bonnie posted pictures of her Florabunda quilt blocks this AM.  Mine are the opposite of hers.  Drat!  But I have 8 blocks made and there is no turning back.  Her neutral is yellow.  Mine is light florals because I'm not a yellow fan (to each her own, eh?).  Her main color is the chain, mine is the light color.  But at least I was consistent!


Off to get some lunch and then check schoolwork, etc.  Typical day in my life.


~Joan

{Post #854} Catching Up

Susie, Rachel, and I have been in Florida since Friday.  Whew--trying to see 58 people in 4 days (slight exaggeration, but only slight!).  I will save you from the boredom of logging each day.  Since this is a mostly quilty blog, here's the news...I am only 9 quilting motifs away from finishing the hand quilting on my Hearts and Gizzards/A Mother's Heart/Highway Hearts quilt!  I must decide on a final name.  Most of this quilt was made while traveling, hence the Highway Hearts name.

Here is the shape I am hand quilting (I have quilted around and between each heart half on these parts)...

Here is an example of one quilted into my quilt--not easy to see it on a picture...

I copied the heart shape and quilted around it and between all 8 sections for a little extra quiltiness.  Love it!

Here is the whole quilt, just 9 shy of the above motifs from being finished!!

Went to a fantastic antique emporium in FL.  Saw 3 quilt racks that I wanted to get...the most expensive one was $12.50!!  Two problems...1.  no room in the vehicle  2.  no room in the house!  Have plenty of quilts to display!!

~Joan