Ten Long Years in the Making

Last week it hit me.
I was thinking about what project I would be taking to our Annual Winter Quilting retreat in Shipshewana......and I sighed to myself.
I had been dragging this quilt top with me every year since we started going...... and I was annoyed with myself and embarrassed that I still had not finished it.
Everyone else always has new and exciting projects finished and in progress to share when we go....and then theres me and my standard UFO.
Every two years our quilt guild has a show and I always think I'll have it done by then. Or the next show.
I was daydreaming at work looking at the show poster I had taped to my shelf at my desk.This years theme for our show is "Quilts in Bloom" and I had to smack myself upside my head. I thought "if I can't get this thing done for THIS show then I might as well stuff it into a giant ziploc and sell it at the guild flea market!"
And that was it! I was GOING TO GET IT DONE!!!!!( it's only been TEN YEARS..)
I headed to Jo-Anns after work to see what ric-rac they might have that would work with the leaves.... spent an evening auditioning different colors and the rest of the nights after work sewing them on. I was now ready to take this to our retreat,( again!) tape up a design wall, and start calculating how to sew the odd shaped blocks together. ( this started out as a pattern but soon morphed into a free for all with different types of base fabrics in linen and pique in various sizes)
This time this project was my ONLY FOCUS,... and I was a woman on a mission!
I knew if I didn't finish it THERE it wasn't going to happen because of all the quilts I still need to quilt for customers and my Mom in time for the Guild Show.
I'm left with sewing on ric rac for one of the leaves ( because I didnt have the thread color needed with me) and constructing the backing and binding....
oh, and QUILTING OF COURSE!
Fingers crossed!!!!!!!!!!

f"Hether"ed Heart Tote

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!
Here are some shots of the quilting I did for my friend Hether.
This was exciting because she requested a totebag for herself after seeing the one I did for Polly. Hether and I were roomates way back in the day at Ball State University. We didn't know each other when we started out as roomies but became fast friends after realizing we had a few things in common .
Come to find out just recently ( she confessed to a commentor on my FB page).. I guess I made her laugh so hard she would pee her pants?? Seriously. Who knew?
Hethers last name those days was " Hartzer" and she loved all things pink and hearts ( remember this was the mid 80's, people). When she requested one I knew just what to do: what colors to use and how to quilt it!
Unfortunately I did not get any shots of this constructed ( due to my haste in getting it to her by the Holidays) nor her modeling it, ( but I have requested some of those photos)



I've got a few more totes quilted and in various stages of pre-construction, and will post here in between quilting Mom quilts( and pics of those too) for the Spring Quilt Show....