Sampler finished!

I started this quilt in January, 2017, when I made some 6" Sylvia's Bridal Sampler blocks to swap.  The swap blocks were due in August, 2017, but I had received some nice fabric from my Mom who enjoys shopping for me at the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum near her house.  I made Grandmother's Fan and Amethyst to swap with the fabric.  I forget what other blocks I made to swap.   But the blocks I received were super and added quite a nice variety to the quilt.  The group I work with is very careful about size and quality of stitching.   Everyone has her own taste in color, but the blocks all blended well.

When Moda started its Blockheads quilt along, I made some of those 6" blocks as well.  Some were really difficult and my 6" blocks looked terrible!  So I made them 9" and had no idea what I'd do with them - if anything.  I ended up keeping two and making a third block, the "Swamp Angel," to highlight a William Morris print from a charm pack I received somewhere along the line.

It's a bit of a memory quilt because the heart applique near the center is left over from some I made as samples for a beginning applique class I taught.  And our swap group started as a group that was working on Sylvia's Bridal Sampler.   One of our members is a person who was my "secret pal" during my Dear Jane days.  Many years ago now that was my obsession - I think I made three or four variations of Jane.

I quilted this mostly with my walking foot, first quilting the sashing with black thread and then each block individually in cream thread.  I tried stippling a few blocks and a little more free motion here and there, but all of the seams made it heavy and difficult to move around easily.  I cut the border with my "June Tailor" wave border template because the quilt is an odd size - a little too big for a throw but too small for a twin bed.  This way it can layer over another quilt or even a bedspread (I don't have any in my house!).

It does feel good to finish a project, and of course, as I'm quilting, I'm thinking of the next project or projects.  I started cutting pieces for that after I took this picture and am over the moon because it's raining today.  Are quilters the only people who enjoy rainy/snowy days?