Quilting and planning

The folks at the nursing home loved the picture of the top!  After I heard from them, I got busy and pieced a back for what I'm now calling Green Mountain Sunrise earlier in the week.  When the batting arrived Tuesday, I sandwiched it and started quilting.  Using my trusty Elna, I'm simply doing lines 1/2" from every seam (in theory - there are wobbles), and it's halfway done.

I'm using Guterman cotton variegated thread on the top and gray on the back which is a pieced floral and navy blue.  So far so good.  I'll take it to show and tell tomorrow at our monthly guild sew-in.  

When I look at the quilt at a distance, I see how apt the name is.  I like those pops of light here and there.

Besides this work in progress to show, tomorrow I'll try to finish appliqueing the pink and blue melons onto the string-pieced neutral background.  After I finish the applique, I will think about next steps - do I enlarge it with a string-pieced border or leave it as it is?  I'll show a picture when I get to that stage.

The other thing I hope to take to work on at guild tomorrow is a tote bag full of selvages.  I thought it would be smart of sort them by color, so I've also got a bag full of baggies to put them in.  During 2023, I hope to work with them and my strings (which also need sorting by color).

Finished top

Woohoo!  I finished this top yesterday.  It measures 48" x 57" and is designed to fit above a door at a nursing home.  The door leads to a courtyard garden and the board member was looking for something that would be reminiscent of Vermont's Green Mountains.  I hope this will fill the bill.  If not, I have offered an alternative quilt that's only 36" x 36" with similar colors and a bit of purple.  

I plan to quilt this myself, but not right away unless they want it ASAP.  I noticed they already have a curtain rod hanging for something.  When I do, I'll quilt it simply with straight lines vertically and then add a flanged binding in blue and green.  I love working with those two colors, and the pattern is Bonnie Hunter's free Scrappy Mountains Majesty.  My blue box is overflowing, so I'm thinking about a pieced back for this quilt.

While I wait for a reply, I will be putting together all the various blocks for Austen Jubilee, my take on this year's Quiltmaker mystery.  I am mixing up some of the blocks and adding a few "coping" strips to make it all fit.  I hope I have enough fabric to finish.  It's put together in sections which makes it somewhat easier to see what I'll be needing in the way of additional fabrics.