2015 Finish-A-Long: Q2 Finishes

Another quarter of the Finish-A-Long is wrapping up, and it was a race at the end, but I managed to finish up my list. First was my Emphasis table runner that I started at QuiltCon.

I had alot of fun quilting this one and it holds such great memories of the class with Carolyn Friedlander.

Emphasis

Then there was our guild paint chip challenge quilt.

18" square, my Through the Looking Glass was just one 'block' in a much larger quilt. Very cool!

Through the Looking Glass

And lastly. . .

Just a few days ago I managed to finish Bilateral, a 2-sided quilt with my "Boxed In" bee blocks from That Stash Bee on one side, and my #scrapvortexqal on the other.

Bilateral

Whew. That was a close one! And now it's time to plan for another quarter . . .

Emphasis

I took 2 classes at QuiltCon and began new projects in both. The first finish of the 2 was a mini from the class with the Gee's Bend Quilters, Heart-Speak, and now I have the second project to show, an Emphasis table runner, pattern by Carolyn Friedlander, and fabric all Carolyn's Doe.

I think I've already confessed that when I signed up for Carolyn's class, I didn't realize it was all about this paper-pieced pattern. I'm certainly glad I didn't let that deter me when I came to the realization, as the class was more than enjoyable, and I learned some tips that have served me well.



There's so much I love about Doe - all the geometric prints and the palette itself. It was a no-brainer to use it on the back of the runner as well as the front.

An unexpected photo-shoot in a friend's back yard met with a wildlife encounter of the best sort. And that first photo - crooked door and all - was an instant favorite.



The quilting 'design' was decided while I was still piecing the top, so for once, creating that backing and the dreaded basting weren't too bad, as I was anxious to get to that quilting!

One small problem. It was very hard to see my hera-marked lines on the front, so after a halting start, I unpickd  the several rows I had done, and started again, making sure to do the quilting during day-light and with a strong light over my machine. I actually just marked about every 6-8" and then did improv angles between those guidelines. Dare I say it was downright fun? 

Aurifil 50wt thread #2600 (Dove) was used for both piecing and quilting. In natural in-house lighting the quilting is much more visible on the back than the front, so I was glad to get these photos that show it off pretty well on both sides.

Lastly, I couldn't resist finishing up with angled matched binding. Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do, right?

So completing this project kind of closes a door on QuiltCon. snif. But on the other hand, it's my first finish on my 2015 Q2 Finish-A-Long list. So there ya go!

Linking up with Sew Cute Tuesday and with the FAL Q2 Finishes.