Long Time Coming

It is autumn in Alaska...and I am good with that because August is just too wet most of the time. September means more sunshine. Looks like we are getting an early start...

The leaves are just starting to change. I'm so lucky...this is the "somewhat paved" street to my driveway. Alaska is Gorgeous!!!

I almost missed the afternoon sun while working at the quilting machine. It seems like I have been waiting forever for sunlight to showoff my quilting!!!

This has been quite a quilting season for me! A trip to Bali which was a major bucket-list item. Then I got inspired to stretch my brain...I had to figure out how to get outside my midarm 17" space to quilt on a grander scale. Mistakes along the way? Plenty!!! But thanks to all the wonderful quilters who share their knowledge and experiences on the web...I feel like I have made a major leap in my quilting skills.  

Lots of tension issues on this quilt...but despite that...the back is still fabulous!

I have shared this quilt before but the sunlight makes so much of a difference. This is a pattern called "Irish Mist," from the book, "Six Halves Make a Whole Lot More." I bought this as a kit at the Houston Quilt Show in 2012. The only thing I changed was the color layout for the squares in the four corners. The pattern called for a random placement of the 2" squares. Nope...can't do random! The pattern was so simple!

I first saw this pattern in my Breakfast Club group. This picture does not do this quilt justice. It is beautiful. It won an award in this year's Alaska State Fair.

Next up is a quilt I absolutely love! This has probably happened to you. You see a BOM starting on someone's blog...you decide to give it a go. I'm so glad I did! The sampler blocks were from Shannon at Pieceful Kwillter. She hosted the BOM in 2011. I started out trying to go with the darker background like Shannon's version. (Her version was more of a black background with bright colors.)

It was pretty but it just didn't sit well with me. I tried a completely different look...very girlie!!! I don't know how I came about putting these colors together but a good stash definitely helped! I had loved the inspiration fabric...a Hoffman batik in the colorway Sweet Pea...for a while. It led me somewhere wonderful.

I was in love at first sight. Somewhere along the way I have discovered I like orange. I used to hate orange. No orange flowers for me. Orange...at one time was banned from my flower gardens.

Sometimes people change. It's now my favorite accent flower color. Go figure! Maybe I should try watching the new show, "Orange is the New Black.?" HAHA...I just looked up what the premise of that show is on Wikipedia...I don't think so! Women in prison...enough said.

But I digress...

I was humming along with my new colorway until block five. I thought I wanted more blue. 

Changed my mind!!!

Much better!

Again..going along swimmingly...block 11.

Batiks have a tendency to lean toward the "merky." 

A little orange solved the problem.

Then of course...I wanted to do something different for the final layout than Shannon's plan. I just loved these blocks so much. When in doubt...add a chain. This could be my motto. 

Voila!

Here she is...Sweet Peas in the Meadow.

She's the first quilt I have double batted with a layer of Hobbs 100% cotton and a layer of Hobbs wool. The wool batting had a few "extra thick," areas that made me a little nervous but everything washed up just dandy. 

Oh...here's the backside.

I used a batik backing from Sew Batiks. Their batik backings have a looser thread count than traditional batik backings...a little easier on the quilting machine. 

Upon finishing this quilt I feel so steeped in the quilting tradition. This quilt is all about the sharing that quilters do...thank you so much Shannon. You inspired me!