Quilting and Binding Finally Finished

I feel a sense of accomplishment, yet sadness, because while working on this quilt I felt a connection to my sister.  She is missed with  her living so far away in Nome, Alaska. 

 

Tundra Girls, A Quilted Wall-hanging

 

 

My next quilt will challenge me to work with a family portrait.  

This past week, we spent the week with our good friends at their family cottage in Michigan.  The weather was gorgeous, crisp, cool, and sunny.  We loved sitting on the deck looking out over Lake Michigan,

This is just one reason why we make the 13 hour drive to Michigan:

 

Finally Making Progress

The wedding is over and it was beautiful as all weddings are for each bride. The back of the dress was stunning,

This picture was taken when we were doing the final fitting and designing the bustle.  It is a shame you can't see the detail around the opening in the back of the dress.

The bride showed her appreciation by sending this beautiful bouquet of flowers to my house even though I told her this was a labor of love.

This week I was in full quilting mode.  After the border was chosen and attached, I was able to complete the quilting with round the clock sewing.

I found this border to be too overpowering.  I love a good seam ripper.

I think this border recedes to the background and allows the picture to come to the foreground.

At this point in my quilting, I find working with large areas the most difficult to quilt with a design that will lend itself to the rest of the quilt.

This week, I hope to complete the quilt and send it to my sister for her birthday.

Finished Piecing

I hope everyone had a good 4th of July.  We enjoyed the day with my daughter and her husband.

I am still working on the wedding dress, but I carved out time to work on the wall hanging.  This week I tried to make up for lost time.  I finished piecing my quilt.

To unify the quilt and to give it a flow, I used the pinkish rose material throughout the piece.

More pictures from Nome:

The Last Train to Nowhere

 

 

Interruption to Quilting

Over the last two weeks, I have devoted most of my time to altering a wedding dress for a friend.  The bride has decided to wear her mother's dress.  She is larger than her mother's 100 pound frame when she got married.  Needless to say, the zipper cannot zip up past the waistline.  It was decided to made the back opening into a keyhole opening lined with lace removed from the veil.  The lace is very thin and I had to double the wide by hand sewing two rows together before applying it to the edges.  A strapless bra didn't work under the thin knit material of the dress (the cups made a horrible line in the front).  I had to use lace again from the veil to hide the back of the bra.  In other words, the dress has become quite a project.  But, I will admit, it is a labor of love.  Hopefully, I will get back to my quilting next week.