Another Finish!! Yay!

Introducing...

Midnight in Manhattan

 This is a wedding present for my niece Anna and her husband, Braeden, who were married on April 28th.  I finished the quilt tonight.  Here's its story:

I consulted the bride to see what she liked.  We shared photos via facebook chat and it became clear that she liked bold, modern design.  She also wanted black, white and blue.   I found this block, called "Manhattan" on EQ Boutique.  I imported the block into EQ7 and re-sized it to be large enough to feature some of the focus fabrics. Then I changed the colours and played with layout in EQ7.  I sent the EQ7 mockup of the quilt to her to make sure I was on the right track.  After all, I want them to love it! Being larger sized blocks (16") the quilt top went together quickly.

For the machine quilting, I was fortunate enough to have a friend with a longarm (which happens to be for sale).  She asked if I would like to try quilting on it to take it for a 'test drive'.  Oh yes please!  I thought this would be a perfect chance to try a 'real' long arm and play with a pantograph for the first time.  Her machine is a Nolting with a very long arm.  It was such a great experience!  I found it hard to control the machine around some of the curves so my quilting is not my best.  My friend would do a few rows and then I would do a few rows and it's pretty obvious to me which are her rows and which are mine.  We met through our guild recently and it was a great opportunity to get to know her over a common hobby.  Before you knew it, we were done and it was ready to bind.  And now it's done!  The binding was started last night while DH and I watched a movie,  "Man on Fire" with Denzel Washington. The binding went very quickly given than my brain and eyeballs were occupied with Denzel the movie. :D   I finished the binding a few hours ago and my DH and DS hung it outside over our deck railing while there was still enough daylight to take a photo.

The only thing left to do is the label and then it's done and ready to present to the bride and groom.  I have decided I'm going to scan in their wedding invitation, which itself is bold and graphic, and I will use it as a basis for the quilt label.

Here it waits while I finish the label
...

 

This was a very fun quilt to work on, and it feels really good to have it done before their first anniversary LOL.  I really do love finishing projects.  So off it will go to its forever home, with prayers for a long and happy marriage.  And now I can move on to finishing another project!

Until next time!

Mavis

"Journeys" Quilt Show - Victoria Quilters' Guild

Update on my Lemon Blueberry Swirl - BE VERY CAREFUL WITH CRAYOLA MARKERS!

I had a very nerve wracking week as I had to wash my Lemon Blueberry Swirl 3 times with various tricks to get rid of the crayola marks on the quilt.  The third wash after using oxyclean and some acetone on certain spots, and it finally came out.  The third time I also used hot water rather than warm.

Anyway, the quilt is hanging in the show!  It was touch and go...but I made it.  And here it is!

I have had about all I can handle of putting this quilt together with all of its trauma.  So it's going to be put away for awhile until my fondness for it returns.

Today at the quilt show, I purchased some new marking tools.  There's a new pen called "Frixion" which is supposed to come out with the heat of an iron or friction.  I saw it with my own eyeballs at a demo by a quilt shop upisland.  Bought it in 4 colours for my next quilt.  I also bought a new chubby chalk-type crayon which seemed to work well with stencils, and also came out with the iron.  Pretty cool!  I did not buy any fabric.  Such a good girl!

I also hung this quilt in the show:

and this one:

It was a beautiful show, the first time in our new venue at Pearkes Arena at Tillicum.  Great location and venue.

Until next time,

Mavis