Pages

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Excited

What a fun way to start a new month and the second half of the year!

Night before last I actually finished a Dutch Treat block. When I opened my spreadsheet to record it I was shocked to see the last one I made was April 10! I knew it had been awhile, but I sure didn't think it had been that long! This one is called Phazer and now I have 36 more to go.

So I figured I'd get back in the groove with both the Dutch Treat and Dear Jane blocks and get both of them finished, plus continue working on my "Flowers For........." quilt.

But I decided to go over to our church yesterday and help the ladies who have been quilting my Amish Dahlia. I knew it would probably be the last day they would work on it before Bonnie (the "ringleader") leaves on vacation. I was also hoping they might even finish it.

If you've been reading you might remember I marked this quilt for them last November. They actually started quilting on it in January. It's a big quilt and a has a lot of quilting in it.


One of the ladies had to leave early before I took this picture. Here they are on the last row in the center of the quilt, as they roll from both ends. This is Bonnie, Mardell and Irene..my sweethearts. They do such a fabulous job! And Irene is 95 years young!! She's made a quilt or two............................ And she's had so much fun kidding me about going a little crazy with all the motifs. She says they could have quilted at least two quilts in the time they've spent on this one. I think she is right.



We quilted from about 9 until 1:30, stopping briefly for lunch. At that point there was maybe a total of 12" of motifs left unquilted so I decided to bring it home and finish it myself. And I did! Wow...it's finally all quilted. I am so happy. Now to get it trimmed and binding sewn on the front by machine today. Then it will probably take me at least 2 days of hand sewing it on the back.

I can't wait to get it washed and the blue markings removed.


It looks so pretty on the back. I normally used printed backs, but this one wanted a plain backing.



When it's completely done I promised you the story behind the quilt. Soon now...........


5 comments:

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

those ladies do wonderful work - I wish I had some help at my quilting frame - maybe I could finish some of mine faster! I have only 37 DT blocks done and that is all I am going to do - I lost interest in that one. I will add a bit of sashing or something and make a small quilt with what I have.
Karen
http://karensquilting.com/blog/

Elaine said...

The quilting and the square look lovely on your Amish Dahlia quilt. Could you show how the square is put together. It looks like it might be a bit 3D. I would like to try it. I like the old fashioned quilting you used on the quilt. Such fun for the ladies to work on.

Geta Grama said...

It's a wonderful project, can't wait to hear it's story !
All the ladies did such a great job !

Donna said...

I love the quilt, Mary! I'll look forward to seeing it totally completed. What kind of batting did you use?

Crispy said...

Oh Mary that quilt will be absolutely stunning. I can hardly wait to hear it's story.

Crispy