Bohemian Friendship - My Precious QAL Finished!

It's finished!! 

I'm so in love with this quilt! It's been hanging on my design board for months... waiting for me to be sure about what size I wanted it. I had decided on this size (about 37" x 37") but was frustrated since it's not quite  small enough to hang on the wall (I have no room for it!), and it's not quite big enough to use.

Last night I bit the bullet and left it this size. This is the size my drawings worked out to be - the size the quilt wanted to be. Emily came over last night to sew and talk about QuiltCon. We decided that it's a "Knee Quilt" it will lay over your knees as you're sitting in a chair. Perfect for admiring, not so perfect for warming. :)

I love it either way! It is backed in some lovely super-soft light weight fabric that I received in a swap from Shruti (DQS10? or 11? I can't remember now). And it's bound with some beloved Dobby Dots Pastry Line. Yum it's so soft and lightweight! 

Oh and I quilted it without my walking foot (which I had previously broken by going full Juki speed - apparently that's a no-no for walking feet!). I didn't have very much shifting at all. 

If you're wondering about the quilt's name? The prints in this quilt are all from Anna Maria Horner's first line of fabric "Bohemian" There's at least a partial star of each and every fabric from that line. How'd I manage that? By the generosity of sweet friends on flickr who shared the love! :) Thus "Bohemian Friendship." You can read more about the story here and here. Oh or you could read about the same generousity that Anna Maria herself witnessed - from one of the same sweet flickr friends! Thanks ladies for making this quilt possible!!

More "finishing"

Ok so not all of my "finishes" are truely finished... but they're finished for me- less a WIP and more waiting to be quilted. 

Today I bit the bullet and decided on a border size for my My Precious QAL quilt. It was going to be a mini quilt, but I increased the size of the pieced part to show off each of those precious Bohemian fabrics, so my original idea of an offset grey border seemed silly, it's no longer a mini quilt, yet not quite a usable size quilt (37" square). Logic lost this conversation, I went with my heart and made it the size that the patchwork wanted. It can be a newborn quilt should I get pregnant sometime soon (God willing--seriously!). I won't hold my breath for that since it's already been 3+ years... whatever that's not what this post is about. 

Sari fabric for the back!

Tonight I will search my "scrap batting" and find a piece (or a couple pieces) big enough. The backing fabric has been chosen. I'll be using some luscious sari fabric that Shruti sent me way back when she had me as a partner for DQS10. It'll be perfect! I'm unsure about the binding, but I'm sure it'll come to me! 

I'm not sure if I'll try to quilt this one by the end of Finish week, but either way I count the quilt top as being a finish! :) How are you guys doing?? Finishing some projects??

Sketch!!

Check out what I finally cut into!!! :) I chopped a 2" strip off of nearly all my Sketch FQ's! You'll see this in action soon! I'm proud of myself. I was really nervous cutting into it! Aren't they lovely??? I think the top and bottom are my favorite (the deep blue, and the lipstick pink).

Bohemian Love

I love Anna Maria Horner. That's nothing new to my longtime readers; it's pretty obvious. I adore her style and her fabrics are very "me." When I started quilting 3 years ago I was immediately drawn to Anna's then current line, Chocolate Lollipop - that was my entrance into the modern designer fabric love. Before that I had no idea that fabric of that quality was available (and the colors!).

For those of you who don't know, on the timeline of my entrance into quilting, Anna's Bohemian fabrics came about four years earlier. I'd never even had the thought that I would be able to sew with them, but thanks to some really lovely and generous ladies over on flickr, I get to play with them too! 

Aren't they lovely? I think I have at least a partial star of each fabric in the entire line! Whoa. Look at all the color! I'm so excited about this, and it's all for me! I'm keeping it! 

I think it'll be a doll quilt for my sewing room wall. It may end up being a series of Doll quilts, since I have so many ideas floating around in my head! 

Here are the stats on this one. I used Thangles to piece all those half square triangles. Each square finishes at 1.75" and the whole section here measures about 20" square!