Just Quilt It....NOW!!

I finished the machine quilting on Kim and Jason's Carolina Crossroads quilt. I'm sure Charlotte will be stymied....she dropped it off to me for quilting over 4th of July weekend. What can I say about best laid intentions? It turned out REALLY nice, and when she gets the binding on, we'll get pics of it to post. Right now, I wanted her to be the FIRST to see it, so..the world will have to wait. :c)

Last night I had a VERY fun evening! Middle of the afternoon I got an email from Karen saying she had to be downtown earlier than our scheduled bee meeting, and would anyone like to join her for dinner? SURE!! Rain didn't stop me either. I managed to find Trade Street in downtown Winston Salem, and even managed to PARALLEL park in the first spot I came across. Well, mostly. I think I was too far from the curb, but the car behind me wasn't leaving much wiggle room..so I called it good enough.

I met up with Karen at Chelsee's Coffee shop, and was told that Lisa was also joining us for dinner. Because Sweet Potatoes was closed monday nights, we ended up at a little Irish Pub place called Finnegan's Wake. YUMMY FOOD! I had the teriyaki beef tips, sauteed veggies, and grilled asparagus. I know Teriyaki is NOT Irish, but hey...it was the special and I was in a special mood!

From there we walked back up to Chelsees to meet with the other Ms Bee Havens for our monthly chatter-bee. There were only a couple of us doing needle work, so that's why it was more of a chatter-bee than a quilting bee. I'd never been to Chelsees before either, but I really enjoyed it..they have a sitting area in the back with a fireplace, comfy couches and chairs and we had a good visit for about 2 1/2 hours!

Chelsee's also displays work of local artists in the shop, hanging things on the walls. A couple months (?) ago, Karen displayed her art quilts, and now Lisa has her traditional quilts hanging there through the month of November. I'm so proud of these girls! Their work is top notch.

I was able to finish the hand quilting on my Crossed Tulips machine applique. It's SO FOLKY...I just love it! I did the hand quilting right through everything, appliques and all, and I tell you...that starching everything stiff before machine appliquing was just the ticket. The starch washed out, the appliques are soft, I had control with the machine. I'll definately be exploring more of this.

I also want to admit that I quilted this one from the BACK also. Crumbs are so busy to try to see black thread through, especially since I was following Tonya's lead and freehanding my fans. Chalk lines make it easy to see what you are doing, but freehanded? I could see better by quilting the quilt upside down. So I did! I guess that might make it look like a left-hander did my quilting because from the front the fans go the opposite direction. Let them wonder!

So now the binding and sleeve are on and ready for handwork as is the label.
I might get working on stitching the binding down tonight.


The next hand quilting project? Why stop when I'm on a roll! I've basted "JUST QUILT IT" and it's ready to go. I pieced together some funky stuff for the backing. I'm not sure what I'm going to quilt where yet, because these blocks aren't uniform. I cared more about the width of the blocks than the height....and just let it be really free form. Maybe the quilting will follow suit? At any case, it's ready to go with me in the car to Columbia tomorrow for Turkey Day.