Quilting Decades -

Spring arrived at the QPO Studio yesterday!

And lunch too, as Martha pulled in with a crunch of tires on gravel brandishing a pizza and ice cold sodas -

A bonus as lunch with a friend is most welcome in the depths of winter.

As to the spring part?  

The day's project at hand, machine quilting a top put together from 1992 swap blocks from a DOS online group when the internet was just a baby and quilters were finding each other however they could - through listservs and email groups before sending and posting photos was even possible.

(How many of you were part of one?)

These were our first generation internet quilters. My own internet experience didn't come until a few years later, around 1995 when The Hubster finally convinced me that having internet at his office was just not enough, that we needed it at home too - 

And I just wouldn't bite and agree until he showed me that there were quilting groups online!

Chatting in real time to quilters in Australia was mind blowing to me - but that's my own story, and this is about Martha's UFO - so let's get back to it.

Beautiful florals on white ground with green accents.

I recognize so many of these fabrics!

I'm sure many of you do, too!

And how many of these are still in the stash, or scrap drawers?  30 years ago, folks!

I think I even had a dress or skirt from these wild florals.

We enjoyed our pizza first (while it was still hot) and then set about to piecing a backing.

From there we chatted and talked as layer by layer everything was made ready for quilting.

Having someone to chat with in the studio, helping to make decisions was so much fun.

We chose to quilt with the palest of pearl pink threads.

White was too stark when it came to stitching across those dark greens, and green was too dark against those whites and lighter colors - but baby pink was just the ticket.

Oh yes, a 30 year old top comes to life with quilting!

Do you recognize these fabrics?

I know I had many of them in several colorways!

We raided the stash for purple binding!

There was  no way that we were going to let this become a 60 year UFO with binding undone!

I knew if we got the binding on, that Martha could tuck right in and start hand sewing it down last evening.

Sue Benoit who lived in New Jersey in 1993 -

Are you still out there?

And our fun will continue today - we still have half a pizza to finish!

And we want to get Martha's Civil War block of the month sampler from the early 2000s machine basted and ready for hand quilting.

I think I've got her settled in on quilting it with Baptist Fans.  GOOD CHOICE!

We also talked about the three quilt tops that I showed in Yesterday's Post.

And we both agree that sometimes tops sit as tops because we don't know WHAT we want to do with them.  To hand quilt (which can take months of time) or machine quilt (if it's a domestic machine that can be quite a chore and a huge learning curve and many are afraid of ruining their top.) 

Or to simply machine quilt it with a simple yet pretty edge to edge design that only took a few hours along with friendship time and pizza.

I think it depends on what your vision is for your quilt.  Is this a quilt that means a lot to you, and you want it saved as an heirloom?  Then maybe hand quilting is best.

Is it something a toddler is going to drag around and will need to be washed often?  Then maybe machine quilting where the quilting design crosses the seam lines and anchors all of the patches is appropriate.

Are the fabrics big bold and busy where hand quilting stitches won't really show?  That's another thing to take into consideration before you make your decision.

No matter what you decide, we all agree that FINISHED is better than perfect.

And now we can put this one in the DONE column.

I'll show you tomorrow what we get done today.

Only a few days remaining!

The introductory price for Cherry Crunch is marked 25% off in the digital pattern section of the Quiltville Store.  No coupon needed!  Price reduction good through 1/31/22.

I have placed some OTHER Winter themed patterns ALSO at 25% off with no coupon required!

Forever Mine PDF pattern includes the runner too!

On sale at 25% off through 2/13/22

Warm Hands, Warm Heart & Winter Blues are both 25% off through 1/31/22.

If this is your first time downloading digital patterns from my store to a computer click HERE.

If you intend to download to an iPhone/iPad click HERE.

Quiltville Quote of the Day -

Putting the focus on the happy today!

⁣

Vintage rail fence quilt circa 1920 from my own collection.

I also love the simple diagonals quilted through this one.

Hand quilting doesn't need to be fancy to do the job right!

Have a wonderful Wednesday, folks!