BFF Birthday Gift GIFTED

The Indian Summer Lone Star wall quilt is DONE.  Finally.  I made this with a fat eighth of Indian Summer from Westwood Acres (LOVE that shop!).  I knew when I saw it that I had to make my BFF Ms. ChiefEagle something for her upcoming birthday.  I knew I wanted to make something that related to her Native American heritage but was modern and fresh.  I used the tutorial by Janice at Better Off Thread as inspiration, using the diamond method taught by the Craftsy course Diamond Quilt Designs.  More about the beginning of this quilt here.

I was planning on making a pillow for her couch.  Yeah, right up until the finished "top" was over 24"x24".  There was a momentary pause at that point where I had to decided WTF I was going to do with it now.  Wall quilt came to mind and I went with it.  Frankly, I love how it turned out.  Quilting was done on my new Juki TL-2010q (more on that later :) ).  I think it turned out well too (much better than the results I'd gotten on my Viking QDII) but YOU be the judge ...

Front

Back complete with Quilt Sleeve (oooooooooh-aaaaaaaah)

Close up of the Quilt Sleeve & some of the quiliting

Lil' Red - WIP

My ex husband's niece is having a baby.  She isn't sure what the gender of the baby is yet, but every time I think of her and the pregnancy I see a little girl. I started this quilt with that instinct in mind.  Inspired by this quilt by Malka Dubrawsky.  Looking back and comparing the two, it seems hers has more layers but I'm still enjoying my version.

I'm working on the quilting, with my Huskavarna Viking (Quilt Designer II), attempting the Roses pattern (some spirals, some olives and chained circles) from my LAQ lesson.  Let me tell you, FMQ-ing on my home machine is much more challenging than using a longarm.  It seems to require much more control over my fine motor skills.  Who knows?  After all this FMQ practice maybe my video gaming will improve.  Wouldn't my boyfriend be pleased ... ;)

So far tonight I've broken 6 new needles on the machine.  It's been frustrating, but I think I'm working out the kinks.  HOWever, 5 replacement needles was all I had so the remainder of the quilting will have to be done after our holiday camping trip.  I was hoping to have it done and one side of the binding sewn on so I could hand stitch the rest while relaxing by the campfire but that was not to be.  See you next week Lil' Red.  I know you'll be waiting for me.