Finishes for 2007

1. Paige’s Shoofly quilt – This quilt was the result of my sister deciding last Christmas that she would buy the fabric and I would help her make a quilt for her daughter after Christmas. I should have known that it was an ill fated venture when my cell phone rang as I was crossing the finish line at a 5K (I set a PR!). It was my sister at the fabric store asking how much fabric she needed to buy. She didn't want to make anything complicated, just plain squares, set on the diagonal and tied. We started the day after Christmas, and she honestly thought we could finish it all the same day. With both of us and Mom all sewing away, we almost made it by midnight! At the end of it all, she said the one thing she had learned is that making a quilt was much more complicated than she thought, and she hadn't known what she was asking me to do when she came up with the idea. So with the leftover fabric, I made this companion quilt for Paige's baby dolls. I really enjoyed the colors.
   
2. Mom’s T-Shirt quilt I don't have a picture of this one because it wasn't quite done when I gifted it. Has anyone else ever wrapped a quilt to put under the tree with the safety pins still in it? Mom loved my t-shirt quilts so much that she sent me home with a stack that I turned into a quilt for Christmas. I finished tying it when I came back for our next visit.
   
3. Zach’s Shining Star - This was a new baby quilt for my nephew who was born over Easter. I used Bonny's pineapple star for the second time. I love how quick and easy this pattern is, and it looks so complicated! Finishing the quilting on this finally drove me to get a new sewing machine.
   
4. Turkey Tracks Table Runner - I started this two Thanksgivings ago , but got bogged down trying to get it quilted. I got a lot of loose ends tied up when I got my new machine. I used a pattern from Quilt in a Day which was in the Egg Money Quilts book.
5. Block Party Quilt - Calling this a finish for 2007 is cheating . I finished the quilt in 2001 but had trouble getting it quilted on my old machine. It's really ugly, but it makes a great picnic quilt -- it doesn't show dirt!
6. Purple Beauty - This one was based on Bonny's Blue Ridge Beauty pattern. I made it in purples for my oldest daughter. I was working on hand quilting but gave up and finished it on -- you guessed it, the new sewing machine.
7. Spice Meadows - This quilt is currently hanging in the family room. It is from a kit I got the day after Christmas last year on Joann.com. I added 9 extra blocks to make it king sized. My husband says the asymmetry makes him crazy.
8. Road to the Marathon - I had been planning this quilt for a long time. It represents the races and training I did to prepare for my first and second marathon.