Eight days to get ready for the Quilt Show!

Today I finished up one of the projects I am committed (and should be committed for entering!) to finishing for the Sea of Quilts show. This is the largest project, so I am very happy to have it done.

The pattern is Boston Commons, and I started this quilt a year and a half ago. I've always liked the pattern, and when I found the Eleanor Burns book I knew it was time to tackle this one. I made it in a patriotic color scheme, and purposely tried to choose gender neutral fabrics because so many quilts are girly in nature, and I know there are lots of men out there who like quilts, too! I quilted it on the Lenni at our quilt shop, using King Tut thread on the top and bottom line on most of the bottom. Turns out it gave me better tension than the cotton thread I tried at first.


The quilting in the white area is my own idea, it was supposed to look like fireworks (at least in my head). It didn't come out quite like I pictured, but it does look nice, and fills the space well while using both thread colors.

The back is white on white with stars (matches the white on the top). I don't know why I was posessed to use white on the back, but it looks really nice!

It is a queen size quilt, and I will be offering it for sale in my Etsy shop after the show. I don't know if I will win a ribbon for it, but I am happy with the finished product. The quilting took me 6 hours, so it was quicker to do it on the long arm than it would have been on my home machine, and easier on my arms and shoulders! Though I discovered that my thighs got quite the work out squatting to check the underside of my quilt - the day after my first 3 hour session I had difficulty getting up and down stairs and rising from my chair! (Yes, someone needs to get more exercise here!)

Now it's on to the next project in line, a blue and white miniature quilt - after all, I consider Miniatures to be "my" category, so I need to have one done to enter!