Long Road Home Top Finished!

It was a quilt that bogged me down for awhile, but I finally put the finishing touches on Long Road Home.

This quilt pattern is by Paula Barnes for Bonnie Blue Quilts. My friend Terry suggested we girls in the Frankfort group make it together. Sheryll got right to work and had hers finished in record time - like maybe a month!

I was a bit more deliberate in my efforts. I had a healthy start, but got seriously sidetracked with proms and parties and porches. This past week at quilt camp, I determined to get as much of it done as possible. And I did take a real big bite out of it, too. It was very encouraging to get so much of it put together.

This pic shows the progress from the week at quilt camp. I actually did attach one more row, but didn't have the sense to take a pic of it. No biggie.

So today, Sharon came over for our regular weekly sewing session. It was my goal to get the top completely assembled, and I did!!

Notice that my setting blocks have more color than what the pattern calls for. I didn't intentionally do this, but I kinda like the look. The whole idea of this quilt is to be scrappy. I think I definitely achieved that look. I would have been more true to the pattern except that I didn't have enough variety in the neutrals I had  pulled, so I opted to go this more colorful route. I am pleased with it, so that's what matters.

I do consider it lucky that I was able to finish the top, as my dear old Bernina is probably going to have to visit the repair shop. She just doesn't keep proper upper tension for me! I was thinking the problem was too-heavy spools of thread, but I wound thread onto a bobbin to use, and still the tension is so tight that threads break. It really slowed me down!

As I said, Sharon was over today for sewing. What a treat! She brought a quilt from the long-arm quilter, and it was one she'd worked on early in our quilting get-togethers! Click here to see it.

Sharon had the quilter do a generic loose stippling on this quilt. It is from the book Jelly Roll, Layer Cake and Charm Quilts, and is made from Aviary fabrics. It is so beautiful, so very "cottage-y" looking. By now, Sharon has several quilts that fit the cottage look. Mostly Aviary. Totally gorgeous. When we can, I ought to have her take all of them out and we'll "stage" them for a show and tell here on the blog. I think a lot of readers would be interested in seeing them all together.

The project Sharon worked on today is more of a country-looking quilt. She had these 9-patches made from last November at Linda's house.

See what I mean about not being cottage-y? It's country scrap, let's say.

She made all of these today. Her plan is to make a snowball quilt from an old book from 1990!!

The book is called Country Weekend Patchwork Quilts by Linsley/Sedgewood Press.

The beauty of this quilt is that the pieces are big, and consequently the construction is really fast. Great quilt to make when you want instant gratification. After Long Road Home and other of my recent finishes (Broken Dishes, Dressmaker's Quilt, Hourglass Quilt, Americana Rose, to name a few) I believe I am ready for big pieces and instant gratification.

Makes you wonder what I'm going to work on next??  Stay tuned!