Final 2014 finishes!

This is a long post.....I apologize for that, but I hope the content makes up for the length.

With the passing weekend I was finally able to deliver my last 3 quilts that I made. The 2 for my nieces, and the special one that I have been keeping under wraps, you may remember it as Gray and Green.

My youngest niece who is 3, opened her box and exclaimed 'a blanket, I got a blanket'! And she began hugging it and carrying it around quite a bit. Mind you it is probably a twin size quilt, or pretty close. Her older sister didn't have as much of a reaction as she did, but I could tell she liked it too.

Here is a picture of all the quilts I have made so far, minus one. One of my nieces wasn't able to make it to dinner. So Purple-Urple isn't seen with it's owner. Oh well, maybe one day I can post it!

I was told that when they got home, the older one was already using hers! That makes me feel great!

Now, for the Gray and Green... My sister-in-law has been battling Non-Hodgkins' Type Lymphoma since November of 2009. She is in remission and has been for some time, but she is still having to get transfusions every month, and has had some other health issues come up resulting from her cancer.

So I thought it would be a great idea to make a quilt especially for her. And I couldn't wait to give it to her! And just to make it a little more emotional for her, I wrote a little note that I gave her before I gave her the quilt. We are not a very verbal family when it comes to expressing how we feel about each other, so I wanted to let her know that I do love her as my sister. She has been in my family for the past 22+ years, so to me, she is my sister.

Well, I kept telling everyone that if she doesn't cry, I will. Well neither happened. But as she was reading the messages that I had her husband and 4 children write for me I could see that her eyes were getting red and she was holding back her tears. That was good enough for me. I knew she liked it.

Because of the special messages from her family, and the binding that I used, I called this one Surrounded by Love.

I found this lattice that I loved for the back it had green in it, and I had some pink that has hearts in it. So I took several blocks of the fabrics from the front and made a central panel and framed that with the other fabrics. I put the label directly in the center of the greens. Here is the back. Notice that I needed 3 people to hold the quilt open for pictures. I tried to make it a queen size, and I believe it was something like that. I'm just hoping that it will fit their California King.

I know the top and bottom of the back aren't perfect, but it was a beast of a quilt. This was my first one this large, and my first one to be quilted on a long arm....which was also my first time using a long arm....

So, without further waiting....here is the quilt that I labored on for my sister-in-law. Although at times the points didn't match up correctly, I still love how it turned out. It was also my first attempt at free motion quilting on a long arm machine. Although it took me an hour to load onto the machine, I am happy as to how it turned out. I even added some special stitching to it.

Where all the messages are, you can see hearts around and over top of their messages. On the bottom of the right side, I put Love Beth, and the upper right I put 2014. I know it's hard to see all of that, and I didn't think to take pictures of it before I gave it to her....ugh!

I am extremely happy as to how it turned out, and am so relieved that the secret is out.....but onto another quilt! And another.. You will just have to come back and check out as the year progresses!

I have also made 4 table runners and 8 fabric bowls...I'll wait to put them in another post.

~Happy Quilting!~