It's beginning to look a lot like...

 

House Top and Pine Forest

 A perfect beginning of the holiday season! 

I finished my very first Christmas quilt this year before I began decorating!

I made this quilt top last year and blogged about it here but had decided to hand quilt so it had to wait until the time was right. 

 

It is lightly hand quilted with white Perle Cotton, bound with pieced bias binding and hung in the hallway ready to greet the boys when they come home this holiday season!  

 This is how I decked the hall this year. 

Hanging in the far end is my 'Confetti' quilt.

I included my quilt 'Cranberry Sauce' for some photo fun!

  Scraps were from the basket. I was cleaning and sorting out the scraps and decided to make a red and green quilt, my way. 

Nine blocks include fabrics from so many quilts I made in the past.

It is a true scrap quilt.

It will brighten up the hallway for many more years to come.

Time to start a new quilt for next year!

A wedding gift!

My old neighbor's daughter is getting married this weekend. She was in fifth grade when we moved into our home back in Seattle. It seems like yesterday when all the kids were in the woods making forts and digging wells. Rolling each other on computer chairs on the street and playing flashlight tags.
Chandra Barton was the oldest one of the five kids between the two families that played all summer long. 
I made her a quilt for her wedding. Hope it keeps the newly weds cozy in the Northwest as they begin their life's' journey as a couple. 

 

I am glad that the hand quilting is done for my cranberry sauce quilt. I am ready to do some machine work... it is way too hot out here in the northeast. Binding and sleeve this weekend and it will be really done!
 

Organic Quilting

I like the freedom in traditions. In quilting, that means cutting with scissors and no marking the patterns while hand quilting which translates into fluidity in quilts. 

Of course, I have to be open to imperfections and raw look that it brings.. 

I like to call it "Organic Quilting" 

Quilting with minimum tools which may require hard work but the fruits are as sweet as the ones that grow in the backyard gardens.

I have been hand quilting one of my favorite quilts for past month or more. 

I wrote about it in the previous post. 

As structured as the blocks are, the quilt portrays freedom. I had a vision for the borders heavily quilted with Perle cotton threads like my Confetti quilt but it was not possible this time around. So, I settled with the next best thing I could possibly do for this quilt. 

I just took my thread and needle and started hand quilting by eye balling the pattern. 

After my first attempt, I knew what I did not want.

 

And this is what I settled for.

  It grew.....

and grew into wild ivy sprawling around an old broken barn or a log cabin.

 

I wish there was better way of taking good pictures of these borders.

I am pretty happy with my Organic Quilt Garden!

Have a happy day!

 

I wonder!!!

If you are wondering...What have I been up to?

We all go through the ups and downs of daily life. When it get to a point when you have time to focus on less things than you normally do, we start prioritizing and some things have to get on the back burner..

In my case, it was blogging..

It has been almost a month since my last post. I have to thank each and everyone of you for spending your precious time reading, leaving wonderful comments of encouragement and sometimes even with personal emails just checking up. Your friendships means a lot to me and if you are a blogger, your posts and projects are also a constant source of inspiration to me. 

I have to admit that after the visit to NY Red and White show, I came home very inspired to make some quilts. Within  a week's time I also had opportunity to visit my friend Christine's home and got to see her beautiful collection of her handmade quilts... Finished quilts.... might I add!

It became clear to me that I needed to slow down.. I took a second look at my stash of tops.. Yes, I have stash of quilt tops and decided that it was time to change gears.. It was time to slow down and finish some of the tops into quilts.

So I went to the quilt shop and bought some batting.

Remember this?

I basted the top and started hand quilting the quilt. It has been little over three weeks and I have completed

hand quilting all 25 blocks. I decided to stitch in the ditch to preserve the pattern that is already heavy with texture. 

 

 Here is the close up of the block.

Now the border dilemma....

I am not sure how I want to quilt it. It is the only place where I can show case my hand quilting. But I am a lazy hand quilter that does not like marking the patterns. I started with this ivy but feel that the design is quite a contrast to the actual pattern of the quilt.. Some more pondering to do!

I know that these stitches are not perfect but having spent time with this quilt and being at peace has proven  to be more rewarding than fussing over the perfection. And any given time, perfection is the last thing on my mind so I am pretty happy.. 

My focus for this month was the echo of good old Nike slogan.. 'Just do it'

And it worked..

I will be back with more pictures once it is complete.

May be hanging on the fence or off the barn door.. 

This quilt will be fun to photograph outdoors in the country side. 

Spring is here... In my heart and everywhere I see!

Happy Spring!