Better late than never

Triple Banstar
Design by Amy Gibson

 So I started this quilt in early December as a Christmas gift for my sister-in-law Jen. I had just finished a quilt just days before starting this one for my Father as a Christmas gift (pictures coming soon) and was being silly to think that I would cut, piece, quilt and bind this pretty baby in 15 days. After all I work at a Church and December is super busy not to mention all the events that were taking up the weekends.

As you can expect I did not finish the quilt by Christmas. I had the top complete, it was basted and the center star was machine quilted. For Christmas she was able to open her present and find the quilt in all its half finished beauty. Then I took it home that very same night, knowing if I didn't have it in my possession I would never finish it.

I really prefer to do my own quilting, mostly because I want to learn to be a better machine quilter, but also because it just feels amazing after completion that I made that from start to end. I also like to machine quilt in larger chunks of time, I like to get in a rhythm on the quilting designs. Although I can come home from work and fit in 15 to 30 min of piecing and then cook dinner, I really don't find myself coming home from work and then jumping into my machine quilting. Maybe because it just feels like I didn't get very far or by the time I shake off the day and need to stop and make dinner I find my machine quilting is not up to par and I feel the urge to rip out.

So it's Jan 31st and I finally finished the machine quilting. Planning on trimming, putting on the binding and getting it into Jen's hands this week. :) And then on to my next project :) Quilters never cease to create lol.

One last quick cool story. This quilt was a mystery quilt by Amy Gibson on Craftsy.com using Free Spirits Birch Farm fabric designed by Joel Dewberry. I joined the workshop because I loved the fabric not knowing what the quilt design would be. Once I saw the fabric in person and then the design,  I knew it would be perfect for Jen my animal lover :) This quilt has owls all over.My sister-in-law was not aware she was getting a quilt or aware of me buying this kit. My Christmas gift to Jen was the quilt, her gift to me was a fat quarter bundle of this very same fabric line. I Love God's sense of humor. Blew my socks off :)