Machine quilting and practise makes perfect

It was "back to the office" today after 16 days and nights of quilting, and patchwork interrupted occasionally by family get-togethers, parties and Christmas. It was just fantastic to get so much done in good blocks of time, rather than "snatched hours" before heading off to work, or on the weekends. I am trying to be far more disciplined this year (I think I said that in 1976, 1992, and 2004) ... I got quite a few questions about quilting Liz's 21st - I did it all freehand by machine - and yes it took ages but I really have to thank Maxine O'Toole and Kim Bradley for 99% of the inspiration - and I just practised and practised .... and practised. Ten minutes a day using sandwiches - and that's straight from Kim and Maxine ... as the advertisement says, "it won't happen overnight, but it will happen". I am hooked and hope to improve on all the subsequent efforts.

Liz's 21st Quilt

This is something I started in August - and finished on New Year's Eve ... I've named it "Coming of Age" and it holds around 250,000 stitches ... but it was worth every one. I calculated that DD had been on the planet for almost 185,000 hours ... that's one quilted stitch for every hour and then some extras as bonus hugs. It is comprised of individually cut scrap squares that were made into 4 inch 4-patches and then I added about 23 individual 4 inch squares of flowers - the same fabrics had also been included in the scrappy 4-patches. The first border comprises neutral coloured 4 inch squares, predominantly from Judith Baker Montano's Ornamentations range of fabrics, and the outer border is 2 rows of 4 inch squares. It is big enough to cover the top of her KS bed ... or drape a QS (as pictured). When it's flipped, the neutral backing fabric has been so heavily quilted it really looks quite impressive on its own.  I hope the quilt brings her as much joy as it did me making it.