I'm Not Done

....I'm finished! 

(In days of yore I enjoyed working with a fabulous English teacher who, among other things, taught her 6th Grade students (and me) that potatoes are done.  Work and projects are finished!)

so... here is my completed queen size quilt; my finished project!

I purchased a kit after seeing the finished quilt at the High Prairie Quilt Shop (Parker, CO) and falling in love with the colors. I knew this was just what we needed to replace the lovely, but bulky and heavy bed spread on the motorhome. The quilt was included in the Fall/Winter 2014 "Quilt Sampler" magazine published by Better Homes and Gardens. They publish this magazine quarterly. Each features 10 quilt shops in the US. In addition to information about the quilt shops, each one offers a quilt pattern and some of the shops offer kits. 

I began cutting and piecing the quilt at the end of June. Knowing we were heading out in the motorhome at the end of summer... I spent extended time in the dungeon basement sewing room, so we could enjoy the new quilt on our travels.

Oops, I was sewing fast and furiously and I made a mistake. Did you catch it? Luckily I did, and employed my seam ripper (yet again) to right my wrong!

I was ready to baste the quilt top, the batting and the backing by the 4th of July. When I laid it out in the living room, I realized just how large a queen-sized quilt can be (or conversely,  how small my living room is!) Wow! It barely fit, even after pushing the sofa and chairs back. 

I had to roll up the rug. I taped the backing to the floor and used spray basting to baste the batting to the backing. I pinned the top to all layers, and then basted it. Next time I will spray baste the top to the batting, too, and use pins for extra stability, eliminating the basting. The basting threads proved to be a royal pain when it was time to quilt the layers together. I had to stop frequently to snip a basting thread. Sometimes the threads pulled on the quilt so my stitches got bunched together, or I'd begin sewing "off course". 

I am pleased with the final result. Especially considering that this is only my 6th quilting project! However, it looks very different from the model I saw that inspired my purchase of the kit. It turns out the some of the colors that were used in the kit were quite different from the original quilt. Since I enjoy picking out fabrics for projects from all of the beautiful options available to me, I probably won't use a kit again. I also added a 6" border knowing that quilting the layers would make the quilt smaller, and knowing that I have a mattress that is just over 12" in height. 

Quilt: "Guided by the Stars"

Kit, in blue or brown, offered for sale by High Prairie Quilts, 18870 E. Plaza Dr, Parker, CO 30234