Saturday, January 7, 2012

First Finish of 2012 for a very special person!

April and I just finished our second quilt together!  This one for my niece.  I wanted to get this completed before she goes back to Iraq.  the pattern is Bonnie Hunters Smith Mountain Morning bad out of my nieces' BDUs.    She also sent patches along and I placed those in the center of the stars.  Love, love, love this pattern.  And who knew it would look like this in camouflage!

Now for the quilting details, it really took a lot longer to quilt than to put together.  I started this in my DSM doing the little pebbles.  Which was nice when it first started but quickly got old.  The quilt just sat there while I had fun making baby things for little Miles (less than 2 weeks until he gets here :)  Then April came and I have a sudden urge to do the quilting! Any where there is white material there are pebbles, lots of pebbles. Now they look great with the camouflage, but I don't think I'd do it again. 

Then I was just stuck not really sure what to do with the rest when along came the FMQ challenge for 2012 hosted by SewCalGal.  One thing I did know is that rest had to have something from nature to go with the fabric of the quilt.  Much to my surprise the first exercise was leaves.  Now why didn't I think of that???  So decision made - almost.  I did a few sketches and narrowed it down to two options.  Then I drew those two options on clear plastic so I could lay it on the quilt to see which one I liked.  DH liked the bigger leaves, I liked the smaller one.  Now what to do?  Well my skills using April aren't that great so I decide to give both a try on a practice sandwich.  Well once again DH was right.  His choice turned out best and I just went from there.  But I still like the second one better, I just can't do it yet :) And the rest is history.  I have leaves in the blocks, in the camouflage on the border and the 1.5 inch brown border.  What a great exercise.    Here's a few detailed shots of the quilt.  I think she'll like it.  Stop by SewCalGal to see how others are doing on the Jan challenge.  And stop by Sarah's to see what everyone is whooping about this weekend
Back - hard to see the quilting

Detail of back
detail of front




14 comments:

  1. Oh, Sarah - this came out so beautiful, she is going to be so excited when you give it to her. And who would have 'thunk it' as a camo. Super job!

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  2. Look at those gorgeous pebbles!!!!!

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  3. this is STUNNING! and now that I see the prev post, I see the camo fabrics, from a distance you can't tell at all. you did great quilting it all too

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  4. I love the pebbling!!!! I recently tried pebbling on a larger scale for a border, I don't think I could do so many small pebbles!

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  5. Wow, who knew that camo could be so beautiful!

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  6. Beautiful!! I know just how you must have felt about the pebbles. It's a major commitment to do them all over your quilt. More than once, I questioned why I decided to to that background fill on a quilt. I like your larger leaves also. It it looks spectacular! Congrats on a job well done.

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  7. You've done an amazing job!! This quilt really does look fabulous, and the quilting design you have done is really apt!! Even though the pebbles are time consuming, they really add the icing to the cake.

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  8. Tuned out beautiful. Love your leaves. I like the badges in the center of the stars, makes it even more special. Pebbles are time comsuming but they really set off your stars.

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  9. Sue, that's awesome! You (and April) did an amazing job with the quilting!! I am so impressed! Whoop whoop!!

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  10. Looks beautiful and I love your pebbling! I'm still doing my leaves on paper...gulp!

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  11. I love the way you used the different insignia and badges (if that is the correct word) for the center of the blocks. I have always admired your quilting with your DSM, but with April you will be unstoppable. Don't you just hate it when you have to admit your husband is right?

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