I’ve been on a roll lately with long arm quilting, I finished three in the past three weeks,  the Union Blues quilt, Berties ladder and Allietare are awaiting binding. I’m really happy with the Bertie quilt.  It is all flannel, top and backing, to keep it a little lighter I used a wool batting.  Its so cozy, but probably too warm for our California winters.

For Allietare I used a new to me Pantograph called Robins and Birds in the Garden by Designs by Deb. The robins seemed perfect to me for this quilt.  While I was piecing this Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt, the robins had started migrating through here.  Each morning their songs filled the air with melody, so cheerful in January.  I splurged a bit with the backing and used some of my 108″ wide “Free fall” fabric by Tula Pink. The swallows aren’t back yet, but soon they’ll be swooping around and building their mud nests at the barn.

I have also started un-quilting my El Camino quilt.  I realized that after pebble quilting all of one of the outer borders I had made a terrible mistake.  The center portion of the backing had become “baggy” and rippled.  When I put the top on the frame I decided to attach it to the lower take up bar.  I usually float my quilts, but I thought I would try it to see if it made a difference for me.  I’m not saying one should not attach the top to the lower bar, but that it is, a case by case decision.  I think part of the trouble was that this top is a king size one.  It is a lot of fabric to try to keep evenly fed onto the bars.  Double trouble when trying to do it with the backing at the same time.  Then add in the batting, and well, ripples and folds are bound to ensue.  I think that quilting around the whole outer part of the quilt did not help either.  Live and learn or in this case, sew and rip.

On the design wall today are two more 1930’s Farmers Wife blocks, Joy (47) and Judy (48).   I have finished half of the sashing strips for Rubies, Diamonds and Garnets.  Also pictured are the post blocks for this quilt.  I am so close to finishing this top, only about 500 more HST to make. LOL 🙂

I’m linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times for Design Wall Monday today.  Thanks for reading.