Catching Up and Turning Twenty

I have taken a break from the "Little House" quilt over the holidays and due to illness, but will be resuming the project this weekend, along with others.  This is my most recent quilt.  One of the little girls at church is being baptised in a couple weeks, so I worked on completing this simple "Turning Twenty" quilt.  The top flew together and was in my draw waiting for a special someone.  It's an easy pattern, very suitable for a beginner quilter.  I have a Handi Quilter rail system which will allow me to machine quilt easily.  Takes a bit to set up and about an hour to load a quilt properly.  Advantage:  Only cost $500. when I bought it about 10 years ago.  Drawback:  Only enough space to quilt what will fit under your machine, which in my case is about 6 inches...which, shortens to less as you take up the quilt.  But I am not complaining, it gets the job done and I am leaving it up

for the time being so I can get inspired to finish some more quilts before I take it down.  It is living in the living room right now.

This is a photo of the quilt hanging from our front porch, I did not have the binding on it at this time, but the light was right to get a little photo.  I have embroidered her name on one of the patches, which I think she will enjoy.

This photo is taken at night with the quilt fresh from the dryer after a quick wash and dry.  You can see the binding and the detail of the quilting.  This is one of those patterns that, as you are making it up, you think...hmmm, not sure I really enjoy this one, not much of a challenge, but when you get it quilted, it shines like the comfortable little quilt that it is.

This is a photo of the back of the quilt which I pieced.  More of that story below.  During this quilting experience I ran out of thread.  I know, hard to believe.  Well, I rummaged about and found a thread that I thought might blend.  After one row, as I was taking up the quilt...to my dismay I saw that the tension was way off with the new thread and I had not checked it before merrily stitching along...my bad.  So, off to the store to get a sharp new seam ripper to pick out all that thread and while we're at it, let's just get the right thread.  Done and done.

Picking thread is not my favorite task, but it can be rather zen like.
Here is the finished quilt with the binding on.  The binding was another episode.  Where was my head?  I'm stitching along and after getting a quarter way around the quilt, I notice that I am stitching the folded edge to the raw edges.  In my 35+ years of quilting,  I have NEVER done that.
Oh my, where is that seam ripper again, have a seat girl, you're not done yet.  The weekend of quilting was a comedy of errors!

The rest of the story...Looking for backing fabric, I had this large, perfectly sized piece, one problem, there was a miss dye in the middle of the fabric run that looked like someone had spilled a bottle of bleach right down the middle.  So I cut it out and replaced it with a piece of floral fabric and used the remaining bits to make the binding.  I think it turned out well, considering all the little challenges that came along with it.  Below are some links for the Turning Twenty quilt if you want to make one for yourself or a friend.  Again, beginner easy, and QUICK!  Also a link for the Handi Quilter frame if you want one for yourself.
Handi Quilter II with 48in.-125in. Frame

Turning Twenty Around The Block (Turning Twenty)Turning Twenty - Just Got Better (Turning Twenty Book #1 New Edition)Turning Twenty...AgainTurning Twenty Feelin Groovy (Turning Twenty Book 4)Turning Twenty Pick-a-B: Four New Patterns: Still Fast, Easy & Fun! (Turning Twenty, 7)