Quilting Weekend and UFO Finished!

I had a great quilting weekend a couple of weeks ago with my friends Deb and Jane.  They both enjoy quilts and quilting, and we all had other things to celebrate as well.  They came to my house to inspect my current projects and offer advice (requested by me).  Then we had lunch in Bellport and went to a show of quilts from 1860-1960 at the local historical society. 

No photos from the quilt show, unfortunately.  But we had a fine time, and Deb scored a small spinning wheel that put a wonderful smile on her face.

My current quilting project was giving me much frustration (more on that in another post), but my friends' enthusiasm got me going again.  I decided it was time to finish a couple of  panel quilts that had been sitting for a year.  And I'm really happy with the results!

World Quilt

This is a panel that I picked up at Jo-Ann's about two years ago(!).  As a geographer, I appreciated the pedantic opportunity here.  It was a snap to quilt -- just sewed along the lines of latitude and longitude with a walking foot.





The detail is nice.  The capital is shown for every country.  And it is fairly current -- Burma is labeled as Myanmar.


















And how cool is this backing!  You know, of course, that over 70 per cent of Earth is ocean!

Quilting USA!

Next up was a panel of the United States.  I'd done one of these previously for my granddaughter.  Lacking experience, I'd quilted it by sewing (with a regular foot) along the state boundaries, including all the rivers, lakes and coastlines.    It came out OK, but what a pain!

This time, I figured out that the quilt was for my grandson, age 7, who definitely is not a member of the Quilt Police.  It seemed like a great opportunity to work on my free-motion "skills."  The panel was about 42" across and 36" long.  It easily fit under the harp of my sewing machine.

A stipple didn't obscure the detail on the panel -- the capital of each state and some graphics showing historic locations and primary economic activities in each state.

As you can see, some stitching lines crossed over, and there are some pointy things where curves ought to be.  BUT -- no eyelashes and no puckers.  And the stitch lengths weren't all that even.  But I'm happy with the results -- a UFO finished, a technique improved, and a grandson delighted with the quilt.  Perfect trifecta!!

As I stitched through New York, I noticed that something was, um, out of date.  Do you see it?  Understandable; the date on the selvedge was 2001 (although I bought the fabric in ~ 2011).  A memento, I guess.