Finishing Touches and Hugh Grant

Recently I was asked by a customer to take their grandmother's quilt blocks and construct them into quilts. Well, that required me to drag out my 'ol Singer and do some piecing...which is rare for me. Of course when I got to the machine quilting part, that was a piece of cake. Just racked them up on the longarm and quilted away. The binding was not fun because I hate to sit and sew by hand. Shhh! Don't tell any of my quilting friends from 1983 when I started quilting. I used to do everything by hand.

Let me share what I did with you:

I was given about 16 little 'kimono' blocks. I did some sashing in solid black and then bought a coordinating oriental print to put it all together. Here's how it looked in the planning stage:

Here's the little quilt all finished. (Disclaimer: don't look too closely at my piecing skills...I'm a bit out of practice!)
This would be my favorite part of the whole process, of course! The machine quilting:

Next I was given a quilt top that just needed a border, backing and some finishing. It's an old Joann's Block-of-the-Month from 1999. How do I know it's from 1999? This pattern was with the quilt top:
Here it is finished. I didn't make it exactly like the original Joann's pattern, but my customer just wanted it finished. So I just put on a simple border and bound it.

There was a "spare" block with it, so I put that on the back. Why waste her grandmother's hard work?

And what about the machine quilting? Remember it's my favorite part!

And speaking of grandmothers! Check this one out:

Here it is in the 'ol Singer, getting the binding attached.

These little hexagons were all hand pieced. Such a labor of love! I wonder how many hours it took for her to complete this.

Did I mention how much I dislike sitting and hand-stitching on binding? Let me tell you what made it more enjoyable...Hugh Grant. Yes, Hugh Grant. I put in 2 of his DVD's..."Bridget Jones Diary" and "Love, Actually." These are two movies I can sit and listen to while hand-stitching.

Now there is one part of "Love Actually" where one must put down all stitching and watch, focus, and enjoy. My favorite part...I've attached it below for you to enjoy. I hope this puts a smile on your face today.