Some big finishes

On the basting table at last!

So while I didn't complete the Honeycomb Star quilt in total, I did get all the rows made, and even have five of them attached, with a sixth pinned in place, waiting on my work table. That alone is a win, but even better was hand-sewing the final stitches in a long-suffering Mandolin Quilt, which is now basted and merely needs some (or several) runs under the quilting foot on my machine!

Having recently given to my granddaughter her Grandmother's Flower Garden EPP quilt, I am feeling very.... Pleased is one way to describe it, victorious is another, LOL! Also grateful, humbled too. The Mandolin quilt is for a dear family member who lost her home in the Camp Fire almost four years ago. Somewhat scrappy in nature, it also reflects her love for the Seattle Seahawks, hehehe. And especially it attempts to express my feelings toward her and all that she lost; her home, possessions, keepsakes. Nothing can bring back what she and so many others have endured, or those suffering from similar tragedies be they by fire, flood, hurricane, conflict.... Yet I can do my small part and in this quilt every stitch is a prayer for healing, for happiness, and for all that my heart feels toward her.

I plan to do quite a bit of machine quilting on this, but some hand-quilting will probably sneak in, I love combining those processes. I loved making this quilt; the main blocks, while large, come together relatively fast as do the connecting blocks. The only time consuming part, other than actually sewing it together, was in fashioning the corners, but even that was straightforward once I laid it out. I began this quilt when the pattern was free, but the PDF is well worth the money if English paper piecing is your gig. I mostly used papers from Paper Pieces, a few from Tales of Cloth; I like them both, so it depends on where you live for shipping costs. In my opinion, those from Tales of Cloth are *slighter* thinner than Paper Pieces, which makes large projects easier to wrangle but thinner papers can be a little tricky to thread-baste, which is my preferred method.

Of course now this frees up another EPP project to take precedence; I'm currently working on two, no three, LOL! One is for me, one is another long-suffering pattern that might end up being appliqued onto squares as I can't fathom making all the attaching blocks, the other to be gifted far in the future. Most evenings I sit and hand-sewn, very meditative and as long as my hands aren't balky, I'll keep it up. And when I can't, I'll peruse books about the subject and think back to the thrill of such joyous activities. For now there are rows to attach, quilting to do, and another quilt idea to consider, once I free enough space on the design wall! Insert smiley face here....