Jubilee Tribute - One Stitch at a Time

I thought it was time for a Jubilee Quilt update.  Just wanted you to know that in between all the Pickle Dish blocks, I am still working on this.  After weeks and weeks of marking, hand quilting, ripping out, re-marking and then hand quilting again, I think I'm finally on the right path.  I think my quilt was not quite square to begin with and that was where my problems were coming from.

I started out by first outline quilting all the vines, leaves and berries.

Next I outline quilted the coxcomb flowers and their leaves.  Then I was finally ready for the cross hatching.  I started out by using my 6" x 24" ruler, drawing lines 6" apart.

Then I came back and drew in 3" lines.  When those were finished, I started quilting the 1 1/2" lines. Here (in the picture above) you can see the pins I use to stabilize the quilting area (as I don't quilt in a hoop).  It's actually going pretty fast now.  And it's starting to give me a glimpse of what's going to happen very, very soon :).

The rectangle areas are where I've quilted across in 1 1/2" rows but there are still 3" rows going the other way.  It's a good thing I REALLY enjoy hand quilting otherwise I think I would be in serious trouble about now.

This is a picture of where I was last weekend.  My sister and I flew from Florida to Albany, NY and then drove from there to a cabin at Great Sacandaga Lake in the Adirondack Mountains.  We met childhood friends and spent a very special time re-connecting.  This was taken as we were walking across the new lake bridge on a glorious fall day.  Priceless memories...

As I've said before, I am blessed.

Karen

The winner of Mocha Mini #2

I must admit that as this is the first giveaway of something I've made, it has been exciting and rewarding. Thanks for your comments. I think we all feel the same way, that blogging has brought an extra measure of enjoyment and inspiration to our lives. We have been challenged and inspired to go to new places and try new things. This morning while reading over my bloglist I noticed that Nicole is celebrating her 1,000th post!! At first I felt kind of deflated since I was all excited about getting to 100, but you know what?? She started with 1, went to 100, 500 and now is at 1,000. We're all on this journey together. So congratulations Nicole!! Now for the drumroll..... I am so excited to tell you a little about the winner. She wrote: "I've learned so much from your blog and you DO inspire me to take chances and try new things. I'm thankful for your connection to Kim because I feel her books are going to be a big part of my quilting journey and I probably wouldn't have found them without you talking about them." My winner is Becky!! I have known Becky since I was 5 years old. Our families are dear friends. She lives in Maryland and I live in Florida. I haven't seen her in almost 10 years. But through my blog, we have reconnected and she has begun a quilting journey that has brought much joy to her life and to the lives of all the people she makes quilts for. For instance, after posting about a little wallhanging I made and describing the technique, Becky did one herself and sent me a picture. Some of you may remember Sacandaga Solace.

Becky wrote me back in January that one of the things on her Christmas list was this book. Since Christmas, she has already made 2 quilts out of it and is working on a third. Seeing her progress and enthusiasm grow has been a wonderful benefit of blogging. We all learn from each other.

So congratulations Becky. I wish I had something to send all of you. Thanks for helping me celebrate. Have a great day.

-Karen