Announcing a Big Finish

I am so excited to announce that I have finally finished Chunky Churndash!  Last night it brought sweet dreams. Thanks to the beautiful longarm stitching of Cindy Carey from North Star Longarm Quilting, the quilt I began two years ago is now done. The quilt is 85 x 105, definitely the largest I've ever made. The middle blocks are surrounded by a hunter green floral and beige tone-on-tone. The borders are a deep red and a hunter green fabric different from the center's print.  The backing is from Connecting Threads, one of their 104-inch fabrics no longer available. Bonnie Hunter fans will recognize the easy pattern, which is free on her website at http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2005/06/chunky-churn-dash.html.

Catching Up

Sorry it's been a few weeks since I last posted. Like you, I've been busy with work and various projects. You may recall I have been working on two complex, time-consuming quilts - Blueberry Hill (Jamestown Landing) and the king-sizing of Celtic Solstice. I tend to get bored easily and decided to take a break and do something different. I started TWO quilts!  I know, I know. My UFO list is extensive, but I just HAD to begin a new project (or two).

The first one is an easy pattern that I have had in mind for a while. This is a Kim Brackett design called "Mocha Swirl".  I think chocolate and caramel when I see this quilt. Chocolate is one of my basic food groups, so this definitely spoke to me!  I already have one third of the blocks done and plenty cut for the remainder. Do you have any suggestions for the border?

The next quilt is from this month's issue of Quiltmaker magazine. It just called to me. And I hate orange! Go figure. I bought fabric from Connecting Threads during their recent Basics sale and have begun cutting.

Exciting news arrived this morning. My Chunky Churndash quilt is ready for pickup from the longarmer! I will post pictures once I have it home and bound. [Jumping up and down excitedly in my mind].  So I am seizing on this as my justification for starting a new quilt. When the longarmer finishes my Bittersweet Beauty, I can justify the fox quilt, too. I will probably drop off Royal Flush with her, so I might actually reach my goal for reducing my UFO list.

On a higher note, I put in nearly three hours of flying this past weekend. I got in some short-field landing practice Friday night, then flew to a friend's home strip off the Chesapeake Bay in southern Maryland on Sunday. It was nice to 'leave the bounds of earth' for a while and watch the sailboats from above.