Back to the Sampler Quilt

I did the basic "stabilizing" quilting and stitched the binding on this quilt before heading north.  I finally managed to finish the rest of the quilting, washed the finished quilt and checked for missed thread tails.

The pattern is Play Date Sampler by Nancy Mahoney, found here.
A picture of my finished quilt top may be found here.
I machine quilted rows of curves in each of the blocks, turning in a different direction for each of the 12 blocks.  These were marked using a wash-out type marker, then stitched free motion, hand guided on my Juki.


I decided to stitch leaves and a looped vine in the background fabric between the final two borders.  I did the outside space first, stitching a heart-shaped leaf into each V-shape, with a small wavy loop at each point.
On the inner background fabric I used the same motif, but stitched it in alternating directions.  I find leaves, vines and flowers an easy way to fill in borders without doing too much quilting.

 

Play Date Sampler Top Complete

Here is the completed Play Date Sampler in bright jewel tones with a white background.

The second picture is of another Play Date Sampler that I made using scraps and a dark blue-green mottled background with rose sashing and cornerstones.

The variety of choices that my quilting group made were wonderful, and each quilt has its own "flavour"

Final Border added to Sampler

I finally found a fabric that I liked for the final border of this quilt.

Pattern is "Play Date Sampler" found at Nancy Mahoney's website.

Busy Quilting

I feel like I have been neglecting my blog! I've been busy finishing up a long list of UFO's. Now I just have to get my two helpers, and I'll be able to take some pictures to share.
Had a quiet Christmas with DH. He surprised me by doing some shopping at Keepsake Quilting and Connecting Threads. He picked out two new quilt books, some packages of fat quarters, so I'd have some new fabric to try out a project or two, two kits - one for a runner and the other for a wall hanging. Both kits involve applique (he knows I like handwork). There were also some new threads, and my annual quilt calendar!
Even Florida is enjoying some winter weather (frost last night). My quilt room doesn't warm up until the sun helps, so I am working only in the afternoons.
Today I prepared my samples for the two blocks my group will be working on tomorrow. We are trying a sampler quilt this year, and hope to finish two blocks each week. Of course, some of the quilters will be working on their own projects, and there are a couple of new quilters who plan to make a runner for their first project. People work at their own speed, and the hope is that everyone has fun and learns something new.