PICKLE DISH ALMOST DONE

Almost done with my pickle dish quilt. It's from Kaffe Fassett's Quilt Romance book that my son, Adam and his wife, Jenny gave me for Christmas last year (which seems so much longer ago than that with all the work on the quilt.) The fabrics are different than his suggestion and I wasn't sure it would turn out ok, but wow!! I love this quilt. It's for me to use while sitting in my chair. It took forever to make the pickle dishes, but it was fun watching them come together. It's backed with a flannel that's got pink ladybugs on it :)

Originally blogged about the pickle dish progress in May. Not sure exactly when I got the border on it, but below is the top before that. It's been sitting around after my daughter "sandwiched" it because I was so intimidated about quilting it. Had wanted to free motion it, but so far I've just done some decorative stitches across and up and down it, plus around the main body and the border. Then I sewed on the binding and now am handsewing it down. Not really sure how much more quilting will get done on this...have thought it might have some handquilting using pink pearl cotton. Don't think free motion will really work because it's a bit puffy in places. Already there are a few goobers, but thankfully it's mine and I can live with that.
Here's a couple pictures from the previous post showing parts in process.

All in all, this is one of the most favorite things I've ever made. I've sewn for 55 years now, and have done some sorts of quilting off and on during that time, but the first real quilt I ever made is probably the one for my son about 20 years ago that I designed and then handquilted. Before and after that I made a lot of pieced quilts that were usually tied, designed a family history wall hanging, made a lot of wall hangings and other little things that were quilted in one way or other. The first time I did a quilt that felt like a real quilt to me, though, was the one for my husband that I put in the bloggers quilt festival last may. I am still so proud of that, even though it was longarmed by my dear friend Shirley. Then I did the spider quilt for a friend and love that. The next one was the Marabella one for little Olivia, which is in this last festival. This is my next quilt that I really, really love. All of these required a lot of work following directions--not always something I do well. They also required a lot of figuring the puzzle of a quilt. Since I've always loved puzzles that is one thing great about quilting. Can't believe my journey this last year or so, but it's been such a great one for me. As said before, quilters are so great--they give, they love to share, they're creative (even if all they ever do is follow exact directions), they're neat people. Thanks to all who share with me, all who express appreciation for my comments about their work and who admire mine. What a great world--too bad the whole world doesn't quilt--think it would bring peace a lot faster.

Well...have a great Christmas if I don't post again. And thanks again to all who visit and express a comment. Joy and Peace