Another finish!

I'm absolutely amazed at getting a third finish off my lengthy list of tops to be quilted up!  I guess setting deadlines is the trick to getting things done. But I have to confess, I'm getting mighty tired of all this quilting--not exactly my favorite part of making a quilt, but for a cheapskate thrifty person like me, it has to be done at some time or another.

This is the finished quilt laid out on a couch. Whoops!  I have yet  to make a label and stitch it on.  Later today I'll get that done. This one is a gift to our friends who took our son Dan into their house for 2 weeks when he needed to begin working in Madison before his apartment was available.  A small gift for a wonderful couple.

Below is the design I stitched in the two sashing rows.  I used a variegated King Tut 40 wt. thread in the entire quilt.  Because it's what I had on hand, that's why.  As I worked on this quilt I realized the thread was gold, purple and green--aren't those the Mardi Gras colors?

The freehand design I stitched in the border--seen from the back . . . 

and from the front.

I used a stencil, Pounce, and a water soluble blue pen to mark the design in the blocks. Even tho the blocks were different designs but the same size, I used the same quilting stencil in all of them.

 In the center applique row, I did an outline of the appliques and an echo about an inch further away. I like the appearance of a closer echo design but I was afraid to make this section of the quilt too dense since the rest of the quilt is not.

So that's Past President's Project all finished! Next I'll be working on finishing Dan's quilt--going to Eau Claire this afternoon to get the thread I need to finish that up--and then I have 2 more tops that need to be quilted up--one for our County veterans--due on May 1--and one I promised for my younger daughter.  Then I can get back to a little piecing again.

I also wanted to show the final result of the little embroidered and quilted notions box that I made.  Here it is. It's about a 5"  cube with a ribbon tie at the top. The ribbon is threaded through the 4 pony beads that are stitched onto the peaks of the sides.

I like it and will probably make more, maybe with different embroidery designs.  We'll see.

Lastly, I have to share a photo of the beautiful winter day we're having here in Wisconsin. Blue skies, very little wind, temps in the 20's. Ahhh.  This is the kind of day I loved back when I still skied.  Just perfect.  You can't see it too well in this pic but there's a good 4' of snow on the ground and more on the deck where it's drifted.  So far both the roof and the deck seem to be holding up pretty well. I have my fingers crossed.

In a few minutes Don and I will go the Empty Bowls event which is a soup lunch fundraiser for the food pantry and homeless shelter here in town, and then we're off to EC to get thread--and some other things as well.  I hope you have a wonderful Saturday just as I'm having.