The Future's So Bright: Done!

I just finished this queen-sized quilt for my niece Anna, who is getting married at the end of the month. I hand-stitched the binding on, a process that often takes me a long, long time to finish. I think the trick to finishing it in 10 days, rather than 10 weeks, was downloading a good audio book to listen to on my iPod while I sewed.

I borrowed this free pattern for this wedding quilt from a blog called Crazy Mom Quilts by Amanda Jean for two reasons. First, I loved the simplicity and beauty of the design. Second, and maybe more importantly, I felt that the name of the pattern (The Future's So Bright) was absolutely perfect a wedding quilt. I pieced the quilt by machine, and had it machine-quilted by Merrie Handfinger (really!) of Sew Materialistic in Brooklyn.

My niece is a fan of red, orange and yellow, so those are the colors I chose to work with. I love the material I found for the back of the quilt, which is pictured below on the left. I also loved the orange-and-red polka-dotted fabric I found for the binding, which is also picture below on the right.

Pineapple Blossom blocks for May Block Lotto

Here's a photo of the 7 "pineapple blossom" blocks I've completed to enter into Block Lotto for May. I've got enough strips cut to make 2 more blocks for the contest (9 entries are usually allowed for each participant each month) and I'll probably get around to sewing them together in the next few days. I won the lotto 3 times in the first year or two I'd started contributing, but haven't won in quite a while now (you can see the quilts I made with my winning blocks if you look back to the first entries I made to this blog). But even when I don't win, I don't find it discouraging: I enjoy making the blocks, and I've learned some new techniques from a few of the patterns that have been chosen by Sophie, the amazing block lotto organizer. Also, I've used a lot of scraps from my considerable stash, which is always a great feeling.

Just a note: Block Lotto is an extremely well-organized quilting lottery, and I highly recommend participating in it if you are looking for a high-quality on-line group to join. I've never met Sophie in person, but I have a lot of respect for her administrative and organizational skills and am grateful that she's taken this on!