Zippety Do Dah!

 

About 3 years ago I won a jelly roll of Zippety Do Dah by Sandy Gervais and went right to work piecing this quilt then we bought this house and moved and life just got busy and it got put in a box.  Recently though I have been doing a lot more free motion quilting and trying to get all my pieced tops quilted.  I had never made a back for this, but had put all my scraps and extra blocks in a bag with the top so I went to work making a back which I now like even more than the top.  I ran out of that beige fabric though and had to try to match it as close as I could at my local quilt shop.  I love the scrappy look of it.  I had planned to donate this quilt to a cause and might still do it, except that my cat as fallen in love with this quilt and has been sitting on it as I move it from pile to pile while I am working on it.  He likes quilts, but I have never seen him get as attached to one as he has this one.  I am surprised he wasn’t on it in any of these pictures.  I put a navy binding on it and still have to do the hand stitching on it. 

It feels good to be getting all these things finished up.  I have even started and finished a few new small projects thanks to feeling more confident with my quilting abilities.  I have wanted to make this sunflower runner for a few years and recently I just went for it.  The pattern is from the book Skinny Quilts & Table Runners from today’s top designers by Eleanor Levie in 2008.  I had it pieced in a just a few night time sessions and quilted it in a just about an hour.  It is taking me longer to hand sew the binding on than anything else, but I love the process of doing that last finishing touch.  This will go on my buffet that recently got refinished.  The sunflower runner will be for fall and next I will work up something to take it through Christmas.  Runners are a nice size project to work on and actually finish up.  I love doll blankets for the same reason and follow Kathy Tracy’s Small Quilts Yahoo group.  That is a very active group and lots of info and blocks are shared there.  They do exchanges and Kathy posts free patterns on a monthly basis.  It is a great place to learn and develop friendships. 

And this is why I love to quilt!

Ferne