I've been quilting on the longarm, trying to finish a Quilt of Valor. The pattern is Mystery 12 from Persimmon Quilts. Nothing too fancy, just some loops in the background and squiggles in the gold area.An older UFO, "Hidden Stars" a block of the month from Marti Michell, started in 2005.
The pattern originally called for alternate squares of a busy floral, fussy cutting the large roses. I am not that kind of girly-girl! My first thought was to find a light denim blue to match the light blue in the patchwork blocks, which would have been a great plan five years ago. Alas, my LQS didn't have anything suitable when I went shopping a few weeks ago. Rather than spend time searching for something to fit that perfect mental image, I settled on this forest green. I think it looks great so far - just masculine enough while still being a soft complement to the other florals.And, TA-DA!!!! A finish! I started this bargello quilt at my first Quilt Camp in the Pines, July 2004, just 6 months after I made my first quilt. The class was taught by Louisa Smith and she actually had us turn a section of the strips to create a twist in the design. Great idea, but six years have gone by and I can't even find pictures of that layout now.
When I picked out the fabrics, I had the local quilt show theme of Mardi Gras in mind, so I went with yellow, purple and green. I am still debating adding some applique to "explain" the Mardi Gras colors, but really, who am I kidding? A much better idea is just to get it quilted and donate it to the small quilt auction, or maybe keep it as a spring display for my classroom.
