Quilt of Valor Top Complete.... Finally!

The Quilt of Valor top that the Blanketeers have been working on for more than a year is finally complete; meaning I FINALLY finished putting it together. Two weeks ago it looked like this:

With most of the quilt just in strips and with paper still on the one block that is standing up.

Now it is all together, borders and everything. I think it looks terrific! Thanks to all the women who made it possible. I don't think I've ever worked on anything so large; it ended up being 68" x 68".

Sheila (bless her heart!) agreed to iron it. I ironed it just enough to put it together, but it really needs a complete pressing before we send it off to a Quilt of Valor quilter, whom I still have to locate.
I also have to find some backing fabric, 4.25 yards of it, to be exact. We looked all over the Trinity Valley Quilt show for some yesterday, but no luck. The show was terrific, but I was told there were about 20 fewer vendors there than usual, and the variety of reds and patriotic fabrics was limited - so the hunt continues!

Dinosaur Panel Quilt

And then there's the dinosaur panel quilt that I bought as a kit in Austin on the shop hop last year. I was very taken by the vibrant colors and thought it might be fun to work with flannel for a change.
It wasn't until I opened up the kit that I realized it was meant to be a wall hanging rather than a quilt. It was way too long and narrow to be a quilt! I got around this by making the outer two borders wider on the sides and narrower on the top and bottom. A few inches each way was all it took.
Aren't these fellows cute? I really love the vibrant colors. Since it was flannel, I decided not to pre-wash. Flannel wears out so quickly as it is. I'll wash it before it gets donated though, probably in ice water with multiple color catchers. lol

I haven't decided if I'm going to stipple it or try to outline it. If I do decide to do outline quilting, it definitely won't be with clear thread again. That was such a pain to work with!

French Braid Baby Quilt

Here is another quilt on my to-do list. The Blanketeers inherited a bunch of small pieces of fabric in several tonal colorways, yellow, pink and blue. I immediately thought of the book "French Braid Obsession" by Jane Hardy Miller. I have never made a french braid quilt before, but I absolutely love the look. I'm starting with the yellow colorway. I spent hours getting the different tones in the "right" order.

I'm planning a simple braid border around an ivory center square. I have not decided exactly how the center will be embellished, but it will be kid-friendly. Unfortunately this quilt keeps getting re-prioritized lower and lower, but I'll get to it eventually. 8)

Bright Pansies, Purple & Green Baby Quilt

I'm so behind with my posting, but for a long time I have wanted to make several short posts to have pictures to go along with my "Works in Progress" list. I finally got "Bright Pansies" sandwiched and ready to quilt. I think it's going to be an absolute knock-out with the leopard Minkee!

I used up almost my entire collection of purple and indigo fat quarters making this quilt. And I don't have even a smidgen left of the pansy fabric or the orange batik. In fact...

...if you look closely, you'll see I had to piece the square in the very corner in order to have enough orange squares to make the quilt. The orange corner square is 3 strips of fabric sewn together. You'll never see it on a galloping horse, is my motto!