Vintage Sparkle almost off the UFO list

June 2013. That's the first time I mentioned any part of Vintage Sparkle and it was just a single block then, with thoughts of maybe making more for a throw.

By February 2014 I had a queen size top and I was dithering about border options.  Borders didn't actually get sewn on until December 2014.  I made these too:

I forget how many prairie points there are in those rows, but I know they never made it onto the quilt. The quilt top and the prairie points have both been in a bin as a UFO for over three years.

This month I finally faced facts.  This quilt is not getting hand quilted anytime soon as I am much too slow and not even halfway through my current hand quilting project..  This quilt is too large for me to quilt on my home machine with the setup I have.  This quilt is making me feel bad every time I see it unfinished.  When I took it out of its bin to look at it again I didn't think I even liked it anymore.

My husband assured me it still deserved to be quilted so I sent it out to Liz Meimann of A Quilted Memory in Nevada, IA.  She and her daughter worked their magic and guess what?  You guessed it.  I do love it again!

I don't have a full photo of it yet.  A queen size is a little tricky on that front, and I'd rather wrestle with that just once, after it is completely finished.  Still, you can see all the pretty feathers and curlicues in the two photos above.  I will have to make time to put the prairie points on and finish the edge soon, then I'll have a full reveal.  I love that I am excited about this one again after all this time!

Butterflies at a standstill

Borders are on the butterfly quilt!

I hadn't planned on that little skinny yellow border, but the two greens side by side were very bland, probably because though they are different greens they are the same print. Splitting them up with that little sliver seemed to do the trick.  The yellow also pulls out the yellow cornerstones from the center, so that's another win for the yellow.

Once this is quilted I plan to scallop the borders as you see in the EQ picture below.

It may be a while though.  I'm running up against my FMQ limitations.  I have an idea of what I want but I currently don't have the skill to execute it.  I want to do custom quilting on the butterflies and borders rather than quilt an all-over design.  I think I can manage that part.  Quilting the background is the sticky bit.  I think this quilt has a very traditional feel and I want to carry that to the quilting as well.  A lot of my "go to" walking foot designs seem better suited to more modern designs so I think I need to step up my FMQ game to manage graceful vines or feathers.

There are other projects to keep me busy, and possibly help me improve my FMQ, while this one sits a little bit longer.  I have a list.  I could move a project along or I could start something new. What shall I choose? I remember a time when I would have said unequivocally that I needed to finish everything before starting something new, but I have evolved since then :)!

Thanks for sharing!

Every now and then I wonder why I keep writing patterns.  I'm sure my very supportive husband has also wondered when I treat him to rants about a design I really like not finding traction out in the wide world, or about being so tired of that pattern I've been working on forever (love the quilt, but the pattern isn't flowing as it should yet) or about that last magazine rejection.

Then, to balance things out, every now and then I also get lovely messages from quilters who have made quilts with my patterns and kindly share pictures of their creations.  They truly lift my spirits and encourage me to keep working.

Anita in Ottawa shared her beautiful version of my Spring Blooms quilt (I shared the block tutorial here).  I love seeing alternate versions of my designs.  Anita chose very different fabrics and chose a straight setting instead of an on-point setting. Same blocks, very different quilt! I'm very late sharing this picture.  Anita sent me this last spring and I saved it in the wrong folder and couldn't find it again.  I'm so glad I finally stumbled into the correct folder!

Anita's Spring Blooms

Mary M. made Geese Across the Table placemats.  I love her color choices.  She chose to make them less scrappy than mine and I think that worked out very well.
  

Mary's Geese Across the Table

Mary also made a version of Tic Tac Who? for her grandchild, choosing to make the puppy a Labradoodle like the family dog.  Works for me!

Mary's Tic Tac Who?

Here is Sue Zimmerman's Snow Dreams tree skirt, which she finished in time for Christmas.  It was her first ever paper pieced project! Nothing like jumping in with both feet, but she did a fabulous job. Nancy Troyer quilted it for her.

Sue Zimmerman's Snow Dreams

And Marilyn F. shared her Canada 150 quilt.  Check out the fun pieced back as well, with a pieced label about her participation in both Canada's 100th and 150th anniversary celebrations.

Marilyn's Canada 150 quilt

Thank you for sharing and for the encouragement, ladies! I'm off to work on a new pattern!