Mary is the creator and designer of this quilt.  I think that she did a

fantastic job of it.

There is also a terrific story behind this quilt.  Each block

in this quilt represents something that happened to Mary in

1968.  It was the Elvis era, The Beatles sang about a Yellow

Submarine, The Bug was popular and Mary got married,thus

the wedding dress.  And who could forget about the record

players and the round black albums?  Check out some of the designs

on the quilt top itself.

And who can forget the funky dresses worn then?

In the large black squares, we decided to mimic the designs that Mary

had already chosen.  Taupe or a light tan thread was chosen, to match

that color already in the fabric on the quilt top.  It would also stand out

so that it could be seen on the black background.

Mary loves swirls so I quilted in a swirl design in the small black border.

In the large outer border, I used black thread and just followed

the pattern on the fabric. Black thread was used so that it was easier

to stitch around the swirls in that area and the thread color didn’t

distract from the design on the fabric.

I know that it looks like it isn’t quilted but believe me,

it is.  The textures is pretty neat on the back of the quilt too.

For the pieced areas between the large black blocks, Mary decided

that circles, squares and bubbles would add some nice texture to the

quilt

I love bubbles (or pebbles, as I call them) too so that was an easy

decision to make.

I also stitched in the ditch around each area of the quilt.  This helps

to stabilize the quilt.  It is also the boring part but once it is done, you can

move on to the fun part-filling in the remainder of the quilt.

Black batting was used, instead of white or cream too.  Sometimes the

batting does pop through the holes made by the stitching.  If it does, then

the color won’t be seen as much as a white batting would be noticed.

Here is an overall shot of the finished quilt.

I think that it turned out great. Mary loved it and that is

all that matters.  What a great story and I thouroughly enjoyed

working on this quilt.

I am also working on another quilt that will prove to be quite a

challenge for me.  Here is a preview of it.  Designing the quilt top

is one area that I struggle with but I know that with practice, I can improve.

Don’t forget to check out Freshly Pieced.

Remember the draw at the Hospital last week?  Well, I did take

my camera but the quilt was not laid out so I didn’t get a full view shot.

I do apologize for that.  A man from Brampton won the quilt. His

grandmother was sitting beside me at the luncheon-she was so excited

that he won.

And for a sidebar, the Auxiliary at the hospital is made up of 800 members.

They managed to raise $5,000,000 for the cancer wing at the hospital!!

Isn’t that amazing?!  I think so too.

Have a great week.