The Beginning of the Story.....

Happy Friday everyone!!!!

I've been a very busy little girl in the quilting studio this past week, but unfortunately I still don't have a finished quilt to show you, but I am working on it!

Lori Kennedy at The Inbox Jaunt posted today about Essential Quilting Skills and the importance of continually growing our skills.  If you don't follow Lori, you might want to go over and check her out!  She shares amazing FMQ designs every week, and she is currently doing a fascinating series on the importance of a quilting notebook, how to organize and prioritize our UFO's, etc.  Very good stuff!!!!

My current project is a perfect example of finishing off a UFO and growing my skills in the process!

Scheherazade - without final borders

Meet Scheherazade!  This quilt was started at a Guild workshop way back in 2007.  We learned how to do the Buzzsaw block in the workshop and then went home with instructions for finishing up the rest of the blocks and putting together the center of the quilt, which I did at my very first retreat later that year :)

Since then, this poor top has been sitting on my UFO shelf, just waiting for me to give it some love!!!  All I really needed to do was add a few borders to give it enough size for a lap quilt, so I put this "quick and easy" project on my Guild UFO Challenge list.  And honestly, my only intention when I pulled it off the shelf was to slap on a couple of borders and call 'er done.....

Ah well....the best laid plans of mice and quilters often go awry, right?

I've loved these fabrics since I first laid eyes on them in my first year of quilting and stash acquisition.

Doesn't this just scream "Arabian Nights" to you?
It does me!!!

A local Hancocks Fabrics was going out of business and fabric was $2 a yard - whoohoo!!!!  I bought every last scrap of these fabrics - yep, ALL!!!  I think there were 8 yards of the above print - enough would be left over for the backing!  :)  And then these amazing coordinates - like FIRE!!!!

But I have to say, I was kind of surprised when I pulled this off the shelf to find that I still love these fabrics.  You know how time often has a way of separating us from our first fabric loves?  I've found myself saying, "what was I thinking!" more times than I can count!  But these vibrant fabrics still speak to me - they almost seem to have a life of their own.

So I suppose I shouldn't have been too terribly surprised when I found that ideas for more complicated borders kept popping into my head.  After all, I loved it enough in the beginning to actually MITER the first borders!  And for a timid newbie quilter, that's saying a lot, right?

Just look at that perfect miter :)  Nailed it!!!!

This quilt deserved something more than just slapping on plain borders, didn't it?  

I finally decided that yes, indeed, it did!

But that is just where this story starts..... come back for Design Wall Monday where I'll share the rest of this story about how I decided to polish up a few old skills and create the perfect finish for this lovely quilt - sneaky, huh?  Just like the original story of Scheherazade, you will have to come back to hear the finish...... go HERE to read the fascinating story about this legendary Persian Queen and her story of One Thousand and One Nights!

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And just so you don't think I've been a slave to the quilting studio this week, I share my progress On the Needles - my red House Targaryen socks!

This is a fun pattern to work!  It tended to twist a little on me, but I'm sure that will straighten up in the blocking process.  I was so excited to finally get to the point of working the heel on these!  I'm trying to work these both at the same time so I can be sure they are the same size when I'm done.  I love using the Two-at-a-time Magic Loop, but I just couldn't get it to work right for me with this pattern, so I went back to the dpn needles.

I don't think it will be long before I can enjoy wearing these wonderful RED socks :*D

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Now before I leave, let me steer you toward a great quilting event going on over at my friend Kevin's blog!  Kevin is hosting a challenge for the Quilts of Valor effort!  You can participate by making some of these really quick, fun blocks -

Photo courtesy of Kevin the Quilter

...........and maybe win a gift certificate!  

Go HERE to learn all about it!!!!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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