Friday: Quilts Instead of Books

I have not completed any books that I can review for you this week, so Friday Books will be back next week, June 1. Yes, believe it or not, a week from today will be June!! Where did May go?

As reported on May 15, I took a class at a local quilt shop in order to become "certified" on the use of a long-arm quilting machine, a Gammill Statler. For those of you who aren't familiar with the quilting world, here is a picture of a long-arm machine with a quilt loaded up... this is what I worked on when I went back this week for a practice session. The shop lets users do these Quilts of Valor tops for free. The quilt will go to a soldier, and it gave me practice on the machine. It was fun doing a real quilt this time!

Here is the quilting pattern I chose. It is like a clamshell pattern but with an added fern leaf. On this quilt, made of patriotic fabrics, it looked rather like fireworks, and I liked how it turned out. Next time I go back I will work on a quilt of my own!

sorry for this poor quality photo of the quilt back

here is the quilt front; sorry you can't see the quilting on it

This is a quilt I made for Wrap a Smile, using mostly scraps that my sister gave me; it was recently quilted by Diane, my fave long-armer. I bound it and will be putting it in the mail soon.

blocks for Sunshine Lotto; some giant tea cups!

a quilt top I recently made; it will probably also go to Wrap a Smile. It depicts both kinds of football: soccer and American football.

I have a couple of quilty deadlines which I am probably going to miss. I will still get the quilts made and sent; I just won't be eligible for the drawings for prizes, because I'll be late. Harumph. I don't need the prizes, but I wanted to get them done on time. I feel bad that I didn't.

Thanks to everyone who responded to my shameless plea for votes in the Bloggers' Quilt Festival. As of this writing, I don't yet know results. I don't expect to be a finalist; I do appreciate getting a few votes, though. Thanks for humoring me!