Congratulations on your graduation!

Happy graduation, Daughter!!!  You did it!  4 years of very hard work!  From those days of running around with your Fisher-Price stethoscope around your neck to today, a registered nurse!  It just gives me goose bumps.

Here is her gift.  A gift of sunflowers all ready to go.  A Kitchen Window quilt from Elizabeth Hartman's book, A Practical Guide to Modern Patchwork.  The quilt is finished with all over stippling in a yellow top thread and cream bobbin thread.  I had to play with the tension a bit because of the 2 different threads but it worked out perfectly.  I wondered about how to quilt it and then realized that just as Elizabeth did in her sample quilt, that the stippling was the way to go.  The stippling is not dense but rather loose.  I decided on the yellow top thread in consultation with Husband.  I like it.  The yellow disappears in to the solid yellow but pops here and there.  Again it was a good solution to the colour contrast in the quilt.  The quilt is backed with a lovely sheet in cream and green stripes and pieced with some sunflower yardage along with some Kona cotton.  This quilt makes me happy.  I have taken many pictures of this quilt so please bear with me.  I just couldn't seem to get enough of throwing it around the yard!

Completed Quilt... "Feeling Blue" a.k.a. "The Blue Beast"

So Happy Birthday, Mum!  It's a bit early but it's finished.  I am pleased with it and all it's scrappiness.  The back is a story.  Years ago, 2 houses ago, I bought a lovely shower curtain.  Paid way too much money for it at the time but it was exactly the right thing for our country house.  We sold the house and I kept the shower curtain.  And now it is totally and perfectly repurposed as the back of this quilt for Mum.  The quilt measures about 76" x 76".  It was not as difficult to quilt as I thought it would be.  My machine handled the bulk well but my hands and shoulders got quite the work out.  It feels good to be finished and I am sure Mum will love it.  Mum has always had a thing for blue.  She is coming down this week so she will be able to visit her quilt in person and take it home before her birthday.  

 Here is the funny thing.  The quilt is perfectly square.  The border on the back was all the same measurement and yet somehow the border on the back on one side only is wonky.  I squared it all up before putting the binding on.  I am just going to say I planned it that way for a certain quirkiness.  : ) The quilting is just all over stippling in white.