Ten years in the making

Here is my version of Bonnie Hunter's 2011 Mystery Quilt Orca Bay, which I started in 2012 and picked up from Sheila at Longarm Love just over a week ago.  I am really pleased with her quilting and she stay-stitched around the edge making my trimming job so much easier. 

Orca Bay, quilted

This weekend just gone I drove over to Stitch Your Art Out, my LQS, and bought the binding fabric. I didn't want plain black, but was looking for something with some pops of colour in it and this Australian fabric looked just right to me as there is enough blue and yellow to bring those colours out, but the other colours are not overwhelming.  It will interesting to see the final effect.

Binding fabric

The binding strips have been cut, joined and pressed, I have prepared a hanging sleeve from some of the surplus backing fabric (my own snow dyeing, with inadvertent speckles of dye - oops!) as I am pondering entering the finished quilt into our Grange Fair (county fair).  If I am going to do that it has to be finished by 17th August, so getting it all done is my One Monthly Goal for August 2022.

Snow dyed backing shows the quilting a little more clearly

 

Hanging sleeve and binding ready to sew on

Also under the needle this month will be my Blueberry Hill quilt (another pattern from Villa Rosa Designs, but enlarged a bit) as that is a gift I would like to be able to give sooner rather than later.  I love Villa Rosa's little postcard sized patterns.

Blueberry Hill has not progressed since the 24th of April

Other than that I hope to get some of my smaller flimsies quilted and maybe bound too as I still have one big project waiting patiently for my attention, there is knitting on the needles too, but that will get worked on when I have to travel for work, it is ideal for keeping me busy at airports, on aeroplanes and in hotel rooms.