Midnight Stars - Finished!

I came a little late to Lori's Midnight Stars quilt-along.  I'm not sure exactly when I started making my version of Midnight Stars, but it was well after Lori completed giving directions on her blog.  Regardless, I enjoyed making the quilt top and her instructions made it a breeze (thanks, Lori!).  The red and cheddar fabric combo really gives the quilt some sparkle!

I was inspired by Bonnie Hunter's free-hand fan quilting, so I decided to try that technique on this quilt.  I chose navy blue thread for the quilting.  Hmmm - not good choices!  I had a hard time seeing the stitches I had already made, so the visual guide for shaping the fans was just impossible to follow.  I gave up on making free-hand fans and used a guide to draw quilting lines with a chalk pencil as I went.  My hand quilting skills were rusty, and quilting through some of the seam lines was a pain, but I knew everything would look fine when the quilt was completed, bound and washed.  Now I just need to find a display spot for this cutie!

Pumpkin Juice Mini Churn Dash

I was (happily) seduced into sewing along with Lori's latest antique-inspired doll quilt project.  Lori's quilt was dubbed "Pink Lemonade".  I wanted to quilt-along, but I had completely different colors in my stash. So, in keeping with the beverage theme, I decided my quilt was best described as Pumpkin Juice!

Lori's doll quilt instructions are always clear and easy to follow.  This was a fun opportunity to play with some of my reproduction fabric stash.

I enjoy hand-quilting quilts of this size

I haven't decided on a quilting plan, and I have some other hand-sewing projects to finish before I start quilting this top.

In the meantime, I'll just enjoy my Pumpkin Juice!

Many thanks to Lori for hosting another great quilt-along!  Check out the Pink Lemonade Quilt Show at her website to see all the variations and color combinations created by other quilters.