Sarah's Red, White & Blue - Quilted 03/02/2015

Love this photo by Sarah.
Decided to use it right here!
That is some serious & excellent piecing. Nicely done.

Sarah is an instructor on Craftsy.com which is most popular for their quilting classes. She has offered to generate discounts on classes for us. If interested, let me know. Sarah has given us discount links for classes on the Suppliers page. Very nice!! THANK YOU.

Jan 04: First contact. Will be using white thread to match & a meander panto.
Jan 20: The quilt is here. The size maxes out my system.
Feb 01: Changed IQ pattern from a puzzle piece meander to Stars & Loops.
Feb 11: Prepping including measuring & programming. While photographing, I got to thinking ... hmmm ... those initials in the corners of the anniversary couple. "In the stars..." Hey, Valentine's day is around the corner so tis the season. Now the day is well spent & Sarah is super busy in her own world. Back to the binding for now.
Feb 12: This is a fun quilt to play with. That is my only intention. Drew a rendition of this quilt in EQ7 & did some idea overlays.
Feb 13: Still playing while Sarah is recuperating from her fashion show ordeal.. Added some Valentine type custom borders. What can I say? Playing is fun and free.
Feb 18: Sarah is back & we have changed course a bit. Stars are out. Chantilly Lace is in for the panto for the quilt center. The simpler Heartloops will fill the borders.
Feb 19: Cut & paste sketch of the plan Sarah & I discussed yesterday.
Feb 24: Started prep work (backing & batting). Started polishing the quilting plan.
Feb 25: Quilting plan is now programmed. Resuming prep work (top & loading). It is now 9 PM & the quilt is loaded. Not basted...but loaded. Prepping has taken many hours. Any and everything will show through a white quilt especially red & blue threads. This quilt also had a lot of tiny bits of dark what I can only call trash--don't know what it is. And long hairs. I picked these off one by one on both sides of the back and front as I pressed. I removed &/or trimmed every colored thread I saw that might show through. More dark threads will unravel as I load & roll the quilt so I will be looking for these as I go. Nothing looks worse than a dark thread quilted inside a white quilt. There will be places I can't help where dark fabric will show through at the seams & points even though Sarah did an excellent job of pressing to the dark fabrics. Basting is next. Must stop & finish Rudy's binding--needed for a show next week.
Feb 28: Basted. With that, February is gone.
Mar 01: Quilting day at last. Completed the top, center & bottom sections. Quilt is so large, it is very hard to photograph. Will reload and do side sections tomorrow, hopefully in time to ship. Note that I try to take pictures that show up the pattern. It is not nearly so pronounced in person.
Mar 02: Working on sides.
​Mar 03: Quilted.