Detour -- quilt under construction

Decided to take time from the knitting to finish the binding on a quilt.  The design, Dan's Climb, is by Heather Spence of Heather Spence Designs.  Heather set up a group on FB and 65+ quilters paid a nominal amount to receive weekly clues via email.  Proceeds were given to cancer patients, to help them with extra expenses due to treatments, etc.

Great idea and great pattern.  Heather is revealing another Mystery Quilt for early Spring 2012.  If you want to participate, go to her website or FB page and follow the links.  Heather Spence Designs

If you are a quilter, you know that binding a quilt is no easy task.  It takes a long time.  Sometimes it feels as if the binding is taking longer than the cutting and piecing.  I didn't want to leave this one sit for too long; it will look nicer on the bed (and I will feel much better about the time already invested if I look at it there instead of in the UFO pile.)

This view shows the collection of fabrics and colors.
Also, you can clearly see the wonderful
pantograph that Heather used when she machine-
quilted it for me.

When a quilt is removed from Heather's magical machine and loving hands, it's almost ready to bind.  There's still some cutting and pressing and sewing.  Thanks to her wonderful PDF download I was able to make my way thru the precise steps to create a wonderful and professional binding.   I've been quilting longer than I've been knitting, but some steps are learned at a much later date.

The pins are holding the binding strip to the wrong
side of the quilt.  The fabric to the left of the binding is
the backing; on the right side is a close up of
one of the fabrics in the quilt top.

Heather stitches together "creativity and love" -- really.  She's a master at her work and you can count on her service and quality.

One more picture shows the combination of front fabrics, backing, and binding.  I'm going to enjoy seeing this one on the bed for Spring.

Heather and I decided on green for the color of the
quilting thread.  Not sure you can see it, but the addition
of the green makes the flowers and pattern bloom.

I'll be taking another detour during the Spring of 2012 to watch Heather's next design unfold.