I quilted Aunt Martha’s memorial quilt yesterday.

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Aunt Martha is a hoot, and one of the wonkiest people I know. She’s funny, loves bright colors and anything different. So I decided to do some free-motion wonky flowers, and wavy lines in the sashing. It’s nice to be able do some practice quilting on these quilts. I find I don’t do free-motion quilting enough anymore. I tend to try to use rulers to make them look perfect. It was fun not having to do straight lines or perfect circles! The flowers are a bit skewed, but Aunt Martha will love it no matter what. I think I’ll do all these quilts with free-motion, giving myself the freedom to explore different patterns.

It looks quite pretty from the back:

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I’ve got many threads to snip, and a couple of errors to frog, but I’m happy with it. I did have a few areas where my tension was too tight (probably from moving a bit too fast) and the blue thread from the front shows on the back. But it will hopefully settle itself into the quilt on the first wash. And, frankly, I don’t care that it did. Aunt Martha will love it anyway!

I did free-hand leaves on the border, which I think turned out pretty darn well.

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This was quite fun to do, and for once I relaxed and freed myself from the constant stress of quilting something perfectly. It was amazing how quickly it went, and how rewarding it was!

I LOVE how that quilt turned out!  What a precious quilt – I think the blocks show your mom’s clothing wonderfully, and the quilting you did on it compliments it beautifully.  The quilt has both dignity and playfulness.  You did good, girl!