Well, hello!  I left this blog of mine over ten years ago, and I've recently realized that I wish that I had a record of the quilting projects I've done and some of the steps for each of them.  So I've decided to come back.  I wander off easily, so I'm not sure how this will go, but today is a first step.

I'm starting in the middle of a project.  I'm longarming a quilt for a sweet friend in Florida.  This is her second or third quilt, and she worked on it for months.  She is the kind of enthusiastic learner who rejoices at every seam.  She made this quilt for her great niece, who is graduating from nursing school.  It is 92" square, so quilting it on her small domestic machine was out of the question, and it would also be quite expensive to send to a professional longarmer.  

When the blocks or pattern of the piecing or appliqué should be stars of the show, I really dislike computerized, all-over designs.  I decided that this quilt needed custom quilting, and I offered to do it.

I am doing simple free-hand swirls in the borders and sashing with pink thread to match the fabric.

I'm using a curve ruler and a heart ruler to do the designs in each block with red thread to stand out.  Each block has the same quilting pattern.

I think that I am going to like the back.  The pink swirls almost disappear in the backing fabric, and the red heart blocks stand out nicely.