All that practice on the tablemat WIP #29 and #30 was in prep for doing the same center flower frond shape all over this lap sized authentic 1930s-1940s sampler quilt completed this month from  34 extra Depression Era blocks. Most of these hand quilted blocks were rescued from a musty garage sale oblivion. (126 blocks in a shoebox for $1.00)   My goal in 2013 is to get ALL my UFOs done. That includes things that have been on the shelf a while. So, I used another 1940-1950 bowtie top (seen below) for the back. The bowtie piece was given to me free with another garage sale quilt top purchase and it needed a use. However, the bowtie top was not a strong enough top to visually or practically stand on its own as a front. Putting it on the back of the 30s sampler was era-appropriate and a great solution! Happy choice for a back. Coral colored binding going on it this week. Done will be good! Here are some of the quilted fronds in the front of the 1930 block sampler. I...

This one is a baby quilt. I didn't know I was going to make a baby quilt last week but when I was done with the last UFO, I decided to pick up a couple things around my sewing desk. At the bottom we a small stack of about 90 miscellaneous pastel charm squares from the six totebags I did for my mom's bible study ladies. Well that was just enough to make a baby quilt! Here are the pics! And I used the same flower frond design to quilt it. Not too shabby for extras! It may go off to charity or if may become a gift. Not sure yet. But it is always good to have one in reserve. Plus it was great to get the sewing area cleared up a bit! Now those charms are sewn up and useful!

(topside/front) This lovely little table mat was a quick practice for some of my free motion quilting and happens to be my 29th work in progress. I purposely used cream thread so I could easily see where I was going and see where I needed to improve.  (backside) The center is free motioned with what I call flower fronds. I was inspired by Angela Walters video class at Craftsy but someplace between watching her video and going downstairs to sew, I lost track of how to do the backside of the flower!! Too lazy to go back up and restart the computer, I just winged it. LOL Yes that is me. So I improvised after the echoing and I like it! The next small border out is pebbling and I learned that I like only one or two rounds of thread on a pebble. Not so into the look of the thicker thread painting that results with 4 or 5 layers. Maybe on a larger scale project or with a matching thread I would do more layers. Lastly, I did some freehand feathers along the outer border. ...