Blogging slump... and then a quilting slump...

I actually was still rolling right along back in March and April. I had some good progress going, and then I hit a wall. I'm not sure why... but here's an update on the quilting:

I finished my daughter's quilt! I gave it to her the night of Saturday's General Conference. She sang in the Institute choir in the afternoon session, and was so sad because she had actually lost her voice during the week. :( She had to do mostly lip syncing, which is a real bummer when you auditioned and everything! This was also the week before she received her mission call, so it was an emotional time all around. She lives near campus where she attends college, so she was just home for the weekend. She was crying because of not being able to sing, and I was crying because so much love went into this quilt for my little girl who is growing up. We are a bunch of crybabies. :)

Here are some pics of the quilt...

It turned out to be big enough for her full-size bed! And it's serendipitous that it matches the pillowcases she already had!

We used to call her our "Velcro Baby." She just was always stuck on my hip back when she was a wee one!

It really is symmetrical! The top is not wider than the bottom! :)

I had it quilted at the Corn Wagon Quilt Company.

In the note card, I listed the reasons I chose each fabric. Some of them are just "fillers," but many of them were chosen for specific personality traits I love about her.

Making quilts for people you love is such a good feeling.

I also finished the table runner that was hanging neglected on my design wall...

It's probably tacky that I'm not going to go back and crop out my dishwasher door there on the side...

We have a plexiglass cover on our table. I would never put quilted table runners on it without one. I have kids. It does dull the look of the quilt, though. :/

I did the machine quilting myself. I was pretty happy with how it turned out.

I also got all the leaves and other assignments for the Saturday Sampler done when I said I would. I'm all caught up on the blocks and everything for this quilt... now it has to be assembled, and it's not going to be an easy task. There is A LOT of applique to sew onto the quilt. And to be honest, it's not one of my top priorities. I don't know when I'll get to it.

The long stem that will be appliqued on the quilt. I should have followed the directions that said it's a good idea to press all the seams in the same direction. Somehow I didn't do that and ended up not being able to push the shaper/iron thingy through. I had to just manipulate it with my fingers while I pressed it.

I finished all 75 leaves during General Conference. It took me three full sessions, which was 6 hours. Thank goodness for Conference, because I would never have made the time to make all those leaves if I wasn't already going to be in one spot for those hours.

My two top priorities right now are finishing a fun camping quilt I'm making for my son... I just need to sandwich the top and back with batting and get it to the quilter. I'll hopefully get it to her in the next day or two. I also am working on a July table runner (haha! I'll use it next year!) There will also be a wall hanging to go with it. It probably shouldn't be a priority, since I won't use it this year, but those are "little" projects that hopefully will be quick finishes so I can get them off my WIP pile.

My daughter moved back home for the few weeks before she leaves for her mission, so my sewing room has been converted back to her room. I moved my stuff upstairs to my kitchen temporarily, so I have no excuses but to get back in the groove!

I'm excited that the next session of the UCMQG is going to focus on WIP's. ;) I have a few...