I am back hosting TGIFF- Thank Goodness It’s Finished Friday! This is an international group so the party begins Thursday at 6 pm EDT and ends at Midnight Saturday, so you have plenty of time to link up a finish. If you want to know more about this, you can read all about TGIFF here. The link-up party for this week is near the bottom of this post.

My Winter Twist
My Bernina 570 has an embroidery unit which I enjoy using, but most of my projects have been labels, mug rugs or bags. This block from San Francisco Stitch Co. caught my eye and I was hooked. I searched for a background and rather liked this odd batik in my stash that I had.




I made the four blocks and then had to decide on the arrangement. I was really pleased with the way they turned out. There are always things we would change, and one is that the light blue shading onthe animals could have been a shade or two darker, but that is just fine with me.

The borders were more than I could handle, but look how gorgeous the designer’s finished product is. Now, my embroidery skills weren’t ready to handle the borders and I didn’t want this to become a UFO, so I made a few other choices.

I wanted to bring three colors into the lattice and borders – the green from the batik, the purple and blue from the embroidery. I think this worked quite well.

I then took it to the longarm, and quilted around the squares and added a quilting design that mimicked some of the designs in the blocks. The design is Squiggle Sashing and Corner from My Creative Stitches.

I didn’t want a binding, so I used a facing instead. Here’s my tutorial on facing, in case you are interested.

This surely was not a project I needed to do but a one I am very glad to have done. It is always fun to do something a little new and different.
Quilt Stats
Winter Twist, 18″ x 18″
Embroidery designs by San Francisco Stitch Co.
Batting: Dream Cotton
Quilting Design: Squiggle Sashing and Corner from My Creative Stitches
Quilting Thread: Floriani Lilac
Join the Linky Party

Now it’s your turn to post, and the rules are simple – write up a tip or group of tips or a tutorial that is quilting or sewing-related and link that post below. Post your finishes for the week! This party is open from Thursday 6 pm ET to Saturday at 11:55 pm.
Coming Up on My Blog
Diatom Row 2
Fixing a T-Shirt Quilt
Fab Farm SAL Begins (4/17)
Linking Up
TGIFF
Finished or Not Friday
Fabric Stash
My stash is getting smaller! I did buy an alternate background for a quilt, and some sheep fabric for the Fab Farm quilt, but that increase did not affect my monthly total. I am hoping to make a few tops on my retreat, and quilt one or two by the end of the month…we shall see.
Fabric in this month: 6 Fabric out this month: 9.25
Fabric in this year: 20.25 Fabric out this year: 27.75
NET Fabric: -7.5 yards!
What a fun thing to experiment with and then end up with a pretty quilt!
I love how you mimicked the embroidered border with machine quilting, Kathleen!!! That makes for a beautiful border!!!
This looks like the perfect way to get to know the embroidery module of your machine. I really love the quilting you added to the border to tie in the colors, too. 🙂
Hi Kathleen! I just LOVE the choices you made. That final border is just perfection in my book. What a fun project. I think it turned out fabulous. Happy Friday to you. Darn, I don’t have a finish this week to share. Maybe next week if Chase’s quilt actually gets quilted and bound. {{Hugs}} ~smile~ Roseanne
Ohh I like that!!! and it is so wintery looking!!! That border stitching is beautiful!! ( but please let spring arrive ok? haha)
This is adorable Kathleen. Love each scene on the four blocks.
Your version is quite lovely, Kathleen! 🙂