Fun Block Wonder(ful)

Well it wasn't all fun but it did turn out Wonderfully!

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan - 63" x 62"

(it's a rainy day here, so the colors are a little funny)

 I didn't have the heart to kick coco off, as I just came home from a 5 day trip.  She helped with the entire photo session.

 I am especially happy with how my partial fans look on the border.  It is a good reminder that you can use any portion of a stencil.

 I used 2 fabrics on the back:  A Gold Dragon, which was great because I watched 4 seasons of Game of Thrones while working on this quilt and an Asian Toile' which I adore

I still need to stitch my little sparrow above my label.

 back Asian Toile' details

Here you can see the texture of the quilting.

This quilt gave me all sorts of problems.  After binding, washing and blocking I found I had missed several fan arcs - grrrrrrr.

 In order to quilt it properly I had to un-stitch the binding on the back and the front.   I used a single binding.

 I held it off to the side while I started and stopped the quilting stitching.

 When finished I just pinned and re-stitched to the front and hand stitched (again) to the back.

Here are 2 dresses that I'm sending to Columbia with Lori.

 I made several little goodie bags with "girly stuff".

I will be kicking off my lecture/teaching year with a visit to the Greater Ann Arbor Quilt Guild Sept. 15-17th.  Find info on their Facebook page here or their Website here.  I'm looking forward to meeting everyone!
xo

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

This is the name I have decided to give my One Block Wonder. I finished the top yesterday - Banzai!

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is one of my 3 favorite books.  I wept the first time I read it.  I met the author, Lisa See, at a Author Luncheon many years ago.  I met her one on one for a few minutes in the ladies room of all places and had a short chat.

She is a lovely lady and I have read all of her books and especially like the Joy books and her latest~

I used 3 different black on black prints that had an Asian look from my stash.

I added a plain border to the left side to highlight the fabric.  I did piece it so I could include the best bits.  I think once quilted it will be hard to see the seams (I hope).

Adding this strip also made the quilt more square, which to me has a more Asian look.  I just made that up, but I think its true, do you?

Here is an earlier iteration.  This is how I envisioned handing the borders.....but it didn't work for me.

This was some really picky piecing (which is not my strong suit).  I used aLOT of starch.

 I added 5 borders, but I sewed on 8 borders.....you do the math, lol

I have a plan for the machine quilting with silk thread.

Thank you for taking my Presidential tour last week and leaving such nice comments.  I received a wonderful gift from a long time reader, Sandy H.  It was beautifully wrapped and was a joy to find in my mailbox.  Quilters are the nicest people I know.

Have a super week!
xo

p.s. wow has it been fun to watch Wimbledon this year.  The early rounds have been very dramatic.  I love sewing to tennis!