A New Hand Quilting Project in the Hoop

I snuck this quilt teaser into an earlier post and thought you’d like a closer look at it.

First – no, I didn’t piece it. I bought it from a good cause and am hand quilting it to be donated to raise funds for another good cause.  Wow – that was vague, wasn’t it?  Let me explain that better.  Every year the Eden Worship Center in Honeyville, Indiana hosts the Annual Topeka Quilt Show & Sale – here’s the info right from their website:

The Topeka Quilt Show & Sale is one of the premier shows in northeastern Indiana, drawing quilters and quilt lovers from across the nation. The vision of Sue Christner, it quickly outgrew the original Honeyville facility and was moved to the Topeka United Methodist Church.

In 2008, Eden Worship Center welcomed the show back home to Honeyville. Featuring numerous Amish made quilts; we have about 60 exhibitors displaying hundreds of quilted items, most of them for sale. Quilted items range from: quilted bed tops, coats, purses, wall hangings and every quilted item one can imagine. In addition, there are pieced items just waiting for a creative quilter’s touch. Vendors will be selling quilt supplies. In our kitchen you can enjoy a homemade cinnamon roll, hot tea and coffee. Lunch is also available.

The commission added to each sale supports mission projects.

This year will be the 40^th Annual show – June 23 – 27^th, partially overlapping the Shipshewana Quilt Festival (June 25 – 28^th). These two events are a mere 7 miles apart, so of course I hit them both when I can – like I did a few years ago.  There are many items for sale including quilt tops of all sizes.  I kept coming back to this little one.  Since it was for a good cause, I purchased it. The top wasn’t very expensive but it was very white.

The white background was too stark against the more muted greens, so I tea dyed it & the colors are so much better together.  During the recent studio/stash renovations, it came up for air and I decided it was time to do something with this.  Originally, I thought about adding borders or using this as a center medallion. Not going to happen – just not.  It wants to just be this big – perfect for a table top or wall hanging.

I am using it as my latest hand quilting project for evening work, so you’ll see it pop up now and again on the blog until it’s done. I layered it with a thin cotton batting, using only part of the planned coordinating fabric when I thought it was going to be bigger, for the backing. You can see the true colors better in the pictures below. When it’s done, it is earmarked for the Amish Mennonite Haiti Benefit Auction held in Shipshewana later this year.  I am in this part of Indiana often, visiting and like to support the local area, usually with my shopping and now hopefully doing a wee bit with my quilting.

Ziggy helped me lay it out to measuring for batting and the back, while Drake only watched.

Ziggy: Mom, this need a good pressing

Ziggy: See that edge right there is curling – don’t forget to press the edges really good.

I need to take it out of the hoop and do some more marking for this evening’s session.