Past the Middle of Biblical Blocks

I've passed the midpoint of the Biblical Blocks quilt.  The batting is a good 8" off the floor!  Photo No. 1: Job's Tears. Photo No. 3: Golgotha. No. 4: Tree of Life.  The entire middle has too much fullness in it, and does not lie flat.  There are even a few little individual patches that are too full.  How did that happen, I wonder?  I'm guessing it was cut with scissors rather than a rotary cutter, for starters; and things went south from there.  Starch and pressing with a hot iron is helping, and the Quilters' Dream wool is helping, too; but nothing is going to totally eliminate the trouble.  I could quilt it more heavily, but I don't want to.  I'll just keep doing the best I can.

Starting Center of Biblical Blocks Quilt

 I've begun the center of the Biblical Blocks quilt.  Pictures 3 and 4 are Before & After shots of a trouble spot.  The sailboat strip is quilted; I'll get pictures of it tomorrow.  Surprisingly, it came out fine.

In looking at these pictures, I see there is a line of stitching missing in the green triangles on the left.  That part is already rolled into the take-up bar; I'll have to add the stitching after the quilt is done (and before I cut it from the frame).

Photo No. 2 is called 'Joseph's Coat', No. 5 is called 'Solomon's Puzzle', No. 7 is 'Jacob's Ladder', and No. 8 is 'David & Goliath'.

Joseph's Coat

Solomon's Puzzle

Those Problematic Areas

The lady had troubles with this block, which is called 'Robbing Peter to Pay Paul'. (That's not a Bible story, in case you're wondering.) I doused it with starch, pressed it, and quilted. The final result is not quite as ripply as it appears in the picture; I was taking the shot from a low angle without overhead lighting. I could smush it further with a little more quilting; but I don't want this quilt that heavily quilted. I call it 'good enough'. 😏

This is the blue border that had problems. I had to quilt it fairly heavily, as it had way too much fullness in it. And the worst is yet to come -- the part below the center block. Anyway, I managed to avoid any tucks, so far.

First Row of Biblical Blocks

 I'm almost done with the first row of blocks on the Biblical Blocks quilt.  There's one more thread color change, and I would need to roll the quilt forward a bit to finish the blocks; but right around midnight, I ran out of steam.  The names of the blocks are beneath each one.

David & Goliath

Children of Israel

Joseph's Coat

Garden of Eden

Heavenly Problems

Cross & Crown

A Little More Done, Biblical Blocks...

 ... and now I have quit for the night.

Red Border

Top red border done... now for the corner blocks.

Starting the Quilting on Biblical Blocks

This afternoon, I went to my favorite little LQS in town (it's owned by my friend from high school) and got the backing for the Biblical Blocks quilt, started by daughter-in-law Amy's grandmother in the early 80s, we think. The top border is now done. I outlined the lighthouses and the 'ropes'. Now for some swirly feathers in the red border. 😃

Giving the Quilt to Joseph

We gave the quilt to Joseph this evening. The last couple of pictures are a little placemat I made for my late mother-in-law Norma several years ago; I tucked it into Juliana's birthday bag along with her large ceramic, mother-of-pearl, with roses painted on it, piggy bank, into which I put a handful of coins.

Label for Joseph's Quilt

 

Joseph's Army Quilt Completed

 Joseph's Army quilt is all done except for the label.  I even managed to get pictures of it out on the deck, in spite of the 25-mph wind gusts.  His 38th birthday is Monday, April 24th.

The quilt measures 53" x 70", and was designed in EQ8.  I got the panel, the Army fabric, the dark blue, and the dark red fabrics from Missouri Star Quilt Company.  The dark green, lighter blue, and the yellows were from my stash.  I used high-loft polyester batting.  There are six different colors of thread on top, mostly Omni 40-wt.  A couple are Signature 40-wt.  There is medium gray Bottom Line 60-wt. in the bobbin.

Photos 4, 7, & 8 show the pieced backing.  Photos 9 & 10 are the binding, pictured from the back.  The stitching is done in the ditch on the front, so it only shows on the back.  I put my binding on entirely by machine.