Getting back into quilting with a big finish!

Moving homes took a lot more time than I anticipated, and it's only in the past few weeks that I have unpacked my sewing supplies and slowly eased back into quilting.  Here is the new sewing room:

Already cluttered, I know. I probably should have taken a photo before I started work! Do you see kitty lounging under the sewing table?

I am becoming a big fan of this space for many reasons. First off, it doubles as my boyfriend's study room.

At first I wasn't too thrilled about sharing my space, but now I really like it. I was originally worried about having my sewing area separate from the general hang-out area since I don't like to feel antisocial when I sew. This way, I can sew, he can study, and we can spend time together!

It's also really nice that there is no tv in this room. We're one of those houses where the tv seems always on in the background whether anyone is watching it or not. Having a nice, quiet, tv-free space for working keeps my distraction level down. 

So, as I mentioned, I've been easing back into sewing, first and foremost with my veggie quilt, which had the border already pieced and ready to go before we moved. After a week of plugging away at piecing the final inner and outer borders...we're all done!

BTW Mr. Photographer still has a lot to learn about quilt photography...sorry for all the weird slants and angles in these photos!! The finished quilt is around 60x60, a nice large lap size. One thing that gave me a big headache this past week was figuring out those diagonal lines that travel through the inner and outer borders. I'm not sure it comes through, but those diagonal stripes are supposed to correspond to the colors of the diamonds in the middle border.  Unfortunately the diamond color changes don't correspond with the row lines in the main quilt, and I think it looks  bit disjointed that the inner border doesn't meet the main quilt at seam lines. Oh well. 

I learned from this quilt that working without a pattern, at least when it comes to piecing, is not for me. I can figure out the math but it just takes me a long time and causes a lot of anxiety that I'm doing it wrong. So for the forseeable future...patterns only! It will be such a relief to have some instructions after trying to do everything on my own for this quilt.

And I realized I've never shown close-ups of all the blocks, so here they are! These are all hand appliquéd with embroidery. We took the photos in the sun so they all came out a little washed out.

Bell pepper:

Broccoli:

Cabbage/lettuce:

Carrots:

Red onion:

 

Peas:

Squash/zucchini:

Tomato:

 And finally, the Larry's Garden sign! This is a real sign in front of my dad's garden.

And that's all for now! I'm off to attempt to baste this thing and start quilting!