Quilting Doris's First Quilt of Valor w/Updates

Look what I got to work on yesterday:

Doris's patriotic Quilt of Valor

One of our valued East Central IL QOV members has been creating Quilts of Valor quilt tops at the speed of light!  With 'Miss Betty' down for the count for several weeks, yours truly had gotten so far behind in quilting these beauties, it was time to take action. I chose this particular quilt because Doris has yet to have me quilt just one of her QOVs - now that's just not right!  I hadn't really thought about it until I was trying to make a quilting decision, and when I kept counting ALL these QOVs of Doris's well - the decision was clear, time to quilt at least one Quilt of Valor for Doris!

SIDing this colorful quilt

I've started quilting my version of Jamie Wallen's swirls in the white border, Crazy 8s in the red border and Dave Hudson's Random Stars Panto in the interior of this wonderful patriotic Quilt of Valor.  We're using King Tut's Freedom - which accents this quilt nicely and shows up wonderfully well in the white exterior border.

No sooner did I get everything loaded and start quilting than, you guessed it - Miss Betty II threw another fit!  Time to re-load Miss Betty I, whom I've done very little panto quilting with but, to her credit once again, she performed like the true quilting champ she is!  Had NEVER quilted swirls with her, either, but she pulled that off, too.  I'll take additional photos and updates as the quilting progresses.

UPDATE 2/4/2015 - The Finish:

'Miss Betty I' pulled off those swirls and Crazy 8's just fine ;-)

Doris's First Quilt of Valor finish

For now, still working on a previous QOV, trying to finish up binding, and will begin quilting another neat Quilt of Valor over the weekend.

Time to get back to it!
~Deb

First QOV of the New Year comes off the frame...At Last!

This Quilt of Valor may hold the record for being on a quilt frame the longest...at least on 'my' quilt frame.  Been trying to quilt this QOV since before Thanksgiving!  You may remember, Miss Betty decided to develop an attitude and threw herself out of time.  After getting some new 'Timing Tools' plenty of much-needed timing knowledge, and several bouts of trial and error coupled w/flu, she's back to quilting ;-).  Here's that 'Thanksgiving' Quilt of Valor - now the first 2015 QOV to come off my frame, and doesn't it look neat?

Gold & Blue QOV coming off the frame...At last!

This entire quilt was quilted with LAVA Diamond Head - one of my very favorite threads to quilt with, especially on a Gold & Blue w/white Quilt of Valor!

Naturally, Dave Hudson's Random Stars panto is the star of the 'interior':

Random Stars panto by Dave Hudson in the interior
w/special border treatments to go with

I've used my own version of Jamie Wallen's continuous swirls in several quilts now - they're fast, effective, and most importantly...FUN!

They look really neat done in variegated threads, like LAVA Diamond Head, King Tut Freedom, and Rainbows Patriotic.

I struggled a bit to discover just the right quilting design for the gold sashing border.  Angela Walters to the rescue!

Her 'Wishbone' quilting motif - or what I like to refer to as the 'Crazy 8', was perfect for this border, and sooo much FUN, I'll definitely be using it again in future quilts.

Angela Walters' Wishbone quilting motif, aka "Crazy 8"

My version is a little more whimsical than hers but - that's the beauty of custom quilting, isn't it?

Swirls and Wishbone border w/McTavished navy border

I featured the navy border w/McTavishing in a previous blog here:  http://donebybettyboop.blogspot.com/2015/01/new-year-resuming-quilting-quilt-of.html

This Gold & Blue Quilt of Valor was wonderful to quilt - once I was finally able to quilt it...At Last!

And now, time for some binding and to embroider a special Gold & Blue QOV quilt label.

Adding the finishing touches to the binding

Back of the quilt and quilting

Finished Navy/White/Gold Quilt of Valor

Later,
~Deb

New Year - resuming quilting a Quilt of Valor...

We've had the same Quilt of Valor on the frame since before Thanksgiving!  You may remember, 'Miss Betty II' developed a major attitude during the final quilting pass of a previous QOV, and because of time constraints, had to load 'Miss Betty I' to be able to finish in time:

'Miss Betty I' and 'Miss Betty II' on the frame at the same time!

After finishing the previous Quilt of Valor, and suffering through the most recent bout of flu/cold for the season, it was time to make a call to HQ and see what could be done.  Luckily for me, I hit pay dirt by getting hold of a wonderful HQ Tech, Mr. Salter - who was kind enough to walk me through the necessary steps to get Miss Betty II back on track.

A few new tools for Christmas definitely were a big help:

Opening the box - those are Lipstick RED T-handles, Miss Betty's favorite color!

T-handle and ball-end Hex tools

After a LOT of patience during the 'trial & error' learning phase of how to get her fixed, we were back in the quilting saddle!  Just look at these gorgeous quilting stitches:

McTavishing the left navy border

Along w/right navy border

Central quilting 'perpendicular' to the stripes in the top w/Dave Hudson's Random Stars panto - 
one of our very favs!

All of the quilting is being created w/LAVA Diamond Head in the needle - another favorite, and white Maxi-lock in the bobbin to match the white backing.  Quilters Dream poly blend was used for the batting, and quilted like a Dream ;-)

The panto quilting is ALL finished, time to do the final ditch & McTavish quilting, THEN go back and quilt continuous swirls in the white borders and 'something' in the gold borders...still haven't settled on a final quilting design...time for some quilt browsing...

Later,
~Deb