The Magnolia Challenge

Dear Readers,

I had my first finish of the year last night, or really this morning, when during the PTQ meeting I was sewed my label on my magnolia quilt.  While I never worked out the tension problems, as a whole I am not as unhappy with the quilt as I was before.  I really like the colors and if you don't get too close and look at the tension problems on the back, it is really pretty.  It is a wall hanging right???  That means you don't look at the back!!

The challenge given the guild was to make a 36 inch by 36 inch quilt (+ or - an inch) that showed a southern magnolia.  The quilt had to be bound in the green you see in the photo.  The top eight will be chosen to be sent the the AQS Ultimate guild challenge.  Then they will look at photos of the top eight and decide if your guild will be invited to participate in the show.  To choose the eight, the quilts will be displayed at the MQA meeting in Hattiesburg next weekend.  When the blog is published with the minutes from todays meeting, you will be blown away by the variety and workmanship of the quilts.
You can click here the link to the blog.

I pieced this last summer when a couple of friends and I got together and had a sewing retreat.  Sue Harmon and Diane Brown were working on a quiet book for her granddaughter, and I was working on this quilt.  I got the inner part done, but didn't bring any black fabric, so on my way home I stopped and bought some and got it the borders on.  I then set it aside, hoping my sewing room would be complete before time to quilt it...unfortunately it is not done yet so I quilted it on my small babyloc but it does a great job with piecing it just doesn't do well with the tension for quilting.

I named mine "Winds of Change in The Magnolia State"  I thought the fractured flowers looked like they had been hit by a big wind.

It hangs nice and straight.

Here are some closeups of the the quilting.

I wrote a bible verse and Mississippi State Flower and Tree - The Magnolia  State in the black border.
Free motion quilting words is not for the faint of heart.  But it is mostly legible.

Here is the label that Judy printed for me.

Sew long!