Scrapitude mystery quilt

Here is the mystery scrap quilt in its completed state.. after patiently waiting for almost a year, it is suitably rewarded with quilting and binding.. I can almost hear its sigh of relief :)

The only reason I believe it got finished is due to a long arm quilting class I recently took. Quilting large quilts on my small sewing machine is getting bothersome. I could clearly sense the danger of quilt tops stacking up if the same situation continues.

I thought I will just take this class and see if I am up to any good. My first trial on a practice piece provided by our teacher was really hopeless. My hands were shaky and shoulders were tense and being watched by a number of friendly, equally anxious eyes in the class made me even more nervous. My quilting went all over the place except where it should be!

My second trial another day went a little better than I expected. Spending some lone time with the machine helped me to know it slightly better and having a cheerful teacher close by was a lovely bonus to loosen up.

Our teacher Laurena @ Laurena Longarm quilting is an amazing person, so sweet always with a ready smile and limitless patience. As I could guess from the few times I was there, she is very busy with quilting work she does for customers, but when someone happens to rent a Longarm machine to use, she puts all her personal work aside and gives priority to helping the quilter. She is really like a fairy with an invisible ring over her.

I did feel guilty to hog her time plenty of times but Laurena is always smiling with an encouraging word and makes us laugh with her sweet sense of humor soothing away any anxieties on our part. If you are around Boston, planning to learn Long arm quilting, I would highly recommend taking a class from her ( ' u ' )

I chose a butterfly design called Angel wings and picked a light yellow thread to hide my irregular quilting and beginner mistakes. On the whole, quilting went smoothly. After 3 or so rows, I became more comfortable with moving the long arm even if my quilting was only up to a low standard. Selecting a thread that blends into the background was a good idea ;)

My friend is a school teacher, she loves anything bright and cheery, so I pieced this apple print and a green chalk board print for the back. Quilt size is 83" x 83".  Her Birthday is next month, so I am excited to finish it just in time and mail it to her.

Charlotte who designed Scrapitude mystery quilt last year is planning another mystery called 'Scrap in a box ' to start in January. She already gave cutting instructions which are posted on her friend Sandy's blog if you are interested. Charlotte is a genius at making beautiful quilts with scraps.. on popular demand, she started a blog to share her delightful quilts and clever tricks to manage our own scraps. It is going to be a great chance to learn from her. Thank you, Charlotte!! 

A huge thanks to Sandy for organizing first round of mystery quilt along, introducing her dear friend Charlotte to us!! ( ' u ' )