Happy Quilt

I finished my Happy Quilt back in November before my fall at church, but could not post pictures until after I gave it to my daughter, Jennie, for her birthday on December 6.   She had seen it in the making and told me how much she liked the quilt, so that told me where its home would be.

 

This quilt was a mystery row by row published by American Patchwork and Quilting during 2015, with one row per magazine published throughout the year.   I decided to do this "quilt as you go" project, quilting each row each month as I finished it.  I learned a very valuable lesson in doing this - depending on the density  of the quilting, the rows shrink up significantly. That first row of sunshines, started as 60" long and ended up as 58".  Then next row of squares only shrunk 1/2 " as the quilting was not as dense.  Sooooooooooo...I learned to modify the rows by adding some border to the ends of each row, quilted and then evened up the sides.  This worked pretty good for all but the butterfly row, where you can see I lost a little of the butterfly on the left because the row did not shrink as much as I thought it would.   It was nice when I completed the last row though, as I just had to sew it to the others and the quilt was done!

This is the back of the quilt.  One fun thing about quilting each row separately, I was able to use a different backing fabric for each row.  I dug into my stash of solids for the backings and thought it fun to come up with bright colors.  The fourth row down is actually a lime green.  All the colors were bright colors and  added to the happy theme.

 

An update on my concussion - I am doing well, the doctors are all surprised that I have progressed as quickly as I have.  I had a pretty serious concussion and fractured my skull a little.  I still have a little ways to go - kind of light headed and dizzy at times, as well as dealing with the wound on top of my head.  But so thankful that I did not injure any other part of my body.  I will be having some tests in Jan. for heart SVT which they think may have caused my fall.  Have had to delay that for a bit, as my husband is undergoing back surgery on Dec. 18 and I need to be able to help care for him.  We make quite a pair now - me with a walker and him with a cane, and possibly a walker after surgery.  But so thankful that he has been able to care for me during this recovery, and that I will be able to care for him after his surgery.  We are blessed with good children and friends who are also there to help when we need them.

 

Merry Christmas to you all and a Happy New Year!