Scrappy Shine Quilt

Monday of this past week was a scheduled day off for me, so I booked time on long arm quilter at Sparrow Studioz. Fortunately for me, they were offering a 2 hour freebie to their customers, so I didn't have to pay for 2 of my 4 hours on the long arm. I was able to get both my Scrappy Shine and my Bearly Hockey quilts quilted. I just finished the binding on the Scrappy Shine this morning.

And here's the back:

Hurray! I actually managed to pick a backing that's appropriate to the top. How do you like those ice cream cones? 
Here's a closeup of the quilting (and the backing):

I believe the pantograph was called "Lots of Love." Look carefully to see all of the hearts within hearts. It was a fair amount of work compared to Bumpity, the first pattern I used, and even more than "Stars and Clouds," which was the pattern I used for Sophia's quilt. It took me about 2.5 hours to quilt it. I imagine I'll get better and faster as I get more experience. This was only my third quilt on the long arm. 
Now a little background on this quilt: some time ago, I won a baby charm pack and pattern from Jackie Berdych of Sew Excited Quilts. Not having an immediate need for a baby quilt, and having several other projects on the go already, I stored them for future reference. Then I picked up a copy of Fons & Porter's Scrap Quilts (Fall 2013). As I perused its pages, I came across a pattern that really tickled my fancy. I just love the way the red stars pop out of this quilt. it uses charm squares and was a good size for a baby quilt, 43-1/2" x 50". I decided that this was a good project for my baby charm pack. It actually requires 3 charm packs, which aren't readily available in my town. Instead I bought several fat quarters of children's fabric and cut the required pieces from them. I also purchased the red fabric, and, finding out that one of my nephews had applied to adopt a second child, I started on the quilt. He and his wife now have a little girl in their home, fostering for the present, until all the legalities of adoption can proceed. This is a fairly gender-neutral quilt, so I didn't choose the pink binding fabric until I knew they were getting a little girl. I also used pink for the top thread when quilting as well.
Also this past week, I got my order from Pink Chalk Fabrics for the Bluenose II quilt.

I have labelled all of the fabrics for this quilt with the corresponding DMC floss colour number. Hopefully, that will help keep me organized as I go along. I think I have sufficient colours that I can get started on the blocks while waiting for the final order to come from Fat Quarter Shop. 
Meanwhile my daughter has washed and dried her fabric for the dress and the quilt she plans to make. I'll see what Sophia wants to do, but I may pay for her to take the Long Arm class at Sparrow Studioz so that she can finish her quilt that way. 
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