Quilting: Personal Throw Quilt

I'd had some of these Amy Butler fabrics from a sewing project of sachets and then started collecting from that theme of cocoa blooms and folk hearts other favorite motifs of skulls, hearts and stripes, fans, cityscapes, arrows, midcentury backgammon stars and flowers in other fabric lines to raw appliqué of hearts and hugs and kisses to finally free motion stitching on my domestic machine more hearts and matchstick lines as well as hand quilting running stitches.  I forgot the deadline for submitting my quilt to the county fair, and so decided to hang my quilt outside to take a decent picture.  I love it.

Quilting: 50th Birthday Present

I recently celebrated my friend, Meral's 50th birthday party in NYC, and I wanted to give her for that milestone a quilt.  I had foundation paper pieced already in a red, orange, coral, and pink color way a scrappy Valentine quilt.  Meral and I have this running comment or joke in the ceramics studio, where we're always making wall hearts with beautiful surface textures and text especially during the Valentine holiday.  She once worked as an assistant for a sculptor and derided his heart sculptures, calling them "fucking hearts."  However, she has come to realize what I already know--hearts are lovely and people, and more importantly, we makers, like 'em.  

Below are the array of threads I had to choose from for quilting Meral's quilt.  

And below is the quilt top rolled on to the long arm.  

I decided to free motion a different filler stitch that I watched on an Angela Walter's video: the flower meander.

Elmo wagged his tail in approval.