I cruised through this quilt

Aside from a lap quilt here and there, I haven't kept any quilts for OUR bed...  or even our guest beds.  

I was completely thrilled and felt honored when I was asked to join a group of friends on a quilting cruise around the Caribbean last year.  I had never been on a cruise, let alone a QUILTING cruise and I was so excited!

The photo to the left shows our group and the three instructors. 

The next photo shows our ship on the right and our sister ship on the left docked in Jamaica.

I started three quilt tops on the cruise from Civil War fabric kits that I had purchased.  I had brought extra fabric on the cruised because I wanted to make each of the quilt tops larger so that they are more useful for my TALL family.  Whether they would get them or not was, as yet, undetermined but at least I would have options.

One quilt top in particular was close to finished by the end of the cruise so I decided to finish it first.  It was not my favorite of the three but one finished is better than three unfinished.

As I was working away on sashing and borders, the hubs noticed the fabrics and pattern, indicating that he really liked the quilt!

hmmmm, our anniversary was drawing near.....  I smelled an idea.......!!!

So I measured and calculated the sashing and borders for my husband's anniversary quilt.   I was determined to make the quilt big enough to cover our bed down to the side rails.

I had purchased a "new" 15' table and Gammill with a Statler stitch so I had a big enough table to quilt this monster quilt.   My old 10' table went to a new home (but only because I didn't have room for both).

After some practice on the new machine, I felt confident enough to quilt hubby's quilt.  I had no illusions of producing a ribbon worthy quilt but I felt ready to produce something of some level of quality.

I made the bed an odd way so that all of the pattern showed better.....
and it goes all the way down to cover blankets, mattress, foundation and all that other ugly stuff!

We are both pretty happy with the results.....  him with a quilt, and me with the quilting.

I hope you cuddle under a quilt full of love tonight!!!