A Gift Quilt

Last week I sent off a birthday package and here's the present that was in it.

Pick Up Stix Quilt Design

I've received four thank you pictures showing my cousin's little girl with her birthday quilt and new book so I know the presents were appreciated and will be well used.

Quilt back

My quilting skills are quite limited so this pattern is a winner for me.  Yes, it's the same design I used to make Lucky his blanket of honor.  Pick Up Sticks Quilt Pattern for Lucky  The pattern is Pick Up Stix from the June/July 2011 issue of Quilter's Home Magazine   magazine article and was designed and sewn by Ali Winston of asquaredw blog.com

The fabrics were bought when I thought I'd be wearing quilted clothing about eight or nine years ago.  Not my style even though I love looking at quilts and visiting quilt stores.  I was happy to see them turned into a pretty present and happy to reduce my resource center holdings slightly.
My friend, Ann, who lives near Reading, PA  (and also five minutes from Fabric Mart) did the quilting for both of these on her longarm machine.  I believe that the design on the purple quilt is called "Bauhaus" and I like its modern but slightly feminine sensibility.
Quilting in progress:

I didn't hand sew the binding as I did on the first quilt but did a decorative zig zag to hold down the binding since I know this quilt will be machine washed frequently.

Those of you who are more frequent quilters probably already know about this clever "Wonder Clips" from Clover (don't they make the best notions!)  I used them on my last two projects since I find them particularly useful with heavier fabrics:

It's a lovely summer day here with temps in the 80s but low humidity so Mr. Lucky and I are heading out for a hike in some nearby hills.  Days like today are a gift for us.....and here's another gift in our life:
 a close-up of Lucky enjoying his quilt this summer. 

Gratuitous dog picture