With all the interest in red and white quilts from the recent quilt show, Infinite Variety Three Centuries of Red and White Quilts, in New York City, I was happy to receive this quilt top to quilt. This is a group quilt done by members of the Omaha Quilt Guild, so there are lots of different reds in this quilt and it works very well. The quilt will be auctioned off as a fundraiser for a local church camp where our guild holds it's annual fall quilt retreat and as a thank you the guild always donates a quilt for it's annual fundraising auction. My small group put the blocks together and I am quilting it on my long arm machine.
I am using an all over feather pattern called Plumage by Willow Leaf Designs. I love this red and white stripe fabric on the back.
I am going back and forth today between the long arm machine and in my sewing room I am quilting the Civil War Bride Quilt.
I am working on outlining all the applique first. I try to add a little something to each block, like a flower in the bride's skirt.
A little feather flourish in the tablecloth.
And a stippled heart in the middle of a vase, first I outline around a freezer paper heart, then I will stipple inside. 
So between the two quilts I will be doing a lot of quilting this next week.
I am happy stitching,
Cheri
My finish is the Hawaiian quilt for my son and daughter-in-law, YEA!!! It is a little hard to see the pattern in this photo, the center is fish swimming in a circle with lots of sea coral. The border has more coral, fish, snails, and those cute
little crabs right on the corners. I machine quilted it on the Handiquilter and it worked pretty well, I am a newer long arm quilter, it is a little difficult to quilt in the ditch around applique, but the echo quilting went well. I made wider echoes - 1 inch - and did the top and bottom and then one turn on the quilt frame for the two sides. 
The real story of this quilt is the size - 130 inches long by 100 inches wide! I used the ENTIRE width of the backing leaders 134 inches for the back fabric. My machine is actually a mid arm, a Handiquilter Avante, and it was a champ! 
but I did not want to use it on the applique edges. I must say the Avante handled the invisible thread quite well and on the background it looks fine, but the Type A personality in me wants all the thread to be the same. It is a learning piece, but it is a beautiful quilt top - oh what to do, what to do. 
and beach shells etc which would have been perfect on this quilt, but I am a newbie at this. For my first effort I am pleased -even with my Type A personality.
Some of the curves are a little wonky but the spacing is good, tension was acceptable and there are no huge folds in the back so at least I have learned to load a quilt on the machine. All I need to do is hand sew down the binding. (Note to members of my small quilt group - these blocks started in my brown bag challenge a couple years back.)
My DH has helped set up the most wonderful room for my quilting. The lower level of our house has not been used since the kids have grown. We got rid of family room furniture and hung up quilts on those empty wall, DH replaced the ceiling lights with 96 inch fluorescent lights - I could suntan under these lights.
My little buddy, Jasper, has been guarding the doorway (sort of) all evening, wondering when I am going to come back upstairs.