Freehand Baptist Fans by Bonnie Hunter

Below is a full view of my quilt I just finished.

 Below is Hubby's quilt that started the whole thing!

EDIT: And he now sets a $$$ amount before we get inside the LQS! Guess he learned!
You all know I am a faithful fan of the illustrious Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville fame. This quilt has taken me over a year to hand quilt using Bonnie Hunter's technique.
You can see it here:
 http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2010/05/questions-on-fans.html

This quilt has some history. Both have threads tied to my husband. The fabrics were a gift from my DH as a birthday present a few years ago. Little did he know that when he offered to cover any purchase I wanted to make at my LQS (Quilt of Many Colors in Leo, Indiana) as a birthday present that he was going to suffer sticker shock at the cash register. And oh the clerk was clever. She gave him a tour of the old converted home to LQS with a scrapbook album to look at too. All the while I was picking FQ's. I ended up with 37 drop dead gorgeous golds and light browns in Civil War fabrics. He then said he should get a quilt from his investment. So I made him a great Shaded 9-patch and gifted him with it. Everytime I saw him with it I had quilt envy. So...I made myself one too. And decided afterwards that is deserved to be hand quilted with Bonnie Hunter's Freehand Baptist Fans.
That was over a year ago. I finally finished it this last weekend. I LOVE IT! But then I loved it before it was born too!

So, I need another hand quilting project. Nevermind that I have three different Hexie projects going. And a container of Yo-yos that need to become something. My hand sewing time is very limited. I used to be able to sit in my great recliner for hours on end and quilt, quilt, crochet, and quilt the day away. But anymore my back has issues sitting that way anymore. I can handle maybe an hour now. And I am miserable long before that hour goes by. Sigh! But I can sit at the sewing machine for hours. Go figure!

 So here is my Kona Snow BowTie with the corner triangles added finally. I woke up at 4:00 a.m. one morning and decided to mark and thread baste this little quilt. It is 36" square. This is my first time marking a quilting design with a small lead pencil. By the time I had finished marking all 4 quadrants I was getting pretty good at tracing.

And saying a prayer that the marks will be covered by the quilting thread. And it is! Totally covered! I am so pleased. So today after helping out a fellow quilt friend by cutting out her entire quilt for her, I gave myself an hour in the "chair" and started quilting away. I am loving the results. The Kona fabric is also the back. And the ease that thread goes through Kona fabric is great. And I am sampling one of the Quilters' Dream Orient batting. It is silk and bamboo. It seems to have a lovely drape to it. It feels silky yet strong and the needle glides through it like hot butter. When I figure out a better way to get a photo of the quilting I will post about it again.
To my faithful followers, thanks so very much. I really appreciate your comments. I feel such positive vibes from all of you. I could not live without my blog now. Who 'wuda thunk?

XOXOXOX Subee