Advice from home -- finished!

Advice from home, 56 by 60

free-pieced letters and houses, machine quilted

click to enlarge

This week I officially finished this long in process quilt: Advice from Home.

It features words I say over and over to my sons,

and houses with words--and advice--on them.

Some of the words are gibberish, since I'm convinced

my sons just hear "blah, blah, blah"

when I remind them to make their beds

or brush their teeth.

Here's the back.

I finished the label too many years ago!

I didn't know how to quilt this.

I didn't want to hand quilt it

and I did rent time on the longarm at a local quilt shop.

They didn't take time to show me how to use it properly

and when I was half done, the thread tension on the back was so terrible

I took the quilt off the long arm and picked out all the stitching.

Finally, last summer I quilted it on my new Juki.

Here's the son who officially no longer needs

advice from home,

since he turned 18 this week.

Originally I had hoped to get this to twin size,

but the quilt told me that a throw size was fine.

Two small finishes, measuring 14 by 15 inches 

Love 

and Joy, two sides of the same quilt

being used to hang from the lecturn

at a nursing home where my friend is a chaplain.

I'm linking up with AmandaJean's Finish it up Fridays.