bartering + thoughts on quilting

I've mentioned before that my friend Heather has become a quilter. (yay!)

She has been making fabulous quilt tops like crazy. Good crazy. And since she is going to be watching my girl for several days when we go on an upcoming trip, I am going to quilt some of her quilts in exchange.

These are the first two that I am working on...coordinating ones for her boys. Aren't they gorgeous?!?

While working on these this weekend, I was thinking about the quilting process (not to be confused with piecing, which is putting the quilt top together) and how much I really enjoy it now. I used to dread it so very much. I can't even tell you how much. I would get cold sores while quilting. (yes, I take it very seriously-I'm pretty high strung.) All that pressure because quilting really does make the quilt. I have several quilts out there in the world that have tremendous puckers in the back. So I have to say that I was startled to realize that I do enjoy the process now. I am glad that I have stuck with doing the quilting myself, overcoming the HUGE learning curve until I have finally improved enough to have some confidence in my quilting abilities. Hurray for perseverance + improvement. And the best part? It didn't take me until I turned 80 to accomplish this, which was my projected time frame. :)
Since I get so many questions from readers asking for quilting tips, I would like to add that the things that helped me improve the most would have to be changing my basting method, a decent sewing machine and lots and lots and LOTS of practice.

tomorrow...week 10 of the quilt a long. yipee!