Happy Tiers Quilts Finish

I've been absent for so long, but am pleased to show two finished quilts that will be on their way to two little girls tomorrow.  I've lots of photos to share.  Recap: my cousin asked me to make quilts for his two granddaughters as Christmas gifts and I chose the Happy Tiers pattern by Me and My Sister Designs (APQ magazine April 2016).

The Meadowbloom fabric (designer April Rosenthal) quilt had a small oops on the bottom row--the yellow chandelier needed to be a birthday cake.  Good thing I discovered this before the borders went on!

Lucky Black Friday shopping on Etsy resulted in ordering matching backing fabrics.  I decided against Minky backing to make the quilts more classic.  Plus it was going to be the first time using my sister's longarm machine and I didn't want extra chances to mess up.  

My sister Kathy has a Pfaff Grand Quilter and hooked up the computer for the first time specifically for my quilts.  I chose a pattern called Charms and we got the layers loaded quickly with her Red Snappers and started up the computer. 

All was going smoothly until the very.last.row.   The edge of the quilt top flipped and the computer shut off.   By this time it was 11 pm and Kathy tried to free motion the remainder of the row, which was not too successful.  I took it home and let it rest.  A few days later Kathy had figured out a way to fix it, after much research.  Good thing she is like a dog with a bone when she wants information!  Her tenet is now "Kathy is Not Allowed to Make Design Decisions at 11 pm", haha.  

Before attempting the repair, we first did the easy part of quilting the other Happy Tiers quilt.  I asked for a  swirl type design and Kathy resized and played with it before saving the custom design.  With a slip of her fingers, it was named "Annie's BS Swirl", which tickled her no end.  

The Badda Bing fabrics looked great with the swirl, and as a bonus, the much simpler design quilted up fast.  We only had one thread break/bobbin problem.  Then we reloaded the Meadowbloom quilt and reset the computer to finish the row.  It took way longer to rip out the errant stitching than to resew the fix.  Meanwhile I had already made the bindings, which I attached all by machine.  

Today after a few hand stitches to catch missed edges, Grant held them up for photos. 

 This one is for Hayden...

...and this one is for Zoey.  They have had their first bath and after I attach labels I will get them packaged up and mailed tomorrow.  Hope to have photos to show of happy little girls with their quilts in a couple of weeks.  Their dad is being deployed to Afghanistan with the Army Reserve before Christmas, so I hope the quilts add a bit of joy to the holiday.  

Next up is turning these fabrics into a tree skirt:

I'll quilt the layers and  cut bias binding from the red and gold stripe to make it double sided.  We got a smaller tree this year--just yesterday!--and I have barely any decorating done.  Lots to do this weekend.  DD Erica has also requested a new stocking, as her childhood Tigger one is being retired.  I have some other secret sewing to do, as well as most of the Christmas shopping.  It seems my intentions to start early never make it to reality!  Looking forward to celebrating in 12 days with all the family. Happy Holidays to all.