Sweet Pea Inspiration Quilt Update?

It is really hard to call this an update. What is the opposite of an update?

I learned the hard way that you cannot sandwich a quilt top with polyester batting and then hand quilt it over 3 years. I handled the fabric too much and the edge on the batting started pulling out and stretching. A quick fix was to flip the backing over and pin it down to prevent anymore stretching.

But 4-5" all the way around were stretched out and it ended up shelved. I do this when I need time to think.  I had been wanting to rip it apart, but was 1/2 way through the quilting. I had to decide if I was ever going to be happy with the current version and the answer was no. I hated to rip all the quilting out, but I doubted I could get the stretching polyester batting to look good and 2 of the blocks had points going in the wrong direction. At this point too many things were wrong and I was hating the results.

(borrowed the pic from The Warm Company)

While I was deciding, The Warm Company had a giveaway for some Warm and Plush on their Facebook page, and I won! I really love this batting, it is thick and plush and looks very warm. Although in a quilt this size, it is quite a bit heavier than the polyester, and is proving a bit on the heavy side for hand quilting.

There are no pictures, right now, of the sweet pea inspiration quilt because I have just gotten it resandwiched. I did finish the dolphin wall hanging.

This is hanging at work. It makes a beautiful light shade, as I had a window blinding me when the sun went down. We have cubicles with glass panels near the top, so I got some of the suction cup hooks. They work perfectly for this.

I started another of the StitchMap courses. This one is Redwork and teaches the stitches commonly used for redwork.
So far, I am up to Lesson 3 and this butterfly is my favorite piece. The filling in the body is split stitch. I had not used this stitch before, but I really love the effect it creates.

I adore Christmas in July. I always start planning Christmas presents months in advance. I usually start planning in May or June, so I have plenty of time to choose. This year I have gotten a few pleasant surprises, which I hope to turn into Christmas presents. Besides the batting (which arrived a month or 2 ago), I have also won this lovely FQ bundle from Timeless Treasures, Charleston, from the Blog Tour they held a few weeks ago.

(borrowed from the FQS)

Pictures are terrible for this fabric, since it has a beautiful gold lame design. This does not pick up in the pictures and has a very nice glint to it. I had no idea, having not seen this collection in person and was very nicely surprised when it arrived.

I have plans for these, but I need to design the pattern, so I am not sure when I will have time. Sadly, I do not have much extra time, as I am working hard at work and at my lessons from StitchMap.