I’m sure many other quilters can relate to having a deadline to meet with the majority of their quilting projects. Right now the only project I have going that isn’t deadline-driven is my Terra Australis sampler quilt, and that’s because it is for me! My current looming deadline is trying to get the Meditation Quilt done for my brother before his 70th birthday on July 5th. My June OMG was to get the quilt top finished.

Because I work full-time, I have to work on projects in small stretches of time–sometimes a half-hour before I go to work or 20 minutes during my lunch hour because I am lucky enough to live less than a mile from work. When I found out I had to go to a training in Albuquerque in mid-June necessitating staying overnight in a hotel, I brought HSTs to trim and press, so I could continue to make progress on this project. Just to be clear, the ironing board set up in my hotel room was not for my clothes!

I started working on the Meditation Quilt before I went to Glamp Stitchalot. Now that I am a half-square triangle (HST) convert using the eight-at-a-time technique, I decided that a chevron border made from HSTs would add some interest to the simple center panel that I am choosing to use in its entirety. I matched the colors to the Ganesha Om panel as best I could using a Kona Solids swatch card. I ended up choosing not to use two of the colors I ordered (Sunny and Surf) after a friend told me they looked like they belonged in a circus. That’s not exactly the vibe I want with a meditation quilt! I’m certainly no color theory expert, but it is amazing to me how much of a difference a slight shade variation can make. I chose a couple other colors, Papaya and Regatta, that I believe better complement my focus fabric.

Michael from my local quilt store, ThreadBear, custom quilted this Meditation Quilt in record time. I dropped it off at lunch on Monday and picked it up three days later! This weekend I will square it up and bind it. I should be able to meet my 2016 Second Quarter Finish-Along goal. I hope to write another post in the next few days that shows the finished quilt. Here’s a sneak peak of Michael’s beautiful quilting:

Linking up to Red Letter Quilts: June 2016 OMG Finish.