BOMs Away Monday - "Night Watch"

Welcome to the link-up for BOMs Away Mondays!

Where we share what we're doing on a BOM-type project 

so they don't stall out in UFO-land!

(Linky at the bottom.)

It has been a crazy busy week for me! Good work on my challenge UFO is happening at the longarm, I got some serious workouts in at the dojang, and while I've frequently helped out at the bi-monthly color belt tests, I put in my first sesson as a test judger Friday evening (normally I help in the belt-award room). That was intimidating, but actually very enjoyable. That was at a sister site. Working on test days takes many hours and is exhausting, though rewarding.

I'm the farthest left.

I also helped at our own site Saturday, working in the awarding room, and boy did this one little girl melt my heart! Her session was particularly large, and her entire family of 8 trains together, so her parents were both busy tying their own belts. I was helping the young sibling on her mother's other side, and when her mother turned to help her, she blurted out sweetly, "Oh, but I want the Blackbelt Hero to help me, please!"  Awwwwww   :)   I remember that feeling of awe, and it's kind of funny in relation to how you feel when you actually *are* a Blackbelt.  

Before I share my BOM work, I have to share the amazing package Selina of Selina Quilts sent me! She really went all out with her giveaway of a rice heating bag (which turned into two!), and it's already providing comfort on some muscles I used differently while pushing equipment around!

But you can see that she also sent this adorable zip-bag made from a laminated M&M bag (fabric lined, very nice), with some of my most very favorite chocolates inside since M&Ms would get smushed during shipping. She also made a cute card with a printing of the Valentine's rice bag fabric. I was so very tickled!!

This is the coolest zip bag!

Thank you, Thank you, THANK YOU, Selina!!!!

And now, here's my BOM sharing for the week:

This is more of a "Quilt of the Month" than a BOM. It's the first of the six that Scott asked me to make for his offices. I told him I'd do one up each month. 

I got the block and base pieced over the past couple of weeks during morning time that couldn't be spent at the longarm, and this weekend I hit it in earnest. I've finished all but the quilting in the outer border.

I decided to try a layering approach, so I could quilt the block and background pieces without a gazillion start and stop points. It worked well! I was focused, and didn't think to take many shots during that process. First I put some trapunto pieces behing the moon and the center of the block. Then I quilted the block, stitched down the moon, and put in the "air" lines. THEN I fused the trees on, and here I was stitching those down:

After that, I just worked one more layer at a time, fusing and stitching, fusing and stitching.

You can see that I cut the backing/batting large enough
to accomodate future border work.

Until I finally had everything added in and put in some snow details at the bases of all the trees. Then I checked how the squaring may have been affected before I sewed on the borders, and adjusted the seam allowance the wee bit it needed to keep everything from skewing. It worked well, so I'll use the same approach on the companion quilts.

I had hoped to completely finish the quilting and get the binding attached, but that'll be ready for a TGIFFriday share.  :)   Assuming I can get it away from Navarre. . . 

~*~ Have you done any BOM work recently? ~*~

Kate over at Katie Mae Quilts has joined me in hosting this meet-up,

and linking up from either end puts you on the party at both sides.