Not All That Wanders Is Lost
47″ high by 56″ wide
Quilt No. 186
In March 2015, Megan asked me to be a part of a Traveling Threads Bee. My initial post about the process is here…
…and shows my package (including little book, above) that was sent off to the person in line next to me, the idea being a circle — from one to another to another, roughly every month.
Monthly was probably too ambitious, and at one point my package skipped a quilter because of time pressures, so in the end I had six lovely quilters make a block (or blocks) for me: Megan Evans, Amber, Emily V., Marci Debetaz, Toni Lovelady and Lisa Johnson. Our group on Instagram was #travelingthreadsbee and we all made such different quilts (click on their names to see their groups of blocks).
I love that it is a meeting of far away and close, new and old, friends.
I put my signature blocks on the front of the quilt, and in the lower right is the signature of the fabric designer, Alison Glass; all are contributors to this quilt.
I put the label and a statement about the quilt on the back:
I liked the idea that the quilt wandered, and then came home. This was the first project I started quilting this spring, using its beautiful qualities to help propel me back to my groove in free-motion quilting. I posted each block on my Instagram feed as I finished it. 
I took it on the back patio, in the setting sun, so the slanting rays could amplify the quilting lines.
Luckily I caught the un-quilted section (blue triangle) before finishing it up with a faced binding. I like to put that invisible binding on busy quilts, as it gives a clean finished edge (tutorial is *here*). 
Okay, it’s the OPQuilt Summer Book Giveaway Time.
Third book is gone, given to Simone according to the guidelines of the Husband Random Number Generator. I’ve already contacted her via email and it will go off tomorrow. So, let me tell you about the next book, the Simple Simon Guide to Patchwork Quilting:
I took this photo from their site, a fun place to go and read and get great ideas for all sorts of homemaking-type projects. Their tagline is “Two girls. Same name. One mission. Teach the world to sew.” and this book is a great example of terrific projects made simply, with a lot of pizazz. To enter the giveaway for this book, please leave a comment below. I’ll let it run for a few days then I’ll notify the winner by email. By the way, this is a signed copy (both authors!).
OccasionalPiece--Quilt! 
I have loved watching this quilt come together and the final product is just wonderful! All the quilts are quite lovely and so very different. Thanks for sharing the final product and that handy reminder about faced bindings! You’re always such an inspiration.
I love how your quilt turned out. Sampler quilts are my favorite and this reminds me of a modern take on one.
Liz and Elizabeth are two of my favorite designers. Would love to add their book to my library.
This sampler is amazing…love it!!
This is a gorgeous quilt and these are not beginning quilters! Years ago I belonged to a group of twelve women in the Seattle area. The number of members was because there are twelve months in the year. Each woman hosted a monthly meeting at her home. She would hand out ziplock bags of her fabrics and pattern of choice to the other members who would complete them and bring the finished square to the next month’s meeting. Each month a woman went home with all her squares finished. Often, by the next meeting we’d all see a completed quilt top. The most interesting one was the month we were given fabric and a finished square size and told to use any pattern we wanted to. It was a fabulous quilt top!
Patricia Reed
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What a great book
I like the invisible binding as it does add to the quilt’s clear lines.
This is a real beauty, Elizabeth. It was fun to watch it partially come together at the beach and to see how beautifully you have quilted it through your IG posts. I’ve even used some of your scraps in my work! I hope you are keeping this one for yourself.
Good catch on the unquilted triangle! It is a lovely quilt and I love the sentiment and meaning behind its name. I’m sure you will feel an extra warmth when you use it from those who contributed.
Thanks for the chance to win. I would love this book.
It’s so good to see the completion–what a journey it’s been. Lovely quilting.
What fun !! Enjoying the excitement 👍🏼😲
What a fun quilting bee!!! I’ve never done one before, but yours looks like it was a blast❤️👍🏻
The Simple Simon Guide to Patchwork Quilting looks like a fantastic book. Thank you for the giveaway opportunity!
This is beautiful and very interesting to think of all the places it has been 🙂
“Not all who wander are lost” is a great name for this traveling quilt. I love your explanation and it reminds me I have a traveling improv piece to quilt!!! I jumped over to look at your tutorial on the hidden binding and it is exactly as I do it. Of course; our great minds thinking alike again. Your quilt is a masterpiece of friendship and piecing.
A month each is a bit tight. We allowed 6-8 weeks on our travelling medallion quilts, and even that was a struggle sometimes. But the result is all worth it!