Monday, July 17, 2006

Finished project!

I've been on a quilting spree lately, and have finished the #2 of the Pick 4 Challenge early! I am very, very happy with the way it came out. It is very heavily quilted. I did a McTavishing technique in the strip sections and borders, then echo quilted in the butterfly fabrics. I washed it before binding it and it made a huge difference in the feel and look of the quilt. By washing it, I reduced the appearance of irregularity in my echo quilting, and it took the stiffness out of the machine quilting. I am soo excited to get this done, and am thinking of entering it in a couple of shows this year!


My main obstacle is getting good pictures, but I have a friend that owes me a big favor, so I think I may have to call that in.

Will add more close up pictures later, the first ones I shot didn't come out very well.

The next project I am doing is hand quilting the paper pieced lighthouse miniature. It's not easy, but I really want to enter it in the hand quilted category as the machine quilted category is so full that nothing really gets noticed.

It doesn't really need a lot of quilting, thank goodness - the piecing is really more of the beautry of this quilt and a lot of quilting would really detract from that.


Here's looking forward to another week of productive quilting!

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Lazy Days of Summer, yeah right!

So much for the lazy part of it anyway. Actually it hasn't felt much like summer around here weatherwise either! I guess I should count my blessings, a lot of people are suffering in the heat, but sometimes I get tired of having cold feet all the time. At least I'm not wearing my sweatshirt all day any more.

I have had so much to do lately that it's hard to keep up. I haven't blogged for a while, but  I have actually got some quilting done. (After sewing a lot of muslin curtains, that is!) I finished the first pick four challenge from quilt studio, so this is the grand unveiling of....
Morning Glory



I actually finished quilting this top over the course of three days. I had a false start - quilted four blocks, looked at the back and realized why it is a good idea to actually press the back. The center line had a tiny tuck in it. I hate taking out quilting, so I stuck it in the closet to decide whether or not I really wanted to take it out, or if I should just leave it in. There it sat for about two months, then I said to myself - it's not meant for a show quilt. It's a small tuck, just leave it in and get going on this, girl! So I did. I had no real plan for the quilting, just took each section as it came and made decisions on the fly - you know, lay it out on the floor, stare at it for a good 15 - 20 minutes, say - let's try this, and go for it! Actually great fun and I am really pleased with the results! Did some small stippling around the flowers in the center of the block: This quilt was from the book No Boundaries. Fun technique for using prints and letting them overflow from the confines of their pieces. I used clear mono to outline the edges as they are just fused down. I can't leave anything un-sewn it seems, just don't trust it to stay! This is the quilt, folded in half at the foot of my bed! It's really bright and cheerful.
I absolutely love how the back of this came out (despite the few small tucks - oh well!). I did some spirals to fill in an empty area, and to practice. My spirals usually leave a lot to be desired! The big flowers I saw in a magazine and thought it was a neat idea to make a really large flower. A nice large meander in the outside border finished it off nicely.




Of course, I had a challenge in figuring out what to bind it in. I always forget to get that in advance and end up struggling to find a solution. I used the darkest yellow to bind it in, and am pleased with that. I would have loved to use the blue polka dot, but it wasn't available. Maybe someday I'll learn and make sure to set the binding aside beforehand!

I am now working on the second challenge, and plan to have it done by the end of the month. Actually if it comes out well, I'd like to enter this in a couple of shows. It's a beautiful quilt. Not going to show you now, you'll have to wait til it's done!