I so look forward to my family's annual beach trip. It's funny that we all get along really well but we rarely see each other because we are all a bunch of homebodies. It seems that renting a giant home is enough of a draw that we can all still be anti-social but also be together. A couple of family members couldn't make it so I was able to invite two of my favorite introvert friends. They fit in perfectly. As usual I couldn't make it a week without an injury. I had a "shower mishap" that again reinforces my lack of grace and stability. The shower in the master suite is a demonic shower connected to a tub with steps up and down to get in and 2 doors. It's best suited for really tall people. I was standing on the edge of the tub to hang my bathing suit when, predictably, I fell forward. I now have my right upper arm covered in KT tape and enjoying frequent ice packs on a probable torn deltoid. It would be a freaking miracle if I could make it one day without a bruise or cut or some sort of muscle pain. I'm already feeling better but it means another week away from dyeing. But there's good news too! This house has a indoor balcony from a partial 4th floor and that motivated me in another way. I finished the quilt! I knew that balcony would be the perfect place to hang it for a photo so I took it along with me and finished it Monday. Don't fret over the look of the lower left corner. The quilt does lay flat but that's the last corner I worked on and it was still a bit wrinkled. I wasn't about to get an iron out at the beach! Frankly, finishing it was kind of sad. Now I'm at a loss for a new handwork project and we all know that's something of a crisis. I can't watch TV without having something to work on or else I'll eat myself through every show. Here's the last blossom. This was a coincidence but quite poetic that the last blossom was in my Grandma Dove's favorite color: purple.
Now to commence agonizing on how to quilt it. But there will be no quilting going on this week either! One more done! Only 2 corners to go. I am starting to get seriously nervous about what I will do next. I will have to have another project ready before football season starts in August. Who am I kidding? I need to have something else ready before I put the last stitch into this one. It will be too stressful not to have something else to work on by my TV chair. If my hands aren't buys sewing they will be busy shoving food (that I don't need) in my mouth. Time to get to some serious thinking and planning. Meanwhile the new Eastern Bluebird family is doing great! All 5 hatched and look healthy.
Once I got the borders sewn onto my quilt I couldn't wait to get started on the applique. Chris and I are watching the 4th season of Bosch and I'm using the time productively. I can't believe I'm so close to finishing this quilt top. In other news, the Eastern Bluebirds are back! We have 3 nest boxes. One has a wasp nest, one has an abandoned nest but this one will soon have some baby bluebirds. We will clear the other 2 boxes to see if we can't get some other families started.
I finally got the table clear and gathered enough nerve to sew the borders onto the applique quilt. Don't worry, the borders aren't wavy. I just don't have it laying flat on the floor. You can see that I had to pull out a bit of stitching on the vine so that I could adust the vine trailing under the blossom. Here it is ready to stitch the 4 corner blossoms! This is the biggest floor spot that I have in the house (that's also clean enough for a white quilt) so you can't see the whole thing but you get the idea. I'm thrilled! For stitching I've folded the quilt and shoved it in a pillowcase with only one corner sticking out. Hopefully this will work fine. I'm anxious to get back to stitching.
The last 2 blossoms on my applique border are done and the borders are now 90% done. Here are all 4 borders ready to go on the quilt. Oh boy, I love the sight of this. I just keep staring at them! But now I need to get on with adding them to the quilt. Fortunately when I glue basted the borders I made a little chart so that I'd know which side each border goes on and which blossoms go in each corner. Next step is to get up the nerve to add these to the quilt!
There are only 2 blossoms left on this border! Of course now I'm starting to dread the part where I have to sew these onto the quilt. In other news of random projects, I've cut into the new rayon batik stash for a new tunic. This one will be sort of 2-toned or color blocked. I might even get it sewn together this weekend.
Did you think I forgot about my applique project? Absolutely not! I'm sooooo close. I work on it a little in the evenings while watching TV and I have 3 more blossoms done. Half of this border is done so I'm 79.5% done! 5 more blossoms on this border and then I can sew the borders to the quilt and do the corners. In other news look what came in the mail! These are fabrics for more tunics. The Ikat on the left is one that a friend gave me a few years ago. The rest of batik rayons from Sew Batik. I got almost 4 yards of the black because the next few tops I male will be color blocked. The black will go with the Ikat, the multi/black and the red/black. The two tan/black prints will be used in the same garment. I washed and dried all of the fabrics....except the Ikat. I need to do that. I want the tops to be wash and dry with no ironing. The blue one that I've made already came out of the dryer perfect. I can't wait to get started on these. Chris is on his annual golf trip this weekend so maybe I can make a couple of these in the evenings after quilt club sewing days.
Boy, wouldn't that be a perfect weekend! I'm having mixed emotions about working on this project right now. On the one hand I'm excited to see the top finished. (Notice I didn't say I'm excited to see the QUILT finished. I'm a realist.) But on the other hand I really enjoy working on it and I'll be sorry not to have it around, especially because I don't really have another project ready to go for handwork. But the first hand is winning out and I'm moving right along with the 4th border and with 3 blossoms done I'm officially 75% done with the border stitching!
It surprises me that I still enjoy this stitching. I do have another entire set of blossoms, all in blues so I suppose I could start that when this one is done. Progress on my applique project came to a halt during the football playoffs. With the Eagles involved I just couldn't relax enough do any sewing during those games. Then the Birds of a Feather conference came and I was getting ready for and then recovering from that. So it's been about a month since I worked on this. I'm finally back in a groove and Chris and I are watching some Netflix in the evenings. This weekend I finished the 3rd border! You would think that with 3 of 4 borders done that I'd be 75% done but I have 4 corner blossoms and I have to sew the borders on the quilt before I can do those. Here are the rest of the blossoms on that border. I've already got the center dot appliqued on the last border and I'm very motivated to get it done.
I also started my Spirograph quilting on my Lost My Marbles quilt. I'll post about that as soon as I get the photos edited. Two more blossoms done and, frankly, it's a miracle! I got this first one done while watching TV one night. I got some stitching done during the Patriots game yesterday but I didn't do anything but scream during the Eagles game and surely not going to stitch during the Super Bowl. I can't believe "my" Eagles are going to the Super Bowl and it's double special because our friends from England are coming over to watch with us! Of course, they are coming for other reasons but they did time the trip for Ian to watch the SB with us and now it will include the Eagles I couldn't be more excited.
I'm also excited to report that my applique borders are now 61% done! I've got so much to do over the next 2 weeks to get ready for the Birds of a Feather Conference. I'm teaching and selling there and they allow people to come and just shop. So if you want to shop for hand dyed fabric in person and live in Northern Virginia come on by! |
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I'm Vicki Welsh and I've been making things as long as I can remember. I used to be a garment maker but transitioned to quilts about 20 years ago. Currently I'm into fabric dyeing, quilting, Zentangle, fabric postcards, fused glass and mosaic. I document my adventures here. Categories
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