 Fireworks 55" x 72" The last binding stitch is done so, aside form the label, the quilt is done. The bright blue binding worked out perfect. Mom and Becky convinced me not to use black or gray and to try a color. They were right. This quilt is going to my nephew, Patrick. He's a graphic artist and loves bright colors. It wasn't planned for him but the quilt told me where it needed to go as I was working on it. That seems to happen to me a lot.  I like to give quilts washed just to make sure nothing surprising happens the first time they wash it. It also encourages the recipient to actually use the quilt. All I need now is a label and then my Mom can deliver it over Thanksgiving when she visits my brother. It will be soft and crinkly and ready to use as soon as he receives it. You can see more detail photos on the Gallery page. I had planned to start stitching the binding on Groovy this weekend but ti seems that Fireworks gave me a bit of tendinitis in my hand. Instead I'll be working on Christmas postcards this weekend. The deadline is rolling up pretty quickly for Christmas cards so it's good that I change focus a bit.
 Patrick's quilt is quilted! Do you know what a big deal this is? I actually did some custom quilting and still finished it in less than a week. I don't think that's ever happened before. I'm such an agonizier when it comes to quilting. This time I just let go and made it up as I went along and I really like the result. I'll show some detail photos after I get it bound. The binding fabric is in a dye bath today so I might be able to start binding Sunday.  I also got the sashing and cornerstones cut for my queen size Groovy quilt. The lap size one is going on the longarm tomorrow. First I'm taking Mom to have some minor hand surgery. Seems it's going to eat up most of the day. They told her to be there 2 hours before her schedule 15 minute procedure. They even told her to pack lunch! Insane. I've got to take some hand sewing or my computer with EQ and my audiobook. Maybe we should take a quilt and have a picnic in the waiting room.
 When I started this quilt I had no plans beyond using a pattern from my pattern stash and using display fabric left over from my AQS booth last year. But as I worked on it I kept thinking about my nephew, Patrick. I haven't seen him in several years but I do follow him on IG. I know that he loves bright colors and he is quite artistic. I thought he might like this quilt. So I sent him a photo and asked if he would like it. Boy, did that open Pandora's Box! Patrick loves the quilt and was very excited to be offered it. Next thing I knew he had read almost my entire IG feed and had questions about lots of my quilts and especially connected with Lost My Marbles. He loved the Spirograph-style quilting. With his excitement and my own re-focus on FINISHING, I decided that I'd load his quilt this weekend.  I know that he's going to use this as a sofa quilt so I've got to restrain myself and try to keep it soft. I also want to get it done quickly so I'm not letting myself think too much. I want this quilt quilted this week so it's mostly simple quilting.  It's not a particularly fun quilt to quilt because there are so many awkward shapes, like this. I'm doing a little ruler work (because I love ruler work so much) but I'm not doing any stitch in the ditch. The thread is Invisifil so that it only adds texture and no more color. There's enough color!  But Patrick loved Lost My Marbles so much that I had to add a few Spirograph motifs. There are 12 starbursts like this. Quilting them is very awkward because there are so many seams so I'm trying to let go of perfection. Here are 4 of the motifs so far.    This quilt is my primary goal for the week but I'll also be working on Christmas postcards some too and I'm making more progress on moons. Chris is away on a hunting trip this week so, if all goes well, it should be a productive week.
 The 4th of July quilt top is done! You can click the link to the pattern but this one is discontinued.....that's how long I've had the pattern! The fabrics are all leftover from the display in my booth last year at the Virginia Beach AQS show so there was no planned color palette. The "vision" for this was to finally use the pattern and use up some of those sample fabrics. I used golds and greens for all of the big spikes, blues for the short inner spikes and orange/pink/purple for everything else.  The colors are most accurate in this photo and it also shows off my favorite part, the background. I pulled every super dark fabric from my stash. Next I need to figure out where it will go to live. That will determine what kind of quilting that it will get. If it's going to be a sofa quilt I'll likely do a pantograph. The most it will get is light custom. I don't love it enough to spend a ton of time quilting it. Don't get me wrong, I do like it but I don't have any special attachment to it.  This weekend I'm going to get the cat quilt top together. The original plan called for more cats but I was afraid that from a distance (in a booth at a quilt show) that the small cats would look like little blobs. I decided to make the cats a little bigger so they will be seen easier. I'll get the templates made tonight and get it made this weekend at the Country School Quilters sewing weekend. It would be nice to get it on the longarm next week.
 One more border is done! I'll have this finished tomorrow and then I can start agonizing over how I'll quilt it.  I spent most of yesterday evening working on plans for the second Paula Nadelstern sample quilt. I had one plan before the fabrics arrived but quickly realized that it was not going to work! This fabric is in a blue palette and has lots of silver sparkle so it will be perfect for holiday/winter projects. I've settled on this layout but it's going to look different with the "real" fabrics. I made one sample block and quickly realized that I needed more of one of the fabrics. It's on the way so in the mean time I'll work on the cats this weekend.
 Yesterday I got all of my Paula Nadelstern fabric washed and ironed. I shouldn't say "washed" because I actually soaked it for 24 hours changing the water once. Yes, it did bleed. I also soaked some batiks that I bought for a later project and it bled too. Now I can use all of the fabrics knowing that they won't cause any trouble later. After I finish dyeing fabric today I'll get into EQ and finalize my plans for the sample quilts. I also had a few minutes to add another border to the 4th of July quilt.  This is a cute little baby quilt that Mom made and I had to get it quilted yesterday too. We had quilt club last night and I wanted to get it to her. The colors in this photo are WAY off and I know that because she used my Color Wheel Stash Packs. She used a pack each of Light, Medium and Dark.  I took the photos really quick last night before I left for the meeting and didn't do the white balance setting on the camera but this photo has the colors a little more accurate. I love this Happy Times panto for baby quilts.  Quilting with Minky for the backing was no problem at all and I think the new parents will love it!
Today I'm dyeing lots of fabric and will spend the evening relaxing with Electric Quilt doing some planning for my sample quilts. But maybe I can squeeze in one more border. This past weekend was the first weekend of football so I didn't get a lot done. "My" Eagles pulled out a win in the end. I didn't work on the cat quilt at all. I need to get serious on that project this week. Between games I did get my dyed fabric washed and made a little progress on 4th of July.  I arranged the border blocks.  And got the blocks sewn to one side.
Today is computer day so there won't be any sewing going on at all. Just lots of ironing, photographing and bill paying ending on a high note with more football. As I said Tueaday, my goals for September are to wrap up some "easy" projects while I work on my Paula Nadelstern sample quilts. Paula's fabrics arrived Wednesday and they are washed.  After making the puppy quilt I decided that the cats need some equal time so I think my first "Paula" quilt will be a Kindle of Kittens. Each kitten will be a different symmetry print and the background is going to be a patterned blue. You'll get to see it in November and don't be surprised if it doesn't really look like this! I've got to play with the layout and block size a little more. I'll work on this on my Brother sewing machine. I have the Juki set up to allow myself a few minutes each day to work on my easy projects and the first up is 4th of July. I'm ready to get it done.  I took this project on vacation and I only had these pieces of the border blocks left to make. My friend, Laura, did most of the sewing there but I did get all of these done.  I spent a lot of time relaxing and tearing out paper. A lot of people hate this part of foundation piecing but I really don't mind it.  I use a very short stitch length which helps the paper tear easier. Tweezers are also very helpful. While I piece these I sometimes use a dab of glue stick to hold a fabric in place. A little paper will sometimes stick to the fabric. I don't worry about that at all. It will soften and disappear in the wash. I did have to do a little vacuuming to clean up paper bits that missed the trash bag.  I got all of the blocks done on vacation and this week's goal is to get the top together. Yesterday I got the center together. The colors aren't true. It's a little faded on the upper right because of how I took the photo but I'll get a good one when the quilt is done.
Now to make some kittens!  It was sewing weekend with my quilt club and I was on a mission! I missed last month because someone had just cleaned the place with about 5 gallons of PineSol and I couldn't stay in it. This month the room was back to normal. I had to stay pretty focused but I got this set of blocks done for my 4th of July quilt.  To make a quilt the size of the pattern all I'have left to do is a set of these blocks for the border. At this point I think I'll probably stop with these although I do have enough foundations for a queen size. I expect once these are done I'll be ready to move on to another foundation pieced pattern. I'll lay out the blocks and see how it all looks. But I have this pattern waiting for me and I'll probably get 4th of July done and start the new one. I just need to decide on colors.
That's all the sewing I got done this weekend. Yesterday I came to "the river" to spend some time with my friend. I'll go home this afternoon if I can pry myself away from a great view.  Last week while my blog was posting about Flora's quilts I was actually spending a lot of time staring at this. It was my family's annual trip to Hatteras, NC. This was the view from the house deck and we had perfect weather all week. I got to spend a lot of time on the beach walking and reading.  But someone of Scots-Irish heritage can't spend too many hours in the sun so I set up a little sewing space outside our bedroom and worked on my 4th of July quilt.  I got the rest of these sections done for the center blocks of the quilt. I think I'm ready to start working on the border blocks, unless I decide to make a queen size.  We all love our annual get-together and I hope we can keep doing it for many years to come.
We got back Sunday and I spent yesterday washing cars and doing laundry. We have lots of company coming today so I'm slow getting back into gear but I should be mostly back to normal by Wednesday. |
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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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