OOORah!

A quilt top finish!!!  And it comes with quite a story.  I started this quilt for a wedding gift for a  Marine who was about to be married and had a wonderful love story that made me melt.  I had some red fabrics in my stash and immediately started on this quilt with grand plans for it to be a wedding gift.  I lost my momentum.  I missed the deadline.

It had been a great plan.  Scarlet and Gold are the colors for the US Marine Corps.  By keeping the ring sections solid red (compared with a traditional Double Wedding Ring which has pieced ring sections) I thought it would look more contemporary, perfect for a young couple.

Determined to finish up some UFO's, I pulled this out recently and had to make decisions.

1) I could abandon the project since the event was past.
2) I could finish it and find a different recipient.

I spent Thanksgiving Weekend making "melons" to finish this quilt.   It is a throw size quilt - about 58" x 68".

Now I have a fantastic flimsy that I want to use as a fundraiser quilt.  The groups that I have in mind support injured/killed police & fire fighters or missing soldiers.

So quilters....how much would you pay for a chance at this quilt?

A break from quilting

My car broke down Wed, so I've spent the long weekend mostly at home.  I did bundle up and walk to the quilt shop Friday (about 2 miles each way) to buy some yellows.    I just realized that I need to make something for a Christmas gift to go with a quilt I made for a family member a while ago.  My yellow stash was looking slim.

But then I realized that I needed gold to finish a double wedding ring as well.   So I abandoned the hand quilting and the huge TV in the living room.  I found a place for a portable TV in my sewing space so I could still watch football while I pieced.  Cut out some yellow pieces and got to work on a UFO.

Before noon on Sunday, I had the melons done and laid out to distribute the different fabrics from the red rings.  When will I ever learn and pick out a pattern that doesn't require being strewn across the floor before it's put together?

Marley was confused why I was here and not in the living room.

Here's the half way point.  But I am Soooo done with piecing for now.

I'm headed back to the couch.

I do have more pictures of this project on Celebrate Hand Quilting where I was soliciting suggestions for how to approach the background fill.  Stop on over there if you aren't already a follower.

Needles Matter

In the big scheme of things, these stitches are all small.  I was frustrated that I had snapped a small needle so I changed needles for the 3 magenta lines on the right, I used a Roxanne 11 which feels like every other brand 10 to me.  I found the tip to be relatively dull and took a lot of pressure to push it through.  Please note that there's variation in stitch length on all 3 lines.  I am stitching through a batik applique on the front, silk batting and an Ikea cotton sheet on the back (the side of this photo)

In contrast, the 2 lines of stitching on the left are using the same Aurifil thread, but a Piecemakers #12 needle.  Not only are they more consistent in size, but the stitch count dropped from 14 to 16 stitches per inch.  (In sections without the applique, stiches with the 12 needles vary 16-18/inch)

I know it seems a bit OCD...but even stitches are worth a change in needle for me.

WIPs on Wed Nov 14

I survived the mixed-method trapunto experiment...but did manage to break about 5 needles.  Which is weird since I can't even remember the last time I ever broke a needle while hand stitching.

Normally I have a stash of needles since I'm forever losing them.

I had to run to the LQS to replenish the stock.  I have to say I'm not too happy.  The Piecemaker's 12's are lovely to sew with, but the glazed quilting threads are too thick to fit through the eye.  The Clover big eye 12's are nice, but really what I would consider an 11.  I was excited to try the Roxanne 11's - cute case, but quite the price since there are 50.  I had all kinds of bad words to say once I started using them as they are what I would consider a chubby 10.   Seriously now...what's the point of a numbering system if it differs by brand???

I am very pleased with this center motif.  It is pieces and parts of Ester's Heart's Desire.  Actually, I think it's all from the same outer border.  The big flowers were in the center of each side and the 3 petaled flowers were draped over the basket handle.  Fill is just straight(ish) lines 3/8" apart.

I re-hooped to the section of leaves closest to the center.  It will also look familiar to many of you who know her design since it was block 2 of the quilt along.

This was me pondering how closely I really need to quilt everything to be happy.

I'm afraid that the correct answer is "very, very close".

The additional veining in dark green and curley-q's in pale green make me very happy.  I stitched the flower buds in magenta.  Funny how those details will be completely lost to anyone standing more than a foot away.  But still, I smile.

Quilting Again

I spent Saturday morning doing my least favorite quilt related task.  I sandwiched and basted a quilt for hand quilting.  That involves moving furniture and sitting on the floor for ages, making giant basting stitches to hold everything together.

This is the project for which I used the machine trapunto technique of basting the extra layer of batting in place using FMQ with a wash-away thread on top.  I posted about this technique on Celebrate Hand Quilting a couple weeks ago.

Unfortunately, I had used a new marking pencil that mostly brushed off during the FMQ process.

That tends to be a problem because I am not very good / accurate with FMQ so my basted flowers are all wonky.  I spent the day trying to reshape flowers as I stitched.


All things considered, it's turning out pretty well. And I'm starting to actually enjoy the fact that my floral motif is a little organic and not as symmetrical as it was planned.

This final photo really illustrates bad basting turning into nice quilting.

Fussy

Continuing to make progress on the State Quilt.  Here's "Windblown Square" for North Dakota.  Lynn picked this up for me while on a road trip.  I fussy cut the words on the fabric for Peace, Family, Laughter, and Joy.

This is a beautiful block, but by using parallelagrams instead of half-square-triangles, it made for a very fussy block with lots of "Y" junctions.

Click here to listen to James Taylor Carolina In my Mind  which was what was going through my mind the whole time I was making this block.   Missy sent me the primary fabric and I filled in with a random fabric for the stem.

I found it to be ironic that one of my favorite songs is related to one of the states that I've been to the least times.  I've never been to Alaska, have been to Hawaii only once, but all other states have been to 3 or more times.  Thinking the South Carolina only hits the "Twice" mark.

Here's my version of Carolina Lilly (which usually has 3 flowers...but remember this is a 6 inch block).

The Maple Leaf block is for Vermont.  This is another of those fabric donations from non-quilters.  My brother's friend ET got pulled into the process and graciously went to a fabric store to help me out.

This is a great example of why I think I totally lost momentum.  Many of the traditional quilt state blocks were "36 Patch".  Ugh.  It's 6 inches square.  There are actually 32 pieces in this square.  Yoiks!

Progress...

LA,IN,SD, OR

Continued progress on the state blocks.  I got several cut out Monday and have been stitching away in my spare time.

This is Captain's Wheel for Louisiana.  My daughter's friend Bry offered to buy fabric while she was visiting her mom over the summer.  We found out afterwards that her mom moved from LA to PA.  I'm still counting it as LA.

Here's Tall Pine Tree for Oregon.  My husband was headed to the Baker, OR bike rally the summer this project started.  I convinced him to stop at the quilt shop in Nyssa, OR on his way since there's a coffee shop there as well.  He walked in and said "My wife wants a skinny nickel of red fabric".  The shop keeper looked confused but an old guy sipping coffee just pointed to the back of the store and said "Fat Quarters are over there."

The swirly fabric I have marked as coming from South Dakota.  If you sent it, please let me know so I can give credit.

 I love the look of the Dakota Star block but it was a pain to make since all the edges are bias, and the white triangle templates I made aren't quite symmetrical.

Nothing that a little steam and spray starch couldn't fix.

And finally, Indiana Puzzle made with fabric from Heather.  In fact, I'll credit Heather for giving me the solution to not having fabric from every state.  She sent several pieces and said she had lived in MO, KS, CO, IN, WA and I could count it for whatever I wanted since she'd bought fabric in all those states.

This pattern, by the way, is absolutely delightful to sew.  It builds from the center, much like a log cabin does, and ends up looking much harder than it is.  I may have a full quilt of this pattern in my future.