Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Summer

It is two weeks since my kids got out of school.  Two weeks of a complete blur.  We went to Mexico for 8 days, and I have been in nonstop baseball-game shuttle mode since returning.  Mostly I need a day to sit, nap, and not have somewhere to go or something to do.  I have the feeling that the next 8 weeks will be similar.  I am not getting much of anything done, but have grand intentions.

FYI...Though most of my clients know that this is the time when I stack the September Custom-quilt queue, BUT I will happily take the edge-to-edge projects throughout the summer.   Smaller custom jobs (baby quilt or small lap quilt size) are fine too.  If you have a quilting need, please don't hesitate to contact me.

In the two weeks leading up to the end of school, I was furiously working to wrap up a couple things. I have added a fun 40" sample to my stack of class samples.  This is for a fills class that I am teaching at Quilt Odyssey in 3 weeks, and again at MQX in October.  With any luck, it will also be taught at the April 2017 MQX as well since it was a well received class.
The sample was fun to quilt.  It is purple Kaffe shot cotton, and I used a bright contrasting orange thread for the middle of the mandala.  I really wanted to show off the patterns for this piece.  Each section has a different design.
I am in the process of designing a silk quilt in a similar style, but it will be pieced.  Maybe by 2019, I will actually start it!  The backside of the sample is black...
I am also working on quilting up the vintage linens I got in Paducah this April.  I have a plan for these as well, but you'll have to wait a bit on that.  These are great small manageable projects that can be finished in 1-2 days.
 I also officially wrapped up the quilting on my next show quilt.  It has blocking and binding to go.  Sounds simple, but I expect this will take 100+ hours.  I had just about finished the quilting in May when I decided that the blocks needed these tiny silk circles -- 126 of them.  I also chose to applique a perle cotton around the blocks.  These two tasks took a whopping 65 hours.  I hope to drop this puppy into the tub today and get it onto my blocking boards.  The binding may take half a lifetime so it's time to get going!
Here's the backside before the dots were added.  I love the solid backing because it shows off the fantastic texture (and the sateen makes it so simple to find the buggers that need fixing!).


3 comments:

Pam said...

I love your purple sampler. I have been fmq for a few years but not very often because I am an appliquer and my quilts take a long time to finish and are the main event not the quilting.

This said, quilting is an extremely important of the finished product and I want the best I can do. So I practice practice etc.

this is a long about way of asking if you have dvd or pattern of your purple sampler? I live in the back of beyond and cannot get to classes but your sampler looks so imaginative and full of quilting ideas that it would be wonderful if I could try to do it at home.

thanks

Dar said...

Oh my! Margaret, you are just so talented! LOVE the sampler, your students are very lucky to learn from you! Enjoy the rest of the summer, it will go by quickly! :-)

kupton52 said...

This post, with its beautiful pictures, was well worth the wait. I hope your summer goes well with time for the children as well as creative endeavors. I would love to take your "fill class"...as that is what I'm working on now as a relatively new longarmer. I'll keep my fingers crossed.