Vacation

Or Stay-cation, if you prefer since I didn't go anywhere.  My kids have been at my mom's for the last 5 days.  The boys are doing a soccer camp half day, and Sophie is just at Nana-Camp.  It was planned months ago partly around my knowing that I needed to get a huge 112" custom quilt done this week.  This is the second of these Civil War Chronicles that I have done, so I had a pretty good idea how long it would take!  Pictures of this will go up next week.  It's dreary and wet here and there is no light for taking pictures of a quilt that is nothing but pattern and print.

Speaking of patterns...This is an edge-to-edge I finished recently.  The local client hand pieced it.  It is rather an unusual pattern I thought!

 So I did what I thought was "getting smart".  Last week, I loaded this monster quilt.  I figured I was pushing getting it done in one week, even with no kids here.  I got a jump on it, quilting about 1-1/2 hour a day from Wednesday until Saturday.  I'm telling you, every hour helps.  Turns out, I worked long hours and finished the quilt early on Thursday.  So at 8am, quilt finished, no kids around, what's a girl to do??! 

I have been puttering with some free-pieced curved 5" blocks made from Cherrywood fabrics.  I have about 35-40 of them done, but they just are not singing to me.  Instead of continuing to make a mess of that fabric, I decided to get these blocks out.  By all accounts, I started this in the early winter of 2012.  I could have sworn it was before that.  I have had a block of 32 pieced diamonds and 24 pieced/appliqued setting squares done for at least a year though.  At least!

 Yesterday I decided I would play with this quilt for 2 days and see how far I could get it.  Many of the pieced diamonds looked like I'd pieced them with my eyes closed.  Too many needed to be ripped apart and have their points re-matched.  I'm anal like that. I spent nearly 5 hours fixing blocks!  Then I started piecing the many Y-seams.  At the end of yesterday, these 56 blocks were pieced into 20 larger units.  By 8am this morning, there were only 10.  Sadly by noon, I was down to 2 large units, and that is where I have officially lost steam.  There are so many Y-seams in that last seam that I just don't feel like doing it!  I don't have the last bit of the dark blue background on or do I really know what I am doing for a border, if at all.  I am toying with a narrow color-washed partial border like I have shown.  Whatever it is, I want it to draw the eye into the center star.  The quilt top design is not totally completed either.  I seem to have a few icky areas where too many points and bulk have come together in not such a sightly manner.  Pondering how to address them.  I also kind of hate the red butterflies, but am not so sure how to fix that either (yes, backing is cut away beneath them!).  It's not so much the butterflies I don't like as much as it is the color.  The quilt is not done, but progress was made.

This afternoon I shifted gears to calmly hand applique on this beauty.  I just love this quilt, and love working on it.  This picture is from last week.  I have nearly finished the 2nd side of the applique.  The silk ivory ribbon is so incredible looking.  Two more sides and I will start to think about how to quilt this.  I am getting excited!  Maybe while I am Lowell tomorrow for the Lowell Quilt Festival I will spy a backing fabric.  I need a nice rose floral unless I get brave and go with the gold/mustard solid I found.