Taming the thread demons

Our Veteran's Day was spent mostly taming the massive amounts of leaves which last Sunday's storm dropped all over everywhere. In most years, the leaves are only on the back yard, where the trees are. This year they were in the front, side and back. 5 straight hours of raking and blowing and cursing. My hands are killing me today, all cut up and blistered. I had to clip back all the flower gardens in order to get the leaves out of the gardens. I had hoped that my mom might come out yesterday and bring the 2nd leaf blower. As soon as she found out my husband did not have to work, that plan seemed to change. Go figure, she thought bringing it today would be just as useful! Good grief. I can use my own leaf blower today...I was hoping to avoid having to rake!
I figured that being outside for several hours would make my kids crash in the afternoon. It sure did make me want a nap! My 4 year old had to get into plenty of naptime mischief (nearly 2 hours of it!) before she crashed. What you cannot see is the multitude of things she crashed on top of. She managed to change out of her clothes into her jammies -- somehting she's done a lot lately. There are 3 books beneath her. Two quilts, a blanket and an afghan. There is a giant stuffed lamb, three baby dolls and their clothes. A bear, a few barrettes, and a dress. My list likely goes on, but I didn't want to move her to take this picture. Lisa (AKA miniature quilture) ought to get a kick out of the fact that she's sleeping with her "backpack"...the purse that goes with a dress she sent Sophie this springtime! Too funny.

So, while everyone else was getting a good rest, I had to conquer this beast. It is huge, 124"x103". And as you can see, when loaded the longway, goes clear across my machine. I have only quilted one other quilt that was this wide. I know to fear huge quilts! If they are not perfectly square, the issues can magnify quickly.

This quilt is prolifically floral and very bright. Thread and quilting pattern selection were a little tricky because of the many colors and patterns already in play. The backing is a sea green floral. It is a little bit unexcpected since the fabric does not appear on the top, nor does the seagreen color, so this played into thread choices as well.
Here's the backing. OK, maybe it is more of a mint green. Whatever.
What I chose to quilt was the very leafy pattern below called Woodlands. This is the first time I have used this pattern, and I was hoping that I would not really hate doing it since there is so very much of it, nearly 12800 square inches! I really wanted to steer clear of anything blatantly floral. It is already busy enough in the flower department.

The other thing I did on this quilt was tame one of the myths about thread which some longarmers have. Some quilters really think that their machine can only quilt one kind of thread. I read things like "my machine only likes King Tut", and "I cannot quilt with cottons" all the time. I gotta admit. I have fallen into the trap of preferring one thread more than others, but mostly just don't take the time to fiddle with tensions sufficiently to get others equally as comfortable. Yesterday was that day. I had this YLI 50wt variagated brown thread and a mostly coordinating YLI 40 wt cotton for the backing. I have used the solid thread for a quilt some months ago with not too much trouble, but the variagated gave me huge fits on a quilt recently so I picked it all out and nearly threw it away. You see, these threads were a gift from YLI after MQX last spring. Free thread, how fun is that! These threads were a very nice choice for this quilt, also somewhat taming the overuse of flowers, so I wanted to use it.

I am most happy to say that it has been perfectly fine. I have had not even one thread break, and tension is good!! Yea, yea - delight.

I'll leave you with a few statistics of this quilt...

~It will require ~19 rows of the panto

~Each row takes about 15 minutes to stitch

~Each row is 12700 stitches (you do the final math!)

~Every four rows is about 21"

~I change bobbins 3 times for every 4 rows (sigh!)

Yes, it does beckon the question of will I have enough thread, doesn't it!

Burnout

This is almost an appropriate blog title, given the flaming color of this tree, but that's not really what's going on. We are at the tail end of gorgeous leaf color. The bright red trees are mostly turning brown after this week's rain. Just figured I'd start this post with something inspiration since the rest of this post is kind of whiney. I am fried. Tired. Bored. Just plain burned out. Not on quilting in general, mind you. Just on the one quilt in particular that has been on my frame for 8 days now. Yesterday was my mental "finish it off" day, and it has come and gone. And you guessed it, "Fester" as I have most unaffectionately named the quilt, is still on the frame. It's a log cabin quilt, and it has proved more time consuming because all the quilting is along diagonals. Lots of stop-n-starts. Lots of color changes.

And late yesterday afternoon I discovered the unthinkable. It is like a four-letter word to a longarm quilter. Just gut-wrenching. Yes, (sigh) a pucker or two on the back. My eyes rolled halfway to the back of my head and about 35 obscenities flowed from my lips. If I were not going down diagonals and having unquilted space here and there, this never would have happened. I still have to figure out how to eradicate one of them, even if it means unpicking to the seam on the backing, and concealing the puck there. That means removing a fairly sizeable feather. UGH.

So rather than be more disgusted with my quilting, I chose to do something I generally prefer not to do...gather up all 3 kids and go roaming for the afternoon. The boys had a half-day and were home at lunchtime. It has rained the last 2 days so we were all feeling a bit of cabin fever. I dragged them to 3 or 4 scenic tree-picture-taking spots here in our town, and then off to the park for a while. I just needed to breathe fresh air and not stare at that festering quilt. It wouldn't bother me so much but I really need to finish it so I can get 3 others done. Committments, you know?! We stopped for ice cream on the way home. Way to go, MOM, butter up the babes before you get 'em home to tell them that there's a mandatory 1 hour "play in your room" time from 3-4pm so I can do my damndest to try to get Fester finished.

(my oldest up in a very yellow and large maple tree)

Things look brighter. I have quilted most of what I can do before conquering the pleats. Maybe Saturday will be my day??

Friday, but no rest for the weary

On my trip to Utah, enough people asked me about Maine's fall color. So here are a couple pictures from my neighborhood. Yes, we have very vibrant red and orange and yellow trees. Fall is absolutely not about just trees with brown dying leaves. It is gorgeous right now (and getting disturbingly chilly too!).

****Back to the regularly scheduled program!***

It has been a week. Yes, just a week. A busy one, crazy one, a tiring one. I am battling a cold that I thought ended nearly a week ago. Somebody did not tell the germs it was OK to vacate my body though. And to make matters worse, I did not have my usual calm afternoon of quilting, and I won't get it tomorrow either. UGH!

I helped to set up for a guild quilt show today. The church looked absolutely amazing when I left this afternoon. It is an old 18th century church, with very lovely features - lots of wooden pews, tall ceiling and many stained glass windows, balcony, etc. Boy, do quilts look great hung across the railings of a balcony. I am definitely getting some pictures in there tomorrow. I have a number of quilts in the show, and what is not in the show, is at my vendor table for my quilting business. So yes, it is a dull and boring 7 hours of sitting, talking & shmoozing quilters and the general public about what I do. Someone really ought to tell them that when you have a show in a town of 45000 people, with 120 quilts, four hours really is sufficient! Nobody listens to me though!

So, here is a dozen or so (ha!) pictures from this week's quilt. It is a client that made blocks from the Modified Traditions blog. The fabrics are Arabella and they are simply devine. I spied this on her blog before she ever brought me the quilt. Really wish it could live here instead!... The greens and coral are so pretty. So, she wanted a nice custom. When I get a new quilt, I let it "tell me" to some degree how it ought to be quilted. I absolutely love feathers, but this one was not talking feathers to me. The fabrics have many swirly scrolls and leaves, so I went with those motifs.

The background is a really nice ivory. Oh, how I love to see ivory used rather than stark white. It is so much prettier and richer looking.

Busy borders can be more challenging because the quilting is not as visible. Plus, it is harder to see what you are quilting on them as the quilting is being done. I went for a purely geometric look in her piano key border with a 45 degree cross hatching. It is simple and clean (OK, not that simple to stitch - does take plenty of time with the rulers, but then).

I maintained consistency with the blocks. There are 2 of each type block I think and similar blocks are quilted alike. I also only used swirls, swirls that make a heart, pansy flowers and the leaves. Fewer designs make the overall plan appear cohesive.

If this quilt doesn't just make you want to go buy this fabric line, what will?? If I only thought I'd make something in it in the next 5 years I'd already own it!

Such fun I had. Hope the owner appreciates it as much as I do.

Sampler quilts are so much fun to sew. If only I had the time... They are perfect for those that tire of making 50 of the same block (like me!).

Have a good weekend. And quilt more that I likely will~

Fall Initiation

Fall officially arrives Tuesday, but almost like clockwork, when the month of September comes, our summerlike weather ends. The days become visibly shorter. It's dark in the mornings when I normally get up at 5:30am, and it is cooling of quite a bit at night. We haven't had a frost yet, but it is only a matter of time. Yesterday was a gorgeous day, going to nearly 70F, so we took the family on what has become a perennial favorite outting - Apple Picking. I love to pick the other season varieties like strawberries and blue berries, but the death of our fridge for 10 days rotted the picked strawberries, and somehow we never got out to stock the freezer with a year's worth of blueberries this season.

Maine had a fabulous early spring, starting in early April. In early May, however, we had one night which had scattered frost. Much of the apple orchards in my area were hit hard. Because this was after they had put on their flowers, nearly a month ahead of schedule, the crop was estimated at only 5% of normal. Despite this, we still were able to easily and quickly pick 2 bushels of apples. Today's breakfast was apple-cinnamon pancakes. Dinner is apple-stuffed chicken. There are apple tarts for dessert compliments of my husband. Who honestly has time to cook all afternoon??? (not me, considering I quilt then!).
Here's my often unruley brewd, looking well mannered and pleased to be having their picture taken. So often the images they give me in this short life couldn't be farther from reality! My middle kid (in white) just did not want to get into the picture.

This week...I am quilting one of my own. I need a nicely quilted piece to take to my retreat in Utah in just 3 weeks (and my 100" Summer on the Beach" quilt is just too large to travel with). I'd hoped to take "Primavera", but it was accepted into the Georgia Quilt Show that weekend, and will be taking a short trip next week. Besides, I have a Guild show, and I need another quilt for it. Kill 2 birds with one stone. I have a couple other customer quilts to get done at the end of the week too. Nothing huge, thankfully.

Visit back this week where I will show some fantastic pictures of a pinwheel quilt made by a client of mine. They are really pretty~

Fall Quilt

All done except for the label...

The hearts are supposed to look like falling leaves as the title of the quilt is Falling in Love with Autumn.
...and the back sans label.

A Sneak Peek...

Can't reveal who it's for, but here's a quick (and not so clear!..) look at the progress of the Fall quilt thus far. Still needs borders and quilting. It is really prettier than the picture shows. Hopefully the recipient will think so too.