MQX 2012

I returned last night from a busy 4 days at MQX. Although I have over 150 pictures to sort through before I post any, I thought I'd put up a couple shots of my own 2 quilts. Much to my surprise (because the confirmation email to ribbon winners came just after I departed for Providence on Tuesday!), both quilts earned ribbons in very tough and large categories. I could really get used to doing the winner's walk up to the stage - it's a happy trip!

The first quilt is Zen Garden, 65" square. It took an Honorable Mention. I love to see it when my quilts hang so straight and pretty (this is before the ribbons were even hung, at the sneak preview). It's headed next to HMQS if you want to see it.

My other quilt, Meet Me At Giverny, is 69" square, and has my favorite Stonehenge fabrics that just remind me of Monet. This was entered in the Solo category, and I really did not expect it to fair as well, in that it is only pieced. Solo usually has some "blow your mind" quilts. It walked away with a 2nd place and some nice shopping cash. It will be traveling to MQS next month.
I now must reintegrate with my family. I'll post more about the classes and other quilts this week.

Past the point of no return

Part of me is still very unsure what on Earth I have done. I thought I knew what I was doing. I thought I was certain that this section of vinework (in the purple) needed a punch. It needed emphasizing, somehow, some way. I tested out gold gel pens, gold pencils, and then gold paint. On my sample purple fabric, the paint looked just as I envisioned. It would be tedious, but the floral vines would stand out in gold as I want them to.
So, last weekend, while the quilt was still on the blocking boards (albeit fully dry), I started painting. I have never painted on a quilt, but I am wise enough to have done lots of research in recent months about how to do it in order to make it permanent. Yes, permanent. Now that it is started, part of me thinks it will be ok...thinks that I can eventually give these leaves and flowers enough subtle shading to look more natural. Oh really??? (that's my sane and usually wiser alter ego). It's bold, alright. I am not certain that the gold vines completely meld with the style of the quilt, but hey - all I can do now is make them look good and pretend that they were supposed to be there!!

If you are curious to laugh at my end result, this quilt will be at MQX in April.

Progress on the Little Things

As you know, we got a new kitten a week ago (the orange blur). On account of his constant need for snuggling, I have hardly done any hand stitching in the evening. This is a regular play session (aka butt whopping) with our other cat Sally, who has adjusted to his presence nicely. I have, however, been a blocking fool. My first quilt (65" square) is done (the drying that is - took 5 days in the winter air), the binding and piping are machined on, and I have started the hand stitching for the binding. It will probably take close to a week to finish this. I have also ordered a bunch of crystals for this quilt. The dynamic carpenters star will look fantastic with a little sparkle. Not every quilt needs sparkles, but this onewill be awesome with it. It's heading to MQX in April for all of you that are curious.

Here's a peek of the backside of the above quilt, with our newest baby (recently named Picasso) in the background. That is one sweet kitty!

My second personal quilt had a little bit of last-minute finishing on the quilting a few days ago. I spent last week ripping out all the SID because I discovered that the tension was not so great. What a pain... I put it back in in about 2 hours time (8 hours to remove, 2 hours to restitch!). It's much better this time. Yesterday, I declared it DONE, cut off all the excess backing, and today it is soaking wet and on the blocking board. We are anxious to get the furniture in the bedroom back in order. Considering the fact that it is 7F outside today (and my bedroom is a brisk 59F), it will probably take a week to dry this quilt. At $80-90 per week to heat our house, It's not worth jacking up the bedroom heat just for a quilt that I don't need done for a while! The piping and binding for this one are all done too - just waiting for a dry quilt. I do, however, need to get to work making/designing some labels for all my quilts nearing completion that will likely be printed off by Spoonflower.

BTW...anybody like Gumbo?? It was our New Year's Day meal, and a favorite of mine. I'm considering a Gumbo post if anyone is interested. Have a warm week.

Stars & Cables

First off, because our second favorite thing to read about on a quilt blog is food, here's the well-asked for recipe for the chocolate bourbon pecan pie I made for Turkey Day. Trust me, it's not for those of you counting calories, but it is so yummy.

I finished this quilt up earlier last week for a client. It's rather small, 43"x55". Bette accuracy would have come from paper piecing the stars, but she chose not to. From afar, the accuracy is somewhat of a mute point, as it is not really evident. But, she gave me a picture of how someone else had quilted it with large sweeping curves, and I found thisextremely difficult to implement neatly when star points were not always where they should have been.
Never the less, she was very happy with the end result. It is being made for her son, who is chairing a PTA raffle for a school out in Kansas. I used a second layer of a poly batt to give additional poof. I must stop buying these from Joann, however, because this Mountain Mist batting is just abismal. For all you quilters that love things on your quilts to "pop", invest in wool or use Hobbs polydown. The suff at Joann's is just plain disappointing. Cheap, yes. Not great though.

As the closeup show, the stars didn't puff nearly as much as I wanted. I used a cotton batting that the client brought as the bottom layer (and Warm & Natural is just too thin for my taste too). I quilted 2 different fillers in the sky background, and randomly chose a dozen or so stars to do microquilting on to highlight them (using the gold Glide thread). The effect of the gold was very evident on the back...

(and you can see the second filler that I used too) - line that follow the curves through the stars. Now, as a batting comparison, here's a picture of where I am on my quilt, which has a layer of Hobbs 80/20 and a layer of Legacy wool. Notice how the cable motifs pop. There's no saggy look there. Use of good batting most definitely does make a difference. Don't sacrifice here because you think it is on the inside of the quilt and won't matter. It most certainly does.
My cables are free-handed, and hence some of the longer lines are not as straight as I'd hoped for. I'll decide after this is off the machine if I need to pick out and straighten some of them. It's got pretty nice texture though :-)

Progress on the Center

This is not finished, but is definitely taking shape. Looks like kids will be home the next 5 days so quilting time will be limited, mostly in the predawn hours. Gotta make a chocolate bourbon pecan pie tomorrow to get ready for Turkey day.

Progress

If you have not heard me previously, I LOVE GLIDE THREAD!!! Oh my goodness, this thread sews like a hot knife through butter. I have used other trilobal poly threads, and had issues with shredding or little pokies on the topside. Not with this thread. I love it so much, I ordered 5 cones last night. Fot those of you that like a good deal, 5000m of this thread costs only $7.20! A bargain on top of it being great thread. I foresee using this gold thread so much I got another cone. It's like all the bene's of a gold metallic, without the hassles.I have spent 12 hours so far (I like to get up super early), and have SID'd the entire quilt, as well as worked on several sections. I am pleased with this very-showy floral vinework on the purple. I will backfill around the pattern with a blendable plum thread.The feather through the greens looks nice, but I haven't decied if it is "fancy enough" for this quilt. It looks good, mind you, but it almost seems run of the mill. I am aiming for a little bit more outside the box .

I have done 3 of the 4 of these squares, and I like how they are turning out.

I spent a while this morning designing these triangles. There are 16 of them andthey need to have a good impact. After doing one, I stopped, thinking that this will get picked out. The poppy seems hard to disinguish. Got any better thoughts??
Oh, how I love to quilt my own quilts (and I seem to be being a better than usual customer too!)~

Ready, Set, Go

Ready.
The top is done. Backing was sectioned a month or more ago -- a daring red surprise that will show all gold bobbin threads. I should be running to the hills in fear. I sat on the floor and hand stitched 2 large pieces of wool batting together that I had from last year's projects. I have mojo to spare today. I cleared the customer quilts that are due so I can devote 2 weeks to this project. OK, maybe 3 if it comes to that.
Set.
Judy Woodworth gave me a cone of Glide military gold thread at MQX for being a good class helper. I LOVE this thread, and I have been hoarding it to use on the above quilt. It looks like metallic, without the issues. I did a good sized testrun with the gold thread yesterday, on a completely different color fabric just so I can really see how it stitches. It gave me a few pokes now and then, but no more than Bottomline or Invisfil would. The most grief I am getting is from my high-maintenance bobbin winder that often does not like to wind the Bottomline bobbins unless I stand there and hold the thread as it exits the cone. What a baby, I tell ya. I will probably still use some Invisifil for areas of dense stitching, but there will be much gold on this one.

GO!
Two and a half hours later, the newest babe is loaded with double batts. I discovered a bit of marking that had not been finished so I did that too. I hope my plan comes out as I envision it because it will be beastly if not impossible to remove. I smell sunflowers...

Goings On for the week

The week is over. I have had some good work time this week, with school starting. Despite it being a short week (Tues-Thurs), I still had calm, productive quilting time. I have done one customer quilt, and taken in a couple more to get done in the coming weeks. In the meantime, I am frantically trying to get all the last details of the Seaglass quilt finished up. This week was for binding and the sleeve (which is approaching done).
I have the last of the crystals that are being put on this quilt due to arrive next week. The binding was time-consuming, but is so worth it in the end. The micro-piping coordinates with the backing and tones in the sand fabrics. It also stiffens the edge to help hold the edges from ruffling while hanging. I also went to the pain-staking trouble to align all of the changes in binding fabric with where the border fabrics change. It's a nice effect, but took lots of tweaking.

Before we left on vacation 2 weeks ago, I was working on my so called "fast pieced quilt". It was supposed to be designed with minimal piecing so it could be more of a quilting project than a piecing project. Oh, was I so wrong. I have learned I am incapable of doing easy and simple and fast piecing. My mind thrives on the complicated and intricate patterns, and even better when they intertwine. This is lacking a couple more borders still, but you get the idea.

These are some of Northcott's stonehenge fabrics from the Amazon and Maui (I think) lines. They are so gorgeous; I just love them, even more than the Stonehenge ones I used on my Postcards quilt. My heart beats to purple and green. Just a simple fact. A few of the materials have gold leafing on them too.

One more looksee...

I have been helping my 9 year old design and sew a placemat. And my 5 year old is attempting to hand quilt a doll blankie that I pieced on machine. They are having fun, but it's eating into my time!

And lastly, I loaded the silk wholecloth this afternoon. It is only 36" square so in theory, it ought not take that long (famous last words, I know). I have only done this much, and I have things to rip out and redo. The Bottomline thread is giving me frequent fits on this job, making little nests, and bunching out when it should not. From a few feet away, it may look OK. My eye is too trained to want the feathers more uniform and areas of symmetry to be actually symmetrical. I may leave it and opt to fix things when the rest is stitched. On the bright side, the silk is not hard to stitch on, just a bit nervewracking.