Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Marathon Sewing and my Quilty Albatross.

 
We had a great time last weekend at the Wild Threads sewing marathon.  We have access to a fantastic space in a local church.  They don't charge us a specific rate but we pitch in $5 each.  I really think we need to do something nice for the church.  Like make and donate a raffle quilt.  This space has so much gorgeous natural light.  Honestly my dream studio would be a lot like this.
We have all day to sew if we want so it's nice for some of the gals to be able to pop in and visit if they can't stay too long.  Annette on the left is recuperating from back surgery.  SO nice to see you out and about Annette!  Kathy is always on the go on the weekends with three boys playing sports, but she came to visit a while.
 
 Shirley on the left is giving Chris a quick tutorial on using her new rolled hem foot.  Chris is a new grandma!  Her first grandbaby is a beautiful little girl.  Thanks for bringing pictures Chris.  I'm pretty sure Chris will be using that new rolled hem foot for some cute pink outfits.
 
 
Hi Debbie!  Debbie came with a quilt she had pieced to send off for Hurricane Sandy victims.  She got it quilted and the binding sewn on and ready for the handwork.  It is such a pretty quilt with the cutest pink and brown doggie fabric.
 
 
Kathleen came with a few things to work on.  Poor gal, she didn't know what she was in for.  I hounded, badgered, and practically beat her with a stick to get her to make Row 2 of the WTMRQ.  I badgered Chris too but she knows me better and I think she tunes me out.  This row really is fiddly with a bunch a different sized pieces.  Sorry ladies  :(   I love Kathleen's fabrics and I'm sure she's glad she got the row done. 
 
 
Unsuspecting Kathleen also brought this delicious pile of fabrics so she could work on her...........................................
 
 
Snoopy quilt!!  Aren't these Snoopy blocks awesome?  She traced the designs onto the fabric and then free-motion 'thread painted' with black thread.  I love this and MUST try it!  Sadly, she didn't get near this quilt on Saturday. 
 
Diane (behind the quilt) had jet lag so she just met us for lunch and showed off her finished Granny Square quilt.  Great job Diane, I love the setting.
 
 
I didn't get a picture of Pat but here is her background fabric for the row quilt.  I love Kaffe.  She brought those solids to go with it but decided it needed some punch.  Guess what?  I live 3 minutes away so we zipped around the corner to 'shop' my stash.  I'm so sorry I didn't get a picture of the finished row (dang it!) but we came back with a purple, blue, and red that had just the zing needed.  Stay tuned because I will share everybody's rows soon.
 
 
The top row is Kathleen's and the picture doesn't do it justice.  The solids show up nicely in person, trust me.  The blocks in the middle are Chris'.  She just needs to trim and sew them together.  And the bottom is one of my colorways.  I hope the ladies stick it out with this quilt because I love seeing everyone's versions.
And what did ol' 9patchnurse work on ALL day?
 
 
See that pouty face?  I deliberately brought just this quilt to work on.  See, I didn't just badger other sewers, I picked on myself too.  I have been working on this quilt for EVER!  At least 3 years, probably more.  It feels like 10 years.  It's been basted and in the quilting stage for well over a year if not two.  Four retreats ago, I started quilting feathers in the blocks.  I made a very very bad thread choice with a variegated thread.  It had some black in it and so some of the feathers were black and looked like ***t.  Instead of stopping when I first started wondering about my choice, I kept going in hopes that it would grow on me.  Ugh, no such luck.  So the quilt went into a gigando ziplock bag and into the closet.  Now and then I would take a seam ripper to some of the quilting but what a misery to pick out the areas where the quilting overlapped.  I started to hate the quilt.  And I began to love brighter colors so I lost even more interest.  I dragged this quilt to every retreat in hopes of ripping out the quilting and, finally, the Wild Threads jumped in and put me out of my misery.  In September at the Double O retreat, they got er done!!  
So guess what needed to be done?  9patchnurse needed to quilt it again, lol.  Drastic measures needed, you can't work on anything else until you finish this quilt!  Well, surprise surprise, it is in the washing machine as I write this!! Praise be! 
 
Yup, I spent all day Saturday pouting and whining and quilting feathers.  I gave the quilt lots of names.  Piece of Crap.  Heap of garbage.  Pain in My Ass.  And some others I won't mention.  I cursed feathers too.   I was doing some serious hating on this poor lil quilt. 
But some good things happened.  I used a Pilot Frixion pen for the first time to mark a quilt.  It's like magic!  Just drawn your lines and when you're done, put a hot iron on them and they disappear!  See the black pen marks?

 
Gone!
 
Seriously, they are gone.  Not one hint of marker left.
 
 
This morning I got this baby finished and into the wash after a quickie photo shoot in the front yard. 
 
 
Can you guess who is loving this quilt now?  Me.  While I was fussing about it on Saturday and struggling to stuff it this way and that way on my home machine (it's 90 by 80 inches), I got a close up view of all the fabrics.  Aren't they pretty?  It's made from a few charm packs and a jelly roll and I think the fabric lines were called Poetry and Sanctuary.  Maybe.  I'm really not sure since it's been so dang long.  Anyway, I love the red check with that floral.
 
 
And how about this beautiful yellow and red floral with the plaid?
 
 
Although I am in a serious love affair with bright fabrics, I just love the sweetness of this pale yellow with the little posies on it. I wish I had yards of it to put on the back of a little girl's quilt.
 
 
Holy moly!  I put purple in this quilt.  I hardly every buy or use purple.  I don't have much in my stash.  I don't really know why except maybe I think it's limiting. 
 
 
And a quick view of the back.  I have had this patchwork 'cheater' fabric in my stash for a while.  It seemed to work here and I filled in with some sweet polka dots I've had forever. 
 
I know I said that I like this quilt now but this baby is getting wrapped up for Christmas.  I think I know just the home for it.  Can't tell though, shhhhh.
Have a nice day friends.  I am going to turn up the music and do a touchdown dance, then go get a manicure.  Bye.


2 comments:

  1. So funny that you just got a picture of Pat's fabric and not Pat! :) Your quilt looks awesome all finished and washed. Super job. Aren't you glad you did it?

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  2. you can't take a picture of Pat 'cause I heard she's Amish!

    ReplyDelete