Friday, June 26, 2015

Amazing!

The Supreme Court of the United States of America decided that equality before the law is the goal in the United States. Gay marriage is legal in all fifty states. No longer will glbtq citizens be second-class citizens. I didn't think I would live to see this day though I have worked for equal rights for many years. Now we wait to see what all the screaming meemies try to do with religious exemption laws as they tried to do with interracial marriages 45 years ago. Legal protection trumps discrimination as I know from personal experience.

Sunday, June 14, 2015

Totally Different Tack

Rather than make either of the quilts I have written about, I have tacked into the wind and I am making a small quilt that is completely different from any quilt I have ever made. More than fifteen years ago I saw a magazine cover that intrigued me. It is an acrylic painting on handmade paper called Eclipse, by Carla Crow, and it will challenge my sewing skills though not my quilting skills. My son saw my cartoon of the quilt design and was enthusiastic so perhaps this one will go to him. It will be small enough to hang on the wall so my daughter-in-law won't have to worry about the dogs pawing at it.

Friday, June 12, 2015

Trinity Completed (With Pictures)



The photos above show the completed quilt but they don't show the quilting very well. As usual there are elements of the completed quilt that are not satisfying but I do like the elegance of the stars and the softness of the colors. In the quilting that you cannot see there are many feathered elements--feathered hearts,  feathered wreaths, and a large winding feathered border that turns all the corners except the one with the dove. The background fabric is a batik with small irregular hearts in the design.

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Working On The Binding

Back when I first started quilting and even up to a decade after I began, I loathed binding. Part of my issue was that I was (and still am) completely self taught so I had no clear idea of even how to make binding properly. I didn't even know what it meant when the instructions said that the binding should be well stuffed. I couldn't figure out how anyone could "stuff" binding. Because I just hated making and sewing on bindings, my bindings were always bad or at least not of the same quality as the rest of my quilts. The biggest change came when I stopped using the continuous strip binding technique (you know the one that most folks use to speed up the process) and started cutting multiple bias strips individually, thus coming closer to insuring that they really were true bias and each one was the same width. Now I at least don't loathe binding though I don't know that it is my favorite activity.

Anyway, I am a little more than halfway around on the second go around of completing the binding. So the double fold bias has been applied all the way around and joined to the front of the quilt and I am doing the blindstitching of completing the binding  by folding it over the seam on the back. I like to use double fold French bias binding since that is longer lasting and gives a sturdier edge. Once that is complete I can finish removing all the basting threads, attach a hanging strip to the back, make and attach a label, and then soak and block the quilt. By Monday for sure I will be done. I have decided to call the quilt Trinity.

Update: I just completed the binding, sleeve, and label. The quilt has to soak to get rid of the blue and then dry. That's always distressing to my coonhound since he likes to sleep on that bed. I will post photos tomorrow.

Friday, June 5, 2015

Torn Between Ideas

I am working on the last wide border of the touching stars quilt and I am torn. As I indicated previously, no one in my family really needs or wants a quilt, but since I am always making them I have to ask which one do I work on next. I have an idea for another horse quilt but this is the daughter in law who rejected the current quilt (though she never saw it) so I wonder if she would want this quilt or whether I am just pushing it on her and she is simply putting up with that. For me the attraction is learning new techniques and challenging myself, but I am so stuck in my ways that making one of the other quilts in my head would be more satisfying. I will have to decide soon since my current project is nearly done. The fellow I am giving it to is just someone I work out next to on the elliptical at the gym--I don't even know his wife's name, but I do enjoy our chats while we work out. I am satisfied that the current quilt will have a very good home.


Tuesday, June 2, 2015

You Are My Sunshine

I don't know why but I have been on a yellow fabric jag lately. When I first started quilting the selection of yellow fabrics was very limited. There was a choice of pastel and blah, or a bright background for a sprigged calico. Back then I had a hard time mixing solids and prints (I am old enough to have grown up wearing white gloves to town so I was pretty fashion repressed). Now I don't necessarily mix fabrics when I get dressed, but I have that same hard time even thinking about using solids exclusively in a quilt. But I got a bunch of new yellows in the last month or so, including one that is almost identical to that old sprigged calico. Maybe it's the coming of spring and summer. As is my habit and by now my style I am thinking of combining piecing and applique but I haven't started anything except mentally since I refuse to stop making a quilt until it is done. I am making good progress on the touching stars quilt but I have at least two weeks left and probably longer.