Basted and Tied

I brought Wild Cats into the clubhouse this morning and it took me three hours to lay it out, pin baste, tie and trim off the excess. It is ready for binding.

My photo on my phone still reflects my shaking hand, and the shot is so small I cannot tell if it is in focus or not. It is something I need to work on and will.

This quilt is done with a high loft batting so it is more the coziness my Son remembers from his childhood. It also means he can wash it repeatedly and not have issues with cotton batting. He wants that. 

I didn't know that tying was a legitimate form of quilting and believed that those made with ties were more comforters. Poly batting was something I looked down upon too. I am changing my thoughts and I am sure there is room for all the different methods. Each is a preference...a choice. And that is a good thing.

Small Squares Quilt

The swirly pattern quilt that I took the class for is made of 6" altered log cabin squares. That means logs that are 1.25" and 1.75" width. And then they are cut in three rounds with the template to give them that swirly look. As long as they are the same, however they come out, it will give them a uniform look to piece them the same, to trim them the same. It may not be the same as the pattern because I changed the number of joined blocks to enlarge it. They will fit together.

I laugh at myself now, because the pattern said it would take 6+ hours. Hah! I spend at least that every day I work on it and am in the PLUS portion of the project time frame.

It seems that every scrap quilt is a mystery quilt because its chance-y from beginning to end to make it work. I can imagine, go from past experience, and yet, the outcome is TBD. It is important to get in the game and do the best possible. 

Right now, all my quilting is about just doing it.

Mental Quilting

When you think of it, most things do start as we think, what we think. I suppose that planning anything means we have to dream, to imagine, to recall what worked and what didn't. It is so for me as I quilt.

The quilts I am working on right now are the wrap-up to the family project (every family member gets a quilt) I started so long ago. One of the Bird Quilt backs got so wrinkled that I decided to keep it and do another, however, doing another one means embroidering 15 blocks for it each with a state bird/flower. Each block takes a week to do, so in my thinking process, I decided to hold off giving them to the Grands until next year. I want them to all go out at the same time.

HERE is the rub. The Grandson's family was going to get three quilts this year: His, my Son and his Partner. 

The choice was to either rush with a Bird Quilt or come up with an easier quilt for the Grandson. I found this link for a fleece quillow and think this is the perfect way to go. 

I can make it for the PurpleShep theme he likes right now, and the quillow itself is easy to take wherever he goes.This is the Exploding PurpleShep logo and would be easy to replicate for the pillow envelope.

Special Characters

Special Characters. Not people we meet or know, but those on a sewing machine. I saw this set-up before buying the machine, and have tried a couple of times to use it, reading the manual and doing a practice run...well several actually.

I know it can work to make labels if I can ever figure it out. Evidently, it will save a letter in memory because it is a computer-generated function. AND it stitches vertically rather than horizontally. It is a challenge for me to wrap my head around the steps that are involved. I learn much better when someone shows me.

The text I want to do is simple enough. 
      For Jane
      2016 - Red
      From Bellezza 

Three lines. 8-10-13 / letters with spaces. There is red thread on white. Well, I have until mid-November to figure it out.

Early Delivery

It was a sweet surprise to get the MN Wild focus fabric a couple of days early. I just bought more of the tone-on-tone background fabric so was able to cut for the extra 3 blocks. I cut only two strips each for the color part.

I also made an appointment at the clubhouse to work on the Wild Cats quilt next week. I want to tie this one and am using poly batting. My younger Son loves the feel of these kinds of quilts and so I did get a high loft version.

The making of binding is an interesting process, and the word itself has many meanings on so many levels.

With quilt binding, I cut 2.5" strips, join them, roll the joined strips into a ball, then pin on the right side of the quilt for sewing. This part will be done yet today. The hand sewing takes longer; usually a night or two while I watch a video.

This one has a working name that doesn't please me and so I have been spending time considering all sorts of phrases with the word 'red' in them. Hopefully, the name will come and I can make a label for it.

After-Class

One thing the instructor said was to work on this quilt for a few days after getting home so we would remember the process. Its like putting something into body memory.

I spent the day, first calculating how much more was needed if the quilt were to go 3 blocks wide by 4 blocks long. It was already extended 3 wide, so there is only need for 3 more blocks to finish off the bottom and make it the perfect size for a lap quilt. First I cut more red center squares and then looked for coordinating fabrics to add to the logs on all blocks. The focus fabric is scheduled for a Friday delivery and I will need to buy more background fabric. Both are needed for the blocks so I don't want to do a lot on the project until both are in the house.

What I did do was to add the first 2 logs to both the background center and the color center, and then sorted the colors into lengths. My guess is that there will be some waste because the pattern uses FQs or yardage rather than scraps.

It is a bundle of pieces at this stage. I feel like my life is like that right now too. Pieces. Pieces with parts. Pieces with potential. And so it means being clear with myself, organizing once and then again.

My computer geek is coming tomorrow to look at the set up here. The router channel need changing or replacing to get the house off a channel that has high traffic. I need him to look at the state of the Mac because (whine here) I love my Mac. This SmartTV is a shit-storm to try and use. And the little PC laptop with 10 loaded on it is...well, not the Mac. And while my new phone is so much better than what I had, my expectations for what it can do might be too high.

Sunday Catchup

The quilting class I attended yesterday was just what I needed. None of the participants were familiar to me, so the conversations were nice. The project itself was complex only in that it was new. I am going to spend the day piecing. Blocks in it are 6" square to start with, so its a lot of putzy work.