Saturday, April 27, 2013

Quilting the Schoolhouse Quilt

I've reached the halfway point, quilting the Schoolhouse quilt.  After reading and watching several books and DVDs on quilting, especially the method of freehand feathering, I gave it another try.  Here are the results.  I can do it!  I can, I can!  Not perfectly (instead of feathers, I inadvertently make hotdogs now and then), but ... I CAN DO IT.


A huge thank-you to Sue Daurio for loaning me the books and DVDs!









Friday, April 26, 2013

Schoolhouse Quilt Top



I finished the Schoolhouse quilt top this evening, and got it loaded on my quilting frame, along with the backing and batting.  I'll quilt it tomorrow.


Thursday, April 25, 2013

Schoolhouse Blocks


Today I made seven blocks for the Schoolhouse quilt.  I’m making it from an old kit my sister-in-law gave me.  This will be for my father-in-law for Father's Day.

On the half-page of extremely sparse instructions it says, “While we have done our best to make this pattern accurate, we cannot be responsible for mistakes or printing errors.”

Well, it’s no wonder they wrote that, because the pattern is terrible, the instructions faulty, and the templates completely wrong.  Not knowing this, I put them all together at the same time – and then had to take them all apart at the same time, too, because the roof was a colossal mess.  The background triangles at either end were not only the wrong size, but also cut at the wrong angle to fit properly.  I had to redraw and recut them both.

And now that I’ve taken pictures of them, I see that a few of the chimneys are out in left field.  Bother.  I’ll fix them – tomorrow.  The pattern must’ve been made back before the days of computer-generated patterns (or testers, evidently).

Moral of the story:  Put one block of unknown patterns together before doing the whole works at once.






Thursday, April 11, 2013

Label for Graceful Garden Quilt



Machine embroidered label made on my Bernina Artista 180.

I have now registered to enter two quilt shows -- HMQS (Home Machine Quilting Systems) in Salt Lake City next month, and AQS (American Quilting Society) in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in August.

Next Tuesday, I take the quilt to Lincoln, where I will meet an appraiser at the International Quilt Study Center & Museum.  She will appraise my quilt, and then I shall insure it well and ship it off to Salt Lake City. 

(hair standing up on end, just thinking about that)










Saturday, April 6, 2013

Graceful Garden Quilt on Bed, and Hanging from Deck








This afternoon, I took the quilt to Andrew and Hester's house to take pictures of it on their bed.  They oohed and ahhed over it quite satisfactorily.
  
I snatched it back and absconded with it before they got too attached to it, throwing a stack of decorative pillows in their pathway to keep them from catching me.


Home again, Larry helped me hang it from the deck, and then I stood in the back yard and took pictures of it.  

When I got to Hester's house, I found Victoria in the kitchen, helping Hester polish and shine her new kitchen.  New light fixture... new cupboards, new curtains... new sink... It looks very pretty.


























Friday, April 5, 2013

Graceful Garden Quilt -- DONE!!!



I'm done, I'm done, I'm done!!!  The binding is finished. 

The hanging sleeve is now cut and sewn according to AQS quilting show instructions, and must be sewn on the back by hand.  I'll do it tomorrow.  I still need to make a quilt label, too.
 
But the quilt itself is done.

Here is a close-up of the metallic black and brown binding. 
{Do those little metallic swirls look like Pac-Men to you??}

Tomorrow afternoon I will take pictures of the quilt on Hester and Andrew's bed.  I'm going to feel like an Indian giver, putting the quilt on her bed, tantalizing her with it -- and then grabbing it up and running straight back out the door with it! 


But she knows what I'm planning to do, entering it in the AQS show in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  I'll leave her the gazillion pillows as a consolation gift.  ;-)