Sneak Peek of Eagle's Wings

I have the eagle for the Americana Eagle quilt all together, the muslin backing trimmed, and the eagle glued to the background.  Now I need to find a good fabric medium for shading the head and tail, so they don't blend in with the background.  I've begun appliquéing the pieces down.  Here are the wings; I'll show you the rest of the bird when I get details embroidered and the shading put in.

Fabric for the Eagle

I didn't have any fabric suitable for the bald eagle on the Americana Eagle quilt, so I paid one of our LQSs a visit.  Here's what I got.  Does it look like a bald eagle to you?  😁

My friend Jo, owner of the store, was there.  I went to school with her.  She was a nice girl back then... every bit as nice (maybe even nicer) now.  Such a pleasure, that one of our quilt stores, Sew What, is owned by her.

Center Background for the Americana Eagle Quilt

The central background for the Americana Eagle quilt is done, and I'm ready to label the pieces on the eagle print and start drawing them on freezer paper, in preparation to appliquéing them.

When I laid the quilt down, Tiger thought sure I was making him a nice bed, and was quite certain he needed to get in the middle of it.  I told him to stay back, holding up a hand like a traffic cop -- so, after a couple of admonitions, he stayed back.  But you can see from his poor sad face that he's downright woebegone about it.  When I finally picked the center and the borders back up and told him he could walk through, he purred loudly and rubbed and rubbed around my ankles.

There will be a plain border between the center and the pieced borders, and several more exterior borders, too.

First Three Rows, Americana Eagle Quilt

All the pieces, except those for the eagle appliqué, are cut for the Americana Eagle quilt; and the top three interior rows are sewn together.

Working on Americana Eagle Quilt & Cord Covers

Today I worked on the Americana Eagle quilt.

Did you know it takes a long time to trim 174 two-and-a-half-inch pinwheel blocks?

If I glued all those trimmings together, I'd have enough to make several more blocks.  😁

I rummaged through my fabric bins (I have five 28-quart bins of quilting cottons) and found this piece for the backing.

I pulled out a variety of creams, ivories, tans, beiges, ecrus, and off-whites for the background pieces, and cut 300 two-and-a-half-inch squares.

When Larry got home from work tonight, he worked a bit in my quilting studio, putting up the cord covers and installing a light switch for the two LED lights over my quilting table.

Much handier, to be able to flip a switch than to stand on tiptoes and strrrretch to reach the chains on the lights.  The light in the front dormer is connected to a surge protector.  It and a variety of other appliances can be turned off by the switch on the surge protector.  I wanted these two lights to work separately.

Larry needs to get one more cord cover to finish the job.

Baskets of Lilies Quilt & Label, All Done

Last night I finished the Baskets of Lilies quilt, label and all.  This quilt was designed in EQ8, and measures 115" x 115".  I used #50 So Fine thread by Superior on top, and #60 Bottom Line thread by Superior in the bobbin.

The appliquéd petals are cut from the same fabric that comprised the curtains and ruffled table scarf in daughters Hannah and Dorcas's room when they were young.  The fabric has a very large flower print, and I had barely enough for all the petals (one is pieced, and one is actually from a totally different fabric), so some of them wound up on only the cream-colored background, with no flowers showing.  So I pulled out my Letraset ProMarkers (dye pens) and painted a few of them.  Can you tell which petals are painted?

The pantograph is called 'Rapture', and was designed by Anne Bright.

Before & After Shots: Yo-Yos & Buttons

The 36 yo-yos for the Baskets of Lilies quilt are done and sewn onto the quilt, and now I'm sewing on buttons.  Just finished the first packet of 24, meaning there are a dozen pretty little shank buttons on top and a dozen flat buttons on the quilt back (for stability).  So I'm 33.3333333333333% done sewing on the buttons.

Now for the buttons: