Pieced Border Done

The pieced border is done for my nephew Kelvin's quilt; I plan to attach it tomorrow, along with a couple more borders. And then it will be ready to load on my quilting frame. It will have a flannel back; it's in the dryer right now this very minute.

I had just enough of the cream-on-cream fabric for the border background behind the pieced squares – until I scorched one small triangle. So one small triangle now has a seam in the middle of it. And I will remember that this particular fabric is more susceptible to scorching than the rest of the fabric. The other half of the triangle duo was scorched a bit, too; but it’s not too bad, and we’re going to pretend we can’t even see it. (Aren’t we?)

A New Quilt Has Begun

Today I started a new quilt.  This one will be for my nephew Kelvin, who is suffering from colon cancer.  I'm using a center panel, the better to get it done quickly.  I've added two borders and am working on the third.  Six of the 26 blocks that will comprise this border are done.  The first shot is a closeup of part of the panel.  Can you tell what it is?  The last photo shows a new suncatcher hanging in the studio's north-facing window.  The flowers, leaves, and butterflies are hand-painted seashells from the Philippines.

Label for Atlantic Beach Path Quilt

The label for the Atlantic Beach Path quilt is done.  I used the embroidery module on my new-to-me Bernina Artista 730 for the first time.  I'm so happy with it.  I could see the screen so much better than the one on my older Artista 180, and it worked so much faster.  I didn't run into character limitations on the lines, and, using Word Art, I curved one of the lines with a touch of a button.  What used to take an hour and a half took exactly 34 minutes -- and the thread didn't break once.  

The more different things I tried, the more things I found that were an improvement over the older machine.  Plus, the surround table that Johnny made for Sue (the people from whom we bought the machine) fits perfectly, and makes the job just that much easier.  (And it's pretty, too.)

When I walked over to the quilt to sew the label onto it, I discovered that the sunlight shining in the window was illuminating the hexagon-shaped Swarovski crystals.  Since I had a hard time catching the glint of light in them when I took previous pictures, I grabbed my camera and shot a few close-ups.  Even these, though they are better, just don't do justice to these beautiful crystals.

Now I've repaired two of my sweaters, put a new zipper in one of Larry's jackets, and turned one of his long-sleeved white Sunday shirts into a short-sleeved white Sunday shirt.  I am ready to start a new quilt.  😊

One-Block Wonder Atlantic Beach Path Quilt Finished!

My first One-Block Wonder quilt is done! Yep, the Atlantic Beach Path quilt is finished, all but the label. Soon I will attach the embroidery module to my new-to-me Bernina Artista 730, and embroider for the first time with this machine. 

Quilt Details: 

Quilt size: 123" x 124", and it weighs 15 pounds. 

Technique: One-Block Wonder, with the hexagons appliquéd to the center panel and to the borders. 

Batting: a base of 80/20 cotton/poly, with Quilters' Dream wool on top. 

Fabric: Center panel: Call of the Wild series by Hoffman Fabrics, Atlantic Beach Path (hence the quilt’s name). I used 7 panels; 6 were for hexagons. The majority of the hexagons were from the Countryside Floral line by Maywood Studio, with many cut from the outer border fabric. 

It took 186 hours to piece the quilt, and 34.5 hours to sew the twisted tucks in the light blue border. There is a narrow navy flange on one side of the tucked border, and a wider flange between the gold and royal blue borders. The wider flange is ruched every 2”, with a square Czech glass bead sewn on, creating the scalloped effect. 

Thread: Bottom Line #60, So Fine #50, Omni #40, King Tut #40, Signature #40, Mettler #50 – all these, because I'm using a variety of colors, and these are what I have on hand. 

There are 439 hexagons in the quilt. No hexie quilting designs were repeated. 

There are about 1,000 pearls, about 250 square Czech glass beads, and 40 hexagon-shaped Swarovski crystals in a ‘spray’ configuration at the top above the panel. It took 52 hours to do all the beading. 

Hours in the quilt, not counting the label: 510.5, with 242 in the quilting alone. 

The quilt will be for our youngest son and daughter-in-law, Caleb and Maria; but first I plan to enter it in our County and State Fairs. I hope to enter it in other shows, but I must find some that do not restrict the width of a quilt to 112”. 

Exchanging Winter Quilt for Summer Quilt

I'm washing bedding, including the wool/velvet/corduroy/velour Jewel Box Log Cabin quilt, which is now drying on the back deck. I will replace it with the Harvest Sun quilt. I’m very thankful for my new washer! It handled this huge, heavy quilt quite well, although I did have to reposition it when it started spinning. Since I could see this was clearly a big workout for the machine, I turned off the Repeat Rinse that I had originally turned on, so it wouldn’t have to spin the quilt again. 

I’m going to cut the Jewel Box Log Cabin quilt apart and remake it into a couple of smaller quilts. It was a disappointment, because despite prewashing everything in hot water with color catchers twice, a couple of the reds ran in subsequent washes, soaked into one particular white, and turned those patches pink. Spoiled the Jewel Box effect. Also, I didn’t use batting, figuring the quilt was thick and heavy enough. 

But I discovered I don’t like quilts with no batting. Plus, one of the pieces I used for backing shrunk, and the thing doesn’t lie flat. One more thing: I don’t like how some of the fabric feels whilst I’m a-tryin’ to sleep under it. Also, it’s too heavy. So obviously the thing to do is to cut it down and create throws out of it.

I could put the matching pillows on the loveseats, but Larry uses the leather one and would be unimpressed with having to remove a pack of decorative pillows every time he wanted to lie down. The cats use the other one, and they’d get hair all over the pillows. 🙄

So, obviously again, they go on the leather loveseat. 🤣😆😅😂

It's starting to sprinkle! Time to get the quilt in. It had just enough time -- and a nice enough breeze -- to get dry. Mmmm... it smells sooo good – like Tide Fresh Scent, Downy softener, and country sunshine, all mixed into one. 

I no sooner put the throw pillows on the loveseat than Teensy came to see what I was doing, to inspect the job, and to pat and fluff the pillows into shape. Satisfied, he then lay down and commenced to conducting his afternoon ablutions.

The last picture shows the Harvest Sun quilt on our bed.