I love a completed quilt

It never fails; I get such a thrill from finishing a quilt. A completed quilt is always the culmination of a journey filled with challenges and wonderment. The quilts I decide to make always challenge me. It is an element of the process that I can’t seem to live without. I don’t love all quilts. I’m picky. I have to love it because I know what goes into it. That is my process for now. I may be content someday to just make quilts because it is fun. I may make them to sell someday, but for now I am just content to surround myself with what I love.

My quilting process begins with picking out a pattern. I have to love it. 

I loved this quilt—Sizzle—the 2019 Block of the Month project, free to members of The Quilt Show. It was designed by Becky Goldsmith, who did an awesome job creating and sharing this lovely pattern and providing instructional videos. She also included numerous tips and ideas that were very helpful. 

This project took up most of 2019 for me, even though I got a pretty late start on it. The blocks were paper pieced and the border was appliqued.

The project was billed as a kit, but the pattern was free to members of The Quilt Show, co-hosted by Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims. There is always so much to learn, which is what I like most about quilting. I like to learn new skills and practice all others. I enjoy successes and persevere through the failures, which are rarely in equal balance. Sometimes, the annoyances from little things, like thread fraying, sewing for a while before I realize my bobbin is empty, and dealing with thread tension errors that hone my unsewing technique as I rip out stitches. All is forgotten though; once I take my finished quilt out of the dryer, realizing the colors didn’t run or fade and seams are all still in-tact. At that point I can finally breathe as I inspect and admire the finished project. Washing a hand-made quilt is tense because you just don’t know what will happen when it gets saturated. But, it is also exciting because during the process, magic happens. The fabric shrinks a little around the stitches, giving it that poufy quilty look. Every time I wash a quilt, I am excited to take it out of the dryer. I have never been disappointed.

I wasn’t sure how I wanted to quilt this quilt, but I knew I wanted to use free-motion quilting. That is pretty vague, so I took a picture of each motif. My phone has a stylus, so I decided to try out quilting designs right on the pictures. That worked out great.

For the background, I was so happy with how my last little quilt turned out see here that I decided to quilt it the same way, thanks to the inspiration of Angela Walters, a phenomenal quilter whose work I have been studying. I am pleased with how it turned out.

This quilt reminds me of my dad

This quilt means more to me than some of my others because it reminds me of my dad, who died in 2003. My father was one-of-a-kind. There wasn’t anything he couldn’t do if he set his mind to it. He taught himself everything he ever did.

I recall one Christmas, when I was very young, my dad made a three-dimensional Christmas star out of cardboard, covered in red, green, and silver wrapping paper. As a little girl, it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen as we put it atop our Christmas tree. I wonder what ever happened to that star. It had perfect points, was completely symmetrical, and was a flawless example of how mathematical equations could make all the pieces fit together. I did not inherit his love of math; in fact I avoid it whenever I can. But I did inherit his ability to learn whatever I want to know, see things through to the end, and exercise patience, even with the most tedious of tasks. So when I look at this quilt, I can’t help but think of him. This one’s for you Dad!

I just had an epic quilting day

I finally completed my latest quilt top. This quilt—Sizzle—the 2019 Block of the Month project from The Quilt Show was designed by Becky Goldsmith, who did an awesome job creating and sharing this lovely pattern and providing instructional videos. She also included numerous tips and ideas that were very helpful.

This project took up most of 2019 for me, even though I got a pretty late start on it. The blocks were paper pieced and the border was appliqued.

The project was billed as a kit, but the pattern was free to members of The Quilt Show, co-hosted by Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims. I love this show and have written about it many times in CHQuilts. I decided to pick my own colors and fabrics for this project. It is similar to the color of the kit fabrics, but I wanted to use my own. I really enjoyed picking my own color combinations for each block. These are some of my favorite colors.

This project offered great challenges for me. This wasn’t the first time I’ve done paper piecing, but these patterns were fairly complex. Each endeavor honed my skills. Ironically though, each attempt at something new, whether I’ve done it before or not, always feels like a first. Perhaps the real skill I’m really improving upon is simply overcoming the fear of cutting into all that beautiful yardage.

Like paper-piecing, this wasn’t the first time I’ve used applique on a quilt, but the technique, which I’ve described in a previous post in CHQuilts, was new to me. I am pleased with the results.

I’m not sure what kind of backing fabric I want to use or if I want to piece the backing. And, I have no idea how I want to quilt this quilt. I may spend some time working on other projects as I attempt to figure that out.

The second part of my epic quilting day had to do with a quilt I’ve had lying around unfinished for far too long. It is a purple Dresden Plate quilt that I chose to hand-quilt. I decided to work on it last night, while listening the Donald Trump impeachment hearings.

I found that I was just not enjoying the hand-quilting as much as I once did, at least not on this quilt. That was a reason I wasn’t working on it. I just didn’t want to admit it to myself. But last night, I decided to be honest about it. I just wasn’t loving it like I normally do.

There were many reasons for this, not the least of which included some wrinkling in the backing fabric. That is a real no-no!

I had initially spray-basted the quilt sandwich and over time, and this neatly folded piece of fluff in the living room became a favorite resting place for one or more of my cats, the integrity of the quilt sandwich had broken down. I made a big mistake as well, in trying to quilt all the ‘plates’ first instead of starting in the middle and working outward. In fact, I hadn’t even decided what to quilt in the borders. That decision along with some marking should have been done from the middle out. I also quilted without a hoop. By not working from the middle out, it was dangerous not to use a hoop and keep the backing tight. I had only completed the quilting on five of the 20 blocks.

Additionally, I wasn’t careful about how I pressed seams, so trying to work the needle was difficult. I no longer have calluses on my fingers so pricking my finger and the edge of the thimble was just not comfortable. I also noticed that my eyesight isn’t what it used to be. For all these reasons I decided I would quilt this quilt on my sewing machine.

With all these factors, I made the decision to remove all the stitching I had already done. I grabbed my favorite seam ripper and began making a huge pile of thread. I got all of my “unsewing” completed that evening.

Just having that decision made, and having a clean project ahead, I’m getting a little bit excited about finishing this quilt.

I really enjoy hand quilting it isn’t drudgery as this one was. When there are just two layers of fabric and batting, which was not the case with these tiny blades of the Dresden Plate, hand-quilting is a joyful activity. That was not the case with this project. I think I knew I would never finish it. So, that has all changed. I’m excited about pressing the fabric again and starting over with my sewing machine. Truthfully, I can’t wait to get started. I suspect this will be a beautiful quilt.

Happy Quilting New Year

My quilting life seems to be shaping up for the New Year. Only 13 days in and I can envision a completed quilt top in the near future. I am also contemplating a new project, another Block of the Month (BOM) quilt from The Quilt Show—entitled Afternoon Delight. ..more about that in the coming days.

This quilt—Sizzle, a design by Becky Goldsmith for The Quilt Show—should have been completed in a year, and I am a bit behind, but that’s of no concern to me. I try not to fret over time because I just don’t seem to have enough of it and because I so enjoy every aspect of quilt making. It would be just wrong to put pressure on myself to finish a project on a schedule. That would detract from the pleasure I derive from the process. Quilting is not a one-step endeavor. There are many steps. I try to face each one with exhilaration and excitement. There is no dread in quilting because I know I will either learn something new or practice something that I want to improve upon. That is a kind of pressure too, but it is not a negative. Trying to conquer my untested skills is just a part of it. I like a challenge and tend to pick projects that will eventually make me a better quilter.

Yesterday I finished the first side border on my Sizzle quilt. Today I will finish the second. The top and bottom borders will take a little longer simply because they have more applique pieces.

There was some time between finishing the quilt blocks, sewing them together, and starting on the borders. I was hesitant. Although the applique pieces were already cut out and prepared with the raw edges glued under, I was concerned about a design issue. I didn’t have quite enough white-on-white fabric, the same one I used in the quilt top. I tried to determine how to cope with this. I could have used the off-white background fabric. I could have used one of the colors already in the quilt. Or, I could have made smaller or different borders.

Then I found that I had a very similar white-on-white fabric that read the same shade of bright white as the one I had used in the quilt. Without a magnifying glass to identify the pattern, the two looked very similarly. Once quilted, the difference might not even be discernible close up.

Once I found my color confidence, it was time to cut the fabric. Eight pieces cut to 7” wide by the width of fabric were all I needed. The white paisley print is lovely. Being a 60’s child, I just love paisley. I will have to replace this next chance I get. I love working with fabric that I love.

My next decision was about the color thread and the stitches to use. I settled on two colors of thread and three different stitches. I practiced sewing them until I was pleased with the results.

My applique is not perfect, but isn’t bad. The stitches will hold the pieces in place, which is their purpose. The overall effect is good. So, all-in-all, I’m happy with how this is going. On to finishing the borders and thinking about backing fabric and batting for this lovely quilt.

I hope this quilt speaks to me as my others have because right now I have no idea how I am going to quilt it.