Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Hang my Head in Blogger Shame

I have been busy.  I have been lazy.  My blog has been under severe neglect.  So Sorry....

Let me show you what I have been working on since returning from Paducah.

This is my mom's quilt, made for her sister for her 80th birthday.  Being busy, I told her "only if it's an edge to edge".  3-4 hours later, here it is.  It is stitched in a soft peach thread that matches the fabric.  It seems a bit odd, but with all the printy blues, I just wanted to see the thread.
 Rumor has it, my aunt loved the quilt.  Here's a look at the backside, which is a soft flannel.
 After that quilt I did another edge to edge for a client's grandson -- Minions!  I seem to not have any pics of this adventure though.  My next quilt, for a gal in Portsmouth is this "kaleidoscope" quilt.  It's not too big, somewhere around 50" square.
 It is batik, but I struggled to create texture that would show.
 Lots of lines, some feathers, and other textural patterns.
Here's a look at the center.  The challenge comes trying to ditch some of these sections that are not pressed to the side.  Piecers, please consider this when you opt to press many seams open.  It's always nice to have points pointy, but that is challenging when they cannot be easily ditch stitched.
 ..and of the backside.
 I am working to maybe finish my hexie quilt.  Maybe is a pretty big word these days.  I'd like to consider having it done for MQX Midwest in Oct, but who really knows.  The quilting is 99% done, and I am now deep, deep in the trenches of the detail work.  I am appliqueing pearl cotton around the hexie stars - to the tune of over an hour per star.  Only 14 more to go...sigh.  On the bright side, it looks great.
Last week, I told a friend and fellow quilter, Jackie Kunkel, that I would take a quilt of her's -- one that has a really quick turn around.  It arrived Saturday, and I quickly got to work designing what I would do.  It is very modern, and is to show her new fabric collection with Island Batiks that will debut this fall at Market.
 I can only shop small snippets until October, but believe me, I am itching to show you all of this beauty!  I really hate many modern quilts.  Until now, I really thought I hated quilting them more.  Boy, have the tides turned.  This one was actually fun.  I got to use so many interesting filler stitches. I credit this to my Dense & Dainty class on fills that I have taught, and will teach at Quilt Odyssey and MQX Midwest.  This quilt just sailed!  The only ruler work is on the triangles -- everything else is freehand and imagination.
I have a couple other quilts in the works that I will likely procrastinate on showing, as that seems to be the trend.  It's not my desire, but it just happens.

How do you keep it all together?!?

4 comments:

Doreen said...

"Keeping it all together" seems to be more a matter of prayer these days. Luv your stitching and, yes, the more "mod" quilt is exquisite!

kupton52 said...

Wow! Anyone who can quilt like you do should never hang their head in shame for any reason. As a new longarmer I just look at your work and drool....and then turn a nice shade of green I'm so envious. I've had such a good time reading your past blog posts. Was there really ever a time when you were a beginning longarmer? It doesn't appear so. Thank you so much for sharing...I so look forward to every new post. Blessings from West Virginia....

Rebecca Grace said...

Shame is a dusty neglected sewing room, not a dusty neglected blog! :-) Can't wait to see more of that modern batik quilt. It looks really interesting from the previews!

Unknown said...

Lovely perfection, as usual.
I'm curious if you have a favorite batting? I recently succumbed to wool that everyone I know has been talking up like the second coming. And I have to admit that it has not disappointed as far as the loft and ease of workability. Whether I like it in actual use remains to be decided as I'm still working on the quilting.