A bit of the old handquilting

Anybody remember this? This is a little project I started....oh, last year, maybe? And, I'm crediting Glenn for it resurfacing.

I picked up the set of nickel squares at a quilt show. They're from the Lakeside Resort collection and were perfect for a drunkard's path. A great combination of lights and darks. The blue border was the perfect shade and came from stash...a definite plus to a good stash.

I quilted all the convex curves and I quilted all the concave curves and I quilted baptist fans in the border...but I didn't quilt the corners. That's all that was left. And, I sat it down.

This little quilt was pieced and quilted by hand and I think at that point, I just lost interest. And, Sydney's dog was eating the wool batting every time I'd set it down. I finally had to fold the back over to cover the batt so she couldn't get to it. The unusual thing about this quilt is the batting. It's 1/4" wool batting and I separated it into two layers that are 1/8". My mentor told me she'd done that on her hand quilted Carolina Lily that ribboned in Paducah. It gives a very thin batt that is letting me get 10-12 stitches to the inch, maybe more. The more I stitch, the tinier the stitches get.

My muscles remembered how to hand quilt, even though it's been a really long time since I did it. My callous is gone, but it's not taking long to harden again. When I started this, I had a really cute little quilt I was quilting...black thread on a black background and because I couldn't see the stitches, I wasn't enjoying it. And, I'd used a quarter inch cotton batt and it's near impossible to get a short stitch in. I will likely take it apart and do it again. The top is too pretty not to enjoy.

I wonder what all I could create if I could stop taking things apart and just move on????

Everyone take care. It's Thursday and we're nearly to the weekend. Oh, and please turn on your fans and point them south so we can get some cool air. If you all put a kettle of boiling water in front of them, maybe we'll get rain.

Hey, we've tried everything else to get some relief. 22 days at or above a hundred degrees. I shudder to think of the electric bill.

Lane