3/26/12

Well, I did it...

You knew I would. It took me about 4 hours to get this part done last night. And, yes, my threads are still hanging. I'll knot those and then thread them through a needle and pop the knots under the surface of the fabric and cut the tails off. I did not do tiny stitches to make my starts and stops. I was going for all my stitches being the same length. This is definitely a show quilt. (I hope)



It's very hard to take pictures of because the silk reflects the light. I spent an hour this morning tracing what I planned to put in a corner and when I was finished and turned off the light box, I hated it. So, I used a very soft toothbrush to erase all the marks and now I'm rethinking my plan. No more of this type of feathers for this quilt. Now, it needs things like a greek key border and pumpin seeds; straight lines and order to frame this feathery chaos. And, a boatload of background quilting. I'll try to steal a couple of minutes to get to Diane Gaudynski's site for some additional inspiration.

The silk is much easier to quilt on than I expected it to be. it's not as slick as I was afraid of. But, I do have to wear my gloves to get a good grip on it.

Getting to spend 4 hours quilting last night was a definite reward for getting other things done. Sydney and I put in the final flower bed of the year and I had a meeting with the guy that's helping me with my resume. I had dishes and scrubbed the bathroom and cleaned everything that would sit still. And, then I did the panels below and THEN I got to quilt.



I didn't take a picture early enough. This armoir stand in my sewing room. It's a family antique that was my great Grandmother's. The mirrors are in poor shape, so when I got it and we set it up, we left the mirrors out, preferring the solid wood effect. But, I wanted something that would look better than those solid doors and I don't have the hundreds of dollars it would cost to resilver the mirrors, so fabric was the next best choice.




I bought pieces of foamcore and taped them together and then cut them to shape, based on the mirrors and then I glued a layer of batting to that and then covered it with fabric and glued that down around the back, nice and taut. And, then I rehung the doors. I'm loving it!

Okay, so have a great Monday. I'm on the "not going to buy a car" side today, which means spending several hundred dollars getting my car fixed. I expect that by around 2:30, I'll be back in the "going to buy a car" mood. It comes and goes like hunger.

Take care. Lane

8 comments:

Becky said...

Gorgeous quilting on the silk! Love the effect of the panels on the armoire. Have a great day!

Elizabeth said...

Shazam! That silk wholecloth is amazing!

Love the armoire! Very beautifully done!

xo -E

Piece by Piece said...

Love your silk quilting, you are an inspiration, I will have to do a lot of practice and practice before I attempt something like that.
The panels look great on the armoire.
Take care
Patricia

Nancy said...

I just cannot believe how much you accomplished in 4 short hours. Absolutely gorgeous. The armoire is lovely too but oh my, that silk!

qltmom9 said...

When I grow up, I'm gonna quilt like that! Wow~
Your armoire is FUN! I have a garage sale china cabinet that had all the glass out. Dh wouldn't let me buy one before that because of concerns with glass in that room with our little ones. We put flexible plastic where the curved glass was, you can't tell and it is GORGEOUS and safe! $10 because the glass was already removed for me!
Isn't working with silk so soothing?

Lucy~

Spice said...

WOW. it looks great!

Congratulations

Auntie Em said...

Lane, your quilting is AMAZING! There is nothing else to say....

except, love the way you redid those doors.

Vesuviusmama said...

I love what you did to the doors of the armoire!