I've gotten through all the ditch work quilting in the blocks of the Simply Delicious quilt, outlining every piece to make it puff up. Now, two lines of close outlining to help the fruit pop and then I'll fill it with background filler.
Unfortunately, there are still a few blocks with safety pins in them. That means there's a problem with the applique. Something came loose or I pulled a thread and unraveled one of those narrow seam allowances. One thing or another that I'll need to sit and repair before I can call it finished...but that I haven't had the wherewithal to tackle yet. Plus, Rob pulled out a favorite quilt of his that we don't use because it has a small bit of applique that came loose, so one evening, I'll be sitting down with a needle and my multi colored set of threads and doing a little "fiddly" work.
On Saturday, I faced a challenge for guild. The quilt they've chosen for the raffle quilt for next year's show is Infinity by Jacqueline DeJong. Holy Cow!!! I was intimidated before I left the house. But, I picked a nice section and sat down to work. They had very specific instructions for us to follow. I had to read 6 typed pages before I started to sew. Most of it wasn't relevant to what I was working on, it was the instructions for the whole quilt (and how to build a design wall) so it was very confusing for me. I kept taking my work to one of the sponsors, and making sure I was doing it right. I sewed for several hours and got my 8 wedges pieced to form a circle. Then, it was time to tear off the paper. My pattern had been traced on freezer paper and I asked before I started whether I was supposed to sew through it or fold it back and I was supposed to sew through it. And, when I tore it off, all that bias stretched every which-a-way. I did my best to put it together into a circle, but it was beyond what I could do...given an afternoon. Yesterday, I thought of all kinds of tricks I know that would have let me put that together and I should have brought it home. But, I was very frustrated and just wanted to go and leave it behind. I did provide feedback that they should re-trace the patterns that were printed on freezer paper.
Anyway, a friend took it apart into the wedges and put it back together again and got all the points to match, so together, Cheryl and I made this circle for the quilt. Woo-hoo!! Way to go Cheryl (and Lane)
And, yesterday, I worked on the next block for Have a Jolly Little Christmas by Sew Fresh Quilts. It was the Ornaments block and I decided I wanted to add one extra ornament and in honor of pride weekend, have the colors of the rainbow flag. Holy Cow!!! designing blocks is hard work! I've got it mostly together, but there are two mistakes that I'll have to pick out and fix. I'm still not entirely sure how I made one of those mistakes. A rectangular piece is shaped like a V, wider at the top than it is at the bottom. That ain't right.
Anyway, still pretty happy with how it's turning out. That quilt is mostly red and green, and I didn't want to add new fabrics that weren't red or green to the quilt but I also didn't want just red and green ornaments...although just red would have been nice since we hang that swag across the living room every year with just red ornaments...oh well, didn't think of that in time. Fortunately, all the fabrics above except the purple are already in the quilt. The blue is Santa's eyes and the orange and yellow are the flames of a candle. I think this block is going to fit into my quilt just perfect, even though it is more than just red and green.
Okay, so that's my weekend. I'm hoping to get my head straight this week. Fortunately, my boss is out of the country for the week, so it should be a nice quiet week to get things done and to focus a little bit on me at the office.
Everybody have a great Monday and a great week!!
Lane
1 comment:
I cannot believe that quilt. What a lot of work. They call it infinity for a reason. Hope your garden is lush. Thanks for sharing. Mary
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