5/9/22

Finally done

 Started in October 2019, finished yesterday.  It felt good to put those last stitches in.  Then, I took it outside for a picture in the bright sun.


This is the most difficult thing I ever made.  It took a long time to piece, and a long time to quilt.  I kept having to stop for breaks and made a couple of other quilts since I started this one.  This is a really pretty quilt, but it's so outside my normal comfort zone that I look at it as if someone else had made it.  I'm sure that will change as I start to socialize it and get feedback.  I plan to wash and block it to size later this week.  It's 68 1/2" square,,,or it will be when I block it.  😓. Then we can hang it and see how it hangs on a rod.  I extended the sleeve past the curved corners so the sides wouldn't sag.  We'll see if that works.  I knew the side edges would sag if I didn't extend the sides of the sleeve out far enough.  

I don't know if you remember this quilt, but it's the other one I wan't to quilt before the show.  This got a lot of attention when I posted it after finishing the top (March 2019),  The holdup on this one is figuring out what to quilt in it.  I know I will have to keep the quilting even across the surface of the quilt or it won't lay flat, so I can't quilt the whole thing in the ditch because the pieces in the center are so small.  I'd have to pick a grid and quilt the whole quilt at that measurement.  The original plan was to quilt a spiral in it, and I'm going to spend some time trying to figure out how to do that.  Hopefully, if I figure out I can't do it, something else will have occurred to me while I tried.  (All those articles about learning through failure are paying off.)


In other news, there were new flowers.  As the Iris finish up, the daylilies are starting to bloom.              


This is a balloon flower.  I love these and how they puff up and burst open.  


The first Shasta Daisy.


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There are no words for my disappointment over what I see happen in our country.  This is not going to end well.  

Everybody have a great week!  Find something you enjoy and take the time to enjoy the hell out of it.  

Lane





7 comments:

Suzanne said...

Wow, your completed quilt looks fabulous! Does it have a name? Your kaleidoscope HST top is amazing too! Such different styles, but both with so many tiny pieces. Thank you for sharing your work, Lane!

I keep saying that I hope to live long enough to see the US become more free and Democratic in its ways. With all the gerrymandering across the country, we can’t easily vote our way out of things anytime soon. I’m not looking forward to the coming attacks on marriage equality and contraception, which will affect us all. I’ll keep donating, calling, meeting, and marching because I can’t sit by and watch.

Anonymous said...

Your quilts are beautiful and really outstanding. Thanks for sharing.

As for what is happening in our country now is making me physically sick.

cbott said...

A spiral would be perfect on the triangle top! The difference in scale makes it seem as though you're looking down into a vortex, and a spiral would emphasize that even further.
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I often wonder what other country I could run away to, but I fear this hatefulness is world-wide.

Carolyn

birdmommy said...

All your work is gorgeous! For the second quilt, what about some simple rays radiating out from that central point? I think it would draw the eye in much like a spiral, but with less mathematical agony on your part.

I'm in Canada, and it breaks my heart that some of your politicians seem to be taking The Handmaid's Tale as a how to guide. My husband and I have already made plans to be 'auntie and uncle' to anyone who needs to make a trip across the border. We had thought that it would just be women that would need help, but it's looking more and more that it may be couples whose marriages are no longer recognized as well.

Anonymous said...

Your quilts are amazing. A lot of pieces ! The flowers are good and healthy . Thanks for sharing. Mary

Anonymous said...

Simply gorgeous. I hope you will share a picture on the wall with it as it will be very eye catching for sure. Good job completed!
It is so backwards with what is happening now. You can lie and think it’s okay which is sickening enough. Kathy

Alex in California said...

Mercy!