Double Wedding Ring Quilt- Finished!

I finally got the binding completely done on this double wedding ring quilt.

It took longer than usual because of the scalloped edge.  It was already cut out by the maker.  I made a bias binding and did the best I could on those curves.  Clipping the inside curves helped.

Now all I have to do is sew on the label and deliver it to my sister-in-law this weekend.  That is, if we can make it to the mountains.  We have had a snow/sleet event and the roads are icy.  Everyone stayed home today, even my husband who almost always goes to work on "snow days."  

Here is something to warm this cold day...the beautiful roses he gave me for Valentines' Day.

Double Wedding Ring Antique Quilt

Here it is, fresh off the long arm machine...a double wedding ring antique quilt!  This is another top made by Helen Stewart, my sister-in-law Debbie's late grandmother.  To see some of the other completed ones, please visit this page.  And here is another with a picture of Helen holding Debbie's daughter, Rachel, when she was a baby.

I have to admit that I did not like this one much at first.  The background fabric is a flowered sheet.  I thought it was too busy for all that piecing.  But, it has grown on me and now I think it is very cheerful.

This quilt top had some issues, the two biggest being that it did not lie flat, and that the piecing seams were not very strong.

Instead of spending a lot of time making repairs to the top before quilting, I decided to just use a curvy overall meandering pattern and Make This Sucker Lie Down Flat!  It worked pretty well.  I decided I would not worry about any pleats formed by stitching through the extra fabric.  And I was able to catch a lot of the seams as I went, strengthening them at the same time.

I also used a very thick polyester batting, Quilters' Dream Puff, which helped ease a lot of the fullness.

My plan worked splendidly!

Hettie quilted the old-fashioned way, by using up fabric from sheets, clothing, and curtains.  I recognize some of the fabrics from other quilts that I finished for Debbie. And she recognizes some of the dresses that her grandma lovingly sewed for her.

The backing is white-on-white muslin.  I used a Seafoam green thread in a leafy vine to somewhat echo the floral vine print on the background fabric.

Now to bind around all those scallops and get this one done!  (I've only had it for three or four years.)

We took a last October trip to the mountains last weekend, and were rewarded with clear blue skies, colorful foliage, and warm temperatures.

Next weekend we will stay in Raleigh to help host our annual pig picking.  It has been a great October!
                                         

Follow-up

You may recall that I have completed about five or six quilt tops made by my sister-in-law Debbie's late grandmother.   Here are some pictures Debbie sent me of some of those quilts.

The basket quilt is still my favorite of all of her grandma's quilt tops.  I custom-quilted it with feathers.  I liked it so much that I even entered it in one of my guild shows when the theme was "Everything Old is New Again."

If you look at the Hoosier cabinet in the first photo, you will spy a little quilt I made for Chris and Debbie years ago as a "thank you" for having our family for Thanksgiving.  It is a Debbie Mumm pattern called Farmer's Market.

Here are the two Blazing Star quilts that Debbie's grandmother pieced and I quilted.  These caused me much moaning, groaning, and gnashing of teeth...but don't they look great on the beds?

The two quilts are custom-quilted with continuous curves in the star points and feather wreaths in the white space.

You may also remember my post about making two small art quilts for a charity auction.  The Board of Realtor's auction was last weekend, and the proceeds go to the local Food Bank.

I am happy to say that this little guy raised $45.00

and this larger one sold for $60.00.  Very gratifying!

Both pieces are bound quilts that are mounted on artist's gallery-wrapped canvas.

Latest Customer Quilts

I have been working hard to try to finish some quilting commissions recently.  I just finished quilting a stunning log cabin Christmas quilt.  It was pieced by my customer Teresa's mother, whom I have not met.

Teresa chose an off-white cotton thread called 'Parchment," which coordinates with the warm block centers, and also allows the quilting to show up well in the white areas of the blocks.

The fabrics in this quilt could be interpreted as Christmas fabric, since there are holly leaves, red ribbon, and poinsettias.  However, it is not so "Christmasy" that the quilt cannot be used or displayed year-round. We originally planned on doing an all-over design, perhaps even a panto.  As I loaded it up, I decided it needed to have some beautiful quilting to enhance the perfect piecing.

It is not custom-quilted, but I stitched leaves, swirls, ribbons, and flowers that curve over the very linear design of this quilt.

Did I ever mention that is my favorite type of quilting?

The back is a snowy white-on-white fabric.  It has great texture with all the quilting.

And, as I was going through my quilts-in-waiting, I remembered this one that I never finished for my sister-in-law Debbie. 

There was a tension issue on the back of two areas with micro-stippling.  Ripping it out took hours and hours.  I worked on that this week, and requilted those areas.

Then, I remembered that I had already made the binding for this quilt, and was actually able to locate it in the euphemistically described "disorganized" sewing room upstairs.  I was almost finished applying it by machine when I realized that it was about two feet short of the perimeter!

I could not find any more of that blue fabric, so I searched the stash for something that might work.  Surprisingly, it was a hand-dyed blue fabric that matched almost perfectly with the tone-on-tone muted blue print of the original.  Can you tell where they join?

So, I am almost finished hemming it, and it will soon be delivered to Debbie.  It will join its mate that I delivered last Thanksgiving.

I have only had these since my father's 85th birthday weekend, which was September 2008.

Can you tell that although these turned out beautiful, I did not exactly relish working on them?

I have one more to go of these quilt tops pieced by Debbie's grandmother.  That will make about six of these quilt tops that were languishing in plastic bags in Indiana until Debbie rescued them and brought them to me to finish.



Finished Projects

After I finished my post yesterday, my friend Mary came over with some gifts for me. We had cut some branches from my magnolia tree to make wreaths for her craft fair last weekend, and look what she gave me!

This wreath has a straw base. The leaves are sprayed with hair spray. I think it is beautiful! We cut some more branches so she can make more wreaths. She also brought my door prize from the craft fair- look at this lovely purse in fall colors! (The painted artificial gourds were purchased at the Cotton Company in Wake Forest last weekend- aren't they cute?)

And it is on the table that features my finished quilted tablecloth. I am so pleased with this project. Before quilting, the hand-dyed, embroidered fabric would not lie flat, but it makes a perfect table-topper now.

Here is the topper with one corner flipped up to show the back side. It will be reversible- the salmon/yellow batik will be perfect for spring.

I bought two other pieces of dyed vintage linens at the Artistic Artifacts booth last spring during the NC Quilt Symposium. They are destined for quilting, as well!

Not today, though. Another Stampin'-Up demonstrator brought one of the die-cut fabric tops like Susan's for me to quilt. And she wants it fast! So, of course, my thread broke about every eight inches when I started quilting yesterday afternoon. I think I will take another walk, hope for another deer sighting, and then get to work on the quilt.

My Lucky Day

Yesterday was the drawing for the Pink Artist Project. You may remember that I made my Pink Wallhanging (what a creative name) to donate as a prize for a donor to the Susan G. Komen Foundation (Breast Cancer Research) through this project. Well, guess what? I also won a prize for donating! Look at this beautiful bracelet made of pink "charms" donated by many artists!

Such a variety of little pretties! I can't wait to see it up close and examine all the techniques that went into these beads, buttons, jewels, and mini-quilts! There are more pictures of the bracelet at the Think Pink Charm Exchange Blog. My friend Michelle made one of her embellished bottle cap objets d'arte for this exchange. She has already e-mailed me and apparently, not only does she have counter envy, she now has prize envy. Many thanks to everyone who made a charm to donate. They are awesome!

Please read Monica's blog post about the prize drawings. I had tears in my eyes when I read the story of the winner of Love Squared, the beautiful pink-haired doll wearing a skirt of two-inch quilt squares. She will be going to the perfect home!

The winner of my donation is Dian Moore. Dian, I will send your shiny little pink quilt on Monday since I do not have your address yet and we are leaving for the weekend in a little while. Congratulations, and I hope you will enjoy it!

Here is what I have been working on this week when I was not watching my kitchen project unfolding. I have finished three quilts in the past two years for my sister-in-law Debbie, whose late grandmother left behind many UFO's (Un-Finished Objects). At my father's birthday party in September, she brought me four more that she had gotten on her last trip to Indiana. Apparently there is a lifetime supply! Most of these are tops that have not been quilted. But this one was tied with bright red yarn. All I was asked to do is finish the binding so it can be used.

Inquiring minds might be wondering, is that polyester double-knit? Yes! Is it very stretchy and hard to work with? Yes! Is it frayed? Yes! Did she really use red yarn on pink? Yes!

So, I stitched all around the edges to stabilize, and then zig-zagged the edges to flatten them down a bit. But look....Is the fabric dry-rotted? Yes! Quite a bit of the red used in the large diamonds is falling apart, as are some of the other fabrics. So, instead of running to Wal-Mart and looking for similar shades in polyester, I did what I hope Grandma would have done. I looked through my scrap bins for anything in a similar shade.

I tried fusing over the previous patch. Nope. Does not stick to poly. And the poly kind of melts.

So, I am making appliques to stitch on top of the bad pieces. And decided to use flannel for softness.

If you can tell, this is not my favorite project. But I love the fact that my sis-in-law values her grandmother's work. This one has a certain charm, and I think it may find a home at their cabin by a mountain lake in Tennessee. I am making a black cotton binding to finish the edges. A very wide binding to cover all the fraying edges.

Have a great weekend!

Turning an old quilt top into a quilt

It has felt good this week to be back at work on my Gammill long-arm quilting machine. Sad to say, it had not been used since about March or April, when I quilted the Green Man. Between teaching school and traveling quite a bit on weekends, I just could not find the time or energy. But I kept giving Grendel (the Gammill) some long drinks of oil and an occasional warm-up, and she has performed admirably for the past two days.

I decided to do something about the partially quilted butterflies quilt that my sister-in-law Debbie asked me to finish for her. It is one that was started by her late grandmother, Helen Stewart of Indiana. Here is a picture of Debbie's daughter with Helen, which must have been around 1977. I have already done two others for her, the stars pictured yesterday and a basket quilt that I really liked. It had lots of white space to show off some feathery quilting.

The challenge this time is that she had hand-quilted about two thirds of the blocks. The whole thing has been sitting in a bag for about forty years or more. I originally thought I would hand-quilt the remaining blocks, but after more than a year decided I would never get around to it. So, I mounted it on the Gammill and had a go at it.

You might notice that the sashing just does not match up, and there is a lot of fullness in the seams. Debbie says that in her grandma's later years, her eyesight was not that great. Or maybe this is one of Grandma's UFO's that got put away because it just didn't come out quite right!

I made a couple of templates by tracing the quilting motifs, then marked the designs with a blue washable marker. Helen had used pencil for her markings, which is still showing behind her quilting. Basically there is outline around each butterfly, a big cross through the center, and a fan design in the plain corners of each block. She also did a quarter-inch quilting line inside each square. Below is a block quilted by hand by Helen.

Here is one that I machine-quilted. Here are hand-quilted blocks next to machine-quilted ones.

Now, I hate to mark quilts, hate to use rulers, and don't have a stitch regulator. And this quilt only had about a half inch of extra backing and batting on the sides. When you have to clamp the sides, that leaves no room for using a ruler.

But I have done the best I could. One of the problems of putting a partially quilted piece on the long-arm is that you might get puckers on the back. Oh yeah, that has happened here, too. The backing is white muslin, or perhaps an old white sheet. It has lots of fullness, and a few puckers and pleats.

But you know what? This is not going to any quilt show. It will be going to one of Helen's grandchildren, great-grandchildren, or possibly even great-great grandchildren. How lovely that they will now have a finished quilt to inherit, instead of a project in a plastic bag?

I have emailed some pics to Debbie to show how it looks with just her grandma's quilting motifs, and suggested that I add some quilting to the sashing to get it to lie down a little flatter. Then I need to decide what binding to use. And the whole thing needs washing very badly, as you can imagine. But doesn't this old project have a little charm?