Chenille Posies-Finished!

We had a snow and ice event here in Raleigh last weekend, resulting in us being housebound for a few days.  Result:  I finished a few projects!  Here is one quilt that is now complete.

I bought the top at an antique store in Pittsboro, North Carolina, last spring when I went to French Connections with two friends.  I think it was meant to be a summer-weight child's bedspread.  The edges were a little ragged, but I thought it would make a nice quilt.

I put this one on my Gammill in the mountain cabin in July, but it took months to finish it.  I did not know when I put it on that I had a broken leg.  I could not stand very long on that hard concrete floor!  

I quilted lots of leaves and swirls and echoed around the flower shapes.

When it came time to bind the edges, I recognized a problem.  I would have to cut off that last chenille border if I wanted to add a traditional binding.  I decided to just zigzag the binding and batting to the very edge of the top.  I think that solution is fine.  This one is not going in a quilt show!

You can see the pastel stripe flannel I used for the back.  It is turned up so you can see the stitched edge.

I think this quilt will live in my bedroom, where I will keep it on my chair.  

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.

New Challenges

Here is another of my sister-in-law Debbie's quilt tops made by her late grandmother, Helen.  I have finished five or six of these for her.  In the photo, this one is airing out on the lawn on a sunny day, after being in a garbage bag for about forty years!

It is a double wedding ring, made from many of the same fabric scraps that I have come to recognize from the other quilt tops that Helen made.

It is very bright and cheerful, but I think would have looked much nicer if there was a solid color background fabric instead of this floral sheet.

I don't intend to quilt this one as ornately as the two blazing stars, but binding that scalloped edge will be a challenge.  I have been trimming threads and doing some repairs on the top before putting it on the machine.

I also have another old unfinished quilt to work on.  My sister-in-law Lee's friend in Asheville wanted someone to quilt a candlewick embroidery quilt top she made thirty years ago.  Does anyone remember candlewicking?  I actually did some pillows with this technique back in the 70's or 80's.

The blocks are beautiful, sashed with beige lace and beige fabric.  (The blue lines are basting threads that Debbie put in.)

Most of the stitches are French knots.

The quilt was actually already assembled, with a store-bought binding and a pre-quilted fabric back.  But, there was no actual quilting done.

Not good!  No way will I quilt over that zigzagged-together backing.

And the binding is whip-stitched on with very visible stitches.

I suggested that we remove the binding and that backing, buy a neutral print fabric for the back, and rebind with a double French binding.  Debbie liked the plan, so that is what I will do, and I have already received the backing fabric in a beautiful paisley swirl.

Debbie L. sent me the original instruction book and a cable quilting template, but I do not know how I will quilt this.  I have to go inside the embroidered blocks at least a little so they don't sag.  I think it will be very beautiful when it is finished.

"Moby Quilt" is Done

When you work at home by yourself, it is important to find ways to amuse yourself and keep your brain occupied, yes?  One way I do that is to come up with nicknames for the projects I am working on.

The current customer quilt began as this:

And was not exactly a flat surface to quilt

And during its weeks on the longarm, it earned several monikers including "Moby Quilt", "The White Elephant," and, my personal favorite, "Cussin' Practice."  LOL!

However, it is finally quilted.  I still need to do something with about a thousand thread tails that are dangling.  I butchered squared up the corners and sides.  I was ready to make and sew down the binding, when I noticed this on the back:

                                    

Can you see the little thread blobs?  Something went wrong on the tension on the back.  So, I will quickly "unsew" this small area and put it back on the machine.  I have some clamps made from the cardboard tubes in the center of batting rolls.  If you slit the tubes, you can use them to temporarily hold the quilt on the rollers while you fix the boo-boos.

But the White Elephant is looking so pretty!  Here it is draped over my couch.  I'll get a better picture when I add the binding.



I considered having a contest to see who could correctly guess the number of hanging thread tails, but then I would have to actually count them myself. 

What a relief to get this project off the machine!

Here is a pretty package of hand-dyed fabric that I purchased from Vicki Welsh's Etsy shop:

Yes, it is one of the last days of summer, even though we are still going to be in the 90's all week here in my part of North Carolina, but I love this bright yellow-greens.  Each fat quarter has a slightly different pattern.  I highly recommend Vicki's fabrics and the super-fast service from her Etsy Shop!