Quilting in the Snow

I braved the cold of our unheated basement to quilt two small projects last weekend.

The first one is the scrappy baby quilt with white washings and borders all around.  I decided to do a freehand Feathers All Over motif to counteract all those straight lines.

I stitched curvy stems from side to side the whole length of the quilt, and then created feathers and outlined them.  Where there was too much space between the rows of feathers, I quilted in some ribbons and flowers.

The other one is a little smaller.  I did a leafy meander with some posies here and there.  Nothing like dreaming of some actual foliage and flora in the middle of winter!

This is my setup in the basement.  If you look out those double French doors, you can see the world of white outside.

                              

Two of these babies helped a little.

 It was really beautiful outside.  It snowed about ten inches the weekend before, and there was lots of fluffy snow left for us to enjoy outside.

It is amazing how much color is in the winter landscape.  I took this picture during a late afternoon walk along the creek.

 This time next week we will be leaving again for Florida.  It is hard to imagine.

"It Doesn't Matter"...It's Quilted!

After almost a week back at our Raleigh home, I felt more rested.  Yesterday I drove up to our North Carolina mountain cabin, and today I decided to see if my poor, neglected Gammill long arm machine would crank up after more than four months of sitting idle in the basement.  Yes, indeed, what a good ole' horse!  I saddled up a little quilt top that I finished a long time ago.

Here it is on the machine with only the very top quilted.

The top is called It Just Doesn't Matter!  I read about how to make it here on Del's blog.  An instructor named Rachel Maus taught her how to piece the top using orphan blocks, strips, scraps, etc.  You can see some of the settings I tried after constructing the 9.5" squares on this old post.

Anyway, I ended up using no sashing, but adding a black dotted print border.

I used a lime green thread with free-motion "artistic" quilting on the long arm.

    

The backing is a cheerful cherry print.  I am thinking that this will be a table topper, and either side of the quilt could be used.

It has gotten very cold up here in the mountains, and the basement is still unheated.  One of our last projects in the basement was insulating between the joists, and I think that made a big difference.  I was quite comfortable quilting with just a small space heater.

We hope to get the gas company out here to move the kerosene monitor from our "Penthouse" garage apartment to the basement.  It would heat the whole basement easily, and we can put a much smaller one in the Penthouse.

Charlie is still worn out, but he came up here last week for the annual deer camp, his favorite time of year.  He did not even hunt, but enjoyed being around his son, grandsons, brothers, and other assorted friends and relatives who gather for deer camp.  Most of them went home Sunday.  We will be eating Thanksgiving dinner with our neighbors Ricky and Mary, who also live up here on the family compound.  We are feeling lucky to be done with all treatment in time for the holidays.  There's no place like home!

Progress

My ankle and leg are feeling so much better that I decided to try some long-arm quilting on my Gammill yesterday.  I still have two quilts left to do for the ever-patient Teresa, who brought me six quilts in March.

I oiled my machine real well and let it run on the lowest speed for about twenty minutes (with no thread in the needle) to get it warmed up and lubricated after weeks of sitting unused.  It was purring contentedly when I got started!

Here is Teresa's autumn-themed quilt top, rolled down to about halfway.

When you load a quilt, it requires several trips around the machine to smooth out all the fabrics and batting and make sure it is rolling up without any wrinkles or pleats.  I made sure there was nothing on the floor for me to trip on as I travelled around the frame.

On the back of my machine you can see the cheap door mirror that I place on the table. 

It is kind of hard to see what is happening on the back side of the quilt while it is mounted.  You would have to stand on your head, or climb under the machine to see how things are going on the back side.  Or, you could keep rolling it back up to see your quilting stitches.  But usually, the reflection in the mirror lets you detect any knots or what I call "Chutes and Ladders" on the back caused by bad tension.

So far, so good on the quilting and the foot and leg!  I wore my ankle brace, socks and sneakers for support, and did not get swollen or very sore.

Now it's off to Rex Hospital, possible for my last visit to the Coumadin Clinic there before they turn me back over to my own doctor for follow-up.

A New York Frame of Mind???

Here is the die-cut quilt I finished today for a customer.  Unlike the previous ones I've quilted which all had floral themes, this one is in neutrals with geometric fabrics.  The color scheme reminds me of every New York hotel room I have stayed in.

Since this one did not lend itself to my usual posies and leaves, I decided to add swirly feathers to the border, and follow the circles and ovals of the background print somewhat.

Problem is, I had to use a thread color that blends perfectly with the lines in the background fabric.  So, which tan lines did I already sew, and which are part of the fabric?   Hard to say!

When I was quilting this, it looked very busy.  Sometimes at a distance of eight inches or so, you can't see the forest for the trees.  When you see the whole thing at a more reasonable distance, it looks rather striking.  The black accents really make the fabrics pop.

Just don't spend too much time looking at the back!

Now why is Blogger making all my pictures left-aligned today?