"It's Not Over 'Til the Fat Lady Binds"

 ...or sings. Or both—because when I finally bound this quilt, I sang!

This quilt was part of a mystery quilt that the guild I (Teri) belonged to was doing—about 15 or so years ago. There are many details about the project I don't remember, like who designed the pattern, but I can remember many things that I learned about myself doing this project.

First, I am not very good at mystery designing. I remember waiting a few months to get started so that I could see a bit of the design coming together before I chose my colors and fabrics. I had decided to do a scrappy quilt, using only fabrics from my stash. I succeeded in completing the quilt without buying any new material, but I learned something else about myself.

Primary block design
I enjoyed picking the reds and greens from my stash.

Second, I don't like random, scrappy sewing. I have to plan my random scrappiness. It took me so much longer to arrange the blocks because I didn't want the same fabrics to be adjacent, or even very close. I would put the blocks on the design wall and rearrange them repeatedly, and every time I thought I had gotten it, I'd see two identical reds, greens, or neutrals right next to each other. And when I moved one block, there would be a domino effect. Good thing I like puzzles. 

Secondary block design
I allowed myself a but more leniency with the neutrals. 

I remember that I had bought this paisley design in the border and the corresponding fabric that makes my star centers, so I wanted that to be the starting point of my color choices. The trick was to pull together the blue and yellow greens, as well as the orangey and bluish reds. I chose a few fabrics with both colors to help, and the overall effect seems to work. 

So third, I love color!

I made this quilt when I was a piecer, long before I was pulled to the fabulous world of slow stitching. This quilt was filled with points! I am not sure I'd have the patience for all that precision work today. I might have to hand-piece it!

I finished the top and sent it off to a long-arm quilter. Helping her design how to quilt it was fun. Then I got it back and put it on my to-do list. I even had the binding chosen and cut out. All I had to do was trim the quilt edges, sew on the binding, and stitch it down. But it moved from my sewing room in the basement to my new room upstairs, and finally, to my new home. How absurd is that? 

Fourth, I guess binding is not my favorite part of the process. And maybe I am a great procrastinator?

But at long last, I can sing. I have bound the quilt, and miraculously, I even still like it! 

I do love the scrappy look of this quilt, even if I know it was "plandom" and not random. Every time I look at this quilt, I see another design jumping out at me as these blocks interact. Hooray for a fun finish!

I have yet to determine where this now finished quilt will live. It does look happy on my couch, just waiting for an afternoon nap on a gray day. Maybe today.

The moral to this story: Don't wait 15 years to bind your almost-finished quilts. Just think of all the love this quilt could have given over the past decade and a half!

I'm sure you can imagine what my husband said when he walked in the room to see me perched on my tip-toes on a bar stool to take a picture of the quilt. I'm certain it was nicer than what he was thinking!

Maybe I CAN Be a Quilter

This past summer, we—along with eleven other designers—participated in a Mystery Stitch-Along. Our block was the Harvest Basket, which you can read about by clicking here. Kara and I (Teri) each stitched the block, as one was destined to be stitched into the Woolen Oak Mystery Quilt, and we wanted to keep one. I decided to create a small wall hanging with the one I made.

I thought I would just do a small border of one-inch squares, pulling colors from the basket block. Color is my favorite part of the process, so this took me an afternoon of playing with fabrics to be sure I had a balance of colors and value. I always look at my pictures in black and white to be sure that I have light, medium, and dark colors. Once I had stitched the first border, I realized that more than one row of these colorful blocks would distract from the basket, so I planned to pull the neutral into a small outer border.

 

I wanted to appliqué the word Thankful on the top border, so I played around with my fonts to get the right look and size. I chose Snell Roundhouse, which I bolded and sized at 130 points, and added a six-point outline. I printed and glued it to freezer paper, carefully cut it out, ironed it onto my wool, and cut again. It was tedious scissor-work, but worth it. 

I appliquéd the word and embroidered around it using an outline stitch, and then I added the oak leaves and acorns from the block pattern. 

The finished top

Now, the challenge I faced was to quilt it. Years ago, I tried to become a machine quilter, but never felt comfortable with anything but stitching in the ditch, or straight lines. I could never achieve the "perfection" I craved with free-motion quilting, and there wasn't enough wine to relax me into enjoying the process. And the more I fell in love with hand-stitching, the less time I wanted to spend on my machine.

For a long time, I was content to consider myself a top-maker—and as I began to appliqué, even a block-maker—being perfectly happy to let someone more talented in quilting be the quilter. But I have had the desire to make the attempt to master this skill, and have completed a few small projects using big-stitch quilting. This was my first real foray into standard hand-quilting. It is a small project, and I was ready to try and allow myself some imperfections. (In my mind, that is the key!)

I chose to use a hoopless method. As most of my quilting design was planned around outlining motifs and straight lines, I felt that I had a good opportunity to become more comfortable with the skill. My stitches are not tiny, but they are fairly consistent. I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that I really enjoyed the process. It was comforting and relaxing to just sit and stitch.  

Using a finger cot helped to pull the needle through, but the ones that I had were wearing out, so I cut the finger off of a kitchen glove, which alleviated some of the hand discomfort of gripping the needle. It was a cheap and easy solution, and it didn't tear.

The quilting from the back

I chose simple as far as a quilting pattern; I outlined the appliquéd motifs, and echoed the acorn in the background. Within the acorn, I quilted vertical lines to mimic the lines on an acorn, and cross-hatched the cap. My stitches improved as I quilted, and the outer border stitches are consistently smaller and a bit more uniform. It isn't perfect, but I am satisfied that my skills improved, and I'm happy enough with it to hang it on my wall.

When I was choosing my border fabrics, I was seeking a perfect print that incorporated several of the colors to use as my binding. The one piece I found that worked was part of a jelly roll; however, it was one of the few that only had one strip, so I wouldn't have enough. I was pretty much settled on using brown, to pull the color from the basket (and we have a propensity to bind and border a lot of our quilts with brown.) But the other day, I was looking at this quilt hanging on the wall, and I recognized that the colors in the fabric in this quilt would match perfectly. Some people have a photographic memory, but sometimes I wonder if there is such a thing as a "colorgraphic" memory. I instantly knew it would be a perfect match. I just hoped I had enough left in my stash. 

 

To read more about this quilt, read our post entitled Turning to Him.

I was happy with the color match when I pulled the piece from my closet, and I had plenty to bind my small wall hanging.

The quilting makes the design come to life!

It takes a pair of really sharp scissors and good cutting skills,
but I love the way the lettering turned out on the top border.

I had successfully convinced myself that I could never be a quilter, that my skills could never be adequate and I would ruin my appliqué work if I attempted to quilt it myself. Thankfully, I ventured into the quilting arena, allowing myself to be imperfect and to do my best. I know where I could have improved and where I was less than perfect, but perfection isn't everything. I learned that I can improve, and I actually really enjoyed the process. And I don't feel as though I ruined my quilt top. I think sometimes I am my own worst enemy. Maybe I CAN be a quilter, and not just a topmaker! 

P.S. We do still have patterns and kits available for the Harvest Basket center block on our website: needleseyestories.com/shop. 

 

More Beauty from the Houston Quilt Exhibit

If you were really with me (Teri) for this little tour of beauty found at the International Quilt Market and Festival exhibit in Houston, you would be running back and forth throughout the exhibit. Today, I have chosen a few things that especially caught my eye. We will actually be looking at a number of separate displays. Enjoy the eye candy!

You probably know that I love appliqué album quilts, but how wonderful is one that tells the story of one's life. I fell in love with this quilt, and felt almost as though I had met Barbara. What a tribute to her family!

 

Maybe because we like to mix media in our work and do a lot of embroidered embellishments—or perhaps because I have four young grandchildren—this bright, colorful quilt made me happy. I think my kiddos would love the dimensional ears and the different textures, as well as the colorful elephants.

       

There are no words to describe the intricate detail of this stunning quilt. We always enjoy learning the story of a quilt, and I appreciated the explanation of the quilt's symbols. 

Can you see the birds?

  

What a cool design! I didn't notice birds at all until I read her description.

I have had a doll collection since I was seven years old, and my dad brought me a Geisha Girl doll home for me from a business trip in Japan. While I have never attempted to make a doll, I find it fascinating to see the work in this particular exhibit.

  

Anyone who loves fairy tales as much as we do couldn't help but admire this fabulous dragon sitting atop a storybook. Sadly, the maker's name was not displayed while I was there, but whoever made this masterpiece did a spectacular job. He is beautifully terrifying!

Probably all of us can identify with this sweet doll.

Another story reference

There is nothing like a good pun—"A Head of Her Time" is just perfect for Marie Antoinette!

We love to stitch gardens, as I'm sure you've recognized if you have read many of our posts. Here are just a few of the "gardens" from that exhibit.

The blocks are amazing, but wow—that border is exquisite!

Christine's drawings come to life in this elegant quilt. The variety of techniques she uses add to the quilt's ethereal beauty.

What a lot of elaborate appliqué!

 A sampling of the quilts in this Red & White exhibit

   

Finally, a few colorful gems from this display.

    

Have you feasted your eyes on enough inspiring stimulation for one day? There is more, but we should pace ourselves. There was so much to see, and I am filled with ideas for new projects. 

How about you? Have you been inspired to try something new? What is it? Please share in the comments below! You might just spur someone else on to trying it, too! If you are reading this in email, you can click here to post your comment directly on the blog. We'd love to hear from you!

Stay tuned: more appliqué, French, and antique quilts are yet to come!