Arg. *Sigh*

I must tell you how great it feels to finally finish this quilt. wow. I drafted/drew the pattern at the first Hartland Quilt Retreat, which was in October of 2007. (btw, as I looked up the link, I see that the Lone Star quilt in the picture on the left is mine.) I sewed the Log Cabin blocks and cut the stencil for the border in November of that same year, at the Valley Oak Quilt Guild retreat.

I had a problem with stenciling the border, in that the fabric I chose - which is perfect in every way but the most important - was a medium value. This meant that no matter what I did to try to make the lettering stand out, nothing worked. I had committed to using Fabrico ink markers for the lettering, and even after 4 layers of ink, it wasn't distinct enough.

I attempted to lighten the fabric behind some of the lettering with paint. I ruined one border completely, and had no more of this fabric. By now it was out of date and out of stock everywhere. I finally found a replacement border piece in my stash, that I had discarded earlier as "ruined". At this point, it was "good enough" to finish the quilt. I went over the four layers of stenciled green ink with a layer of black, and a fifth layer of green. whew! I can finally read the lettering. Finally, finally.

The border hang up hung me up for over a year. I don't even remember when I finally basted it and began the quilting.

Because it is hand-quilted, it was my travel project. This quilt has accompanied me to many places, including Colorado (twice) and New Mexico. And multiple quilt retreats.

I couldn't decide how to quilt the border, so I set it aside. again. Last fall I finally realized that I had to just quilt it. And so I did. Then I didn't like the flatness of the quilt, although it was perfectly and completely flat. I added the dimensional heads to the coxcomb. And added dimension to the border. See the wobble I introduced to the quilt? Can you hear me groan? This is the left side:

Here is the right. For some reason the top and bottom remained flat and straight.

Last night, I spent all of NCIS, LA spritzing and pinning the two borders into submission. Please quilt, please submit!!! I dampened the interior of the quilt and absolutely soaked the recalcitrant borders.

This is the left border this morning. It's not quite dry.

This is the right border this morning. It's not dry either.

Compared to the before, those two borders are looking pretty good. If you're wondering how I did this, here is a close up. The pins are nickel-plated applique/sequin pins, that do not rust.

People ask me, "How long does it take to make a quilt?" How about "forever"? It depends on the method used, and whether or not the method is working well.

So. Will this or won't this become a traveling show quilt? Good question. I guess the proof will be in the judges' remarks come April. I have entered it into Best of the Valley, and am considering submitting it to the Denver National Quilt Festival.

After all these years, it would be sad to just put it in the pile on my shelf, doncha think?

Such a saga.

And now, I'm back to work on the show. 'Til next time...

A Very Good Day

Today has been a very good day in my quilting life. yay!

For months I have been stressing about a wallhanging that I've been ready to quilt. I'd finished it, or so I thought, but too many people had difficulty reading the script. I decided to "fix" the background fabric with paint, to make the words more legible, but instead, I ruined it. You read my lament back when? Maybe in January?

Since then, I have been trying to come up with alternative solutions. Most of these involved purchasing different border fabric, which I actually did FOUR times. But none of the replacements were as pleasing to my eye as the original fabric choice. And I still have a hard time believing that I used 3 yards of fabric to make 4 - 5" x 45" borders! But I did. I mis-cut more than once, and did not have enough left over to cut them yet again.

But last night, an amazing thing happened.

I picked up a basket, and underneath, I found an already stenciled border. I measured it. It was the right size. I removed the one I'd painted, and replaced it. Isn't this much better?!!!


You may not see much of a difference, but to me, it's HUGE. Now all I needed was a single piece, large enough for one border. I pulled out my scraps once again. I was amazed. There was a single strip that was 5.5" x 45" long...and the blotches were at the edge, not in the middle. I don't remember this piece, but wow. perfect. I sewed a tiny triangle to the corner to make it large enough. I stenciled it, and just now finished replacing it. Take a look. What do you think? Better?


I say it's better. I say it's GREAT. I say it's a go. I'm going to re-baste it and begin quilting. yay!!!

And then, to make a great day even better, I was flipping through a binder and found all of the verse notes that I'd made for another quilt I've been dreaming of for 6 years. It was right there all the time. (My friends know that I have been turning my sewing room upside down for the past week, trying to find these notes.) :)

See, here they are. They are real! They weren't imaginary!! :)

And finally, I thought I'd give you a peek of the new, improved Malcolm. Silly kitty.


He now feels so good that he's into EVERYTHING. The other morning I was typing, and I heard a noise. I looked up, and he'd poked his nose over the monitor. He saw me and ducked. The next thing I knew, he was peeking out from UNDER the monitor. What a goof! I ran for the camera, he watched over the top of the monitor. But when it was time for the picture, he decided he preferred to come around front. I got this shot just before he planted himself between the keyboard and the monitor.

We had a bit of a disagreement as to who's the master, but in the end, I won. He got huffy and took a nap.

Yes, this has been a VERY good day. :)

No ringy-dingies

You know the feeling. The phone is there, you want it to ring, but it doesn't. sigh. Yesterday was one of those "no ringy-dingy" days. When the phone rang, it wasn't the caller I was hoping for.

There. It's out there. I admit it. I was hoping to hear from Road to CA that perhaps one of my quilts won a monetary prize. But they didn't. oh well. There's always next year. ;)

I showed you one of the quilts in an earlier post (Sentries in the Garden), but I hadn't shown you the other quilt.

The Light Shines in the Darkness
40.5" x 40.5"
2006

I shouldn't have been waiting for the phone, because the point of entering this quilt in Road to CA was not to win a prize. The point of entering this quilt was so that people would see it and perhaps be affected by it.

The Light Shines in the Darkness - close-up

I suspect that this particular quilt could be deemed controversial. It was rejected by Road last year, but I decided to try it again. This year it got in. Knowing that God's word never goes out empty (Isaiah 55:11) I am certain that there is at least one person who will be at the show this year, who was not there last year, who will be touched by the message of this quilt. And for that, I am thankful. It was accepted, it is hanging, and if the quilt touches someone, God gets the glory. :)

Oh, and in case you're wondering, the quilt is hand-appliquéd and hand-quilted. The border lettering is done with acrylic paint and freezer paper stencils. The interior lettering is done free-hand, with a fabric paint pen.

I think that's about it for now... :)