Two Tiny Finishes

Last week, when I dug into my card-making box, I found a second tree piece that I'd begun to quilt.  It was long and narrow, and primarily river.  I didn't know what I wanted to do with it, other than to finish it.  I doubled the quilting in the water, then thread-painted the batik trees.  Then I set it aside.

When I came back to it, I measured it. 6.25" tall.  Not large enough to face it, if I wanted to cut off a 6" finished piece, but binding?  That would work.  I'd already sliced it off and trimmed it, before I remembered my camera.

 What do you think?  Is it better as two pieces?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  As two pieces, it fulfills two requirements.

 I finished the 6" piece by binding, adding a fish, and mounting it on canvas.  This is #7, of the 6" mounted pieces for Sew Eclectic.  I'm pretty pleased with the way my collection is coming together.

 This larger piece is for my niece.  I didn't have any appropriate animal charms, but she's a big fan of steam punk.  I'd purchased these gears and sequins, thinking that I would use them on something for her.  I think it's kind of fun, in a funky sort of way.

I've also been out to the walnuts, to check the trees and walk the dogs.  I don't know if I've introduced you to my son's new dog, Sandy.  She's a hoot, still in the puppy stage.  She has a sweet disposition, which offsets her mediocre brain capacity.  She's definitely not as smart as Roscoe or Pixel.

 My son makes them sit, before letting them loose in the orchard.  They can barely keep their bottoms on the ground, they are SO excited.

 And once in the orchard?  They hunt for nuts.  They LOVE walnuts.  Look at Roscoe.  "I spy!!"  And then he cracks it open in his jaws and gulp!  All gone.

And I guess that's it...oh wait!  That's not it.  I've made great progress on my quilt from the David Taylor class I took three years ago.  I have soaked the finished applique in the tub, which was a very good move.  Both the red and the black bled heavily, despite prewashing.  Here is the quilt, as it soaks in the tub.  Thank you, Vicki Welsh, for your cure for bleeding fabrics!!

 I then hung the top to dry.  I am SO glad I covered it with this sheet.  I left it out overnight, and a gust of wind caught it and sent it crashing to the ground.  The quilt itself stayed clean.  whew!

I have one more little bit to add to the top.  Once I make a decision, I will be able to baste it and begin quilting. 

This year's quilting goals have fallen by the wayside.  If I can just finish this quilt, it will be enough for 2017.  I know that I am running out of time, but I'm going to give it a valiant effort.  Goals are good, and all that.  Putting them in writing?  Even better.  Here's hoping that I've got something to show you in the not-too-distant future.

Catching Up

Do you ever feel like you're so behind it's going to take you a week or more to catch up before you can even begin?  yup.  That's how I seem to have begun my 2014 year of sewing.  Starting something new or finishing something old has taken a back seat to basic repairs.  crazy.

"Mom!  Your door hanger lost a jingle bell!"

 Better stitch it back on so it's in one piece when I pull it out again next year.  The screen-printed "JOY" was made by my friend Kata decades ago.  It makes me smile every time I see it.  :)

Next on the list was to pull out some quilts for an Art Quilt Show in Porterville.  oh dear.  Their labels are way behind.  Apparently I haven't made show labels in 9 months.  If I'm going to offer some of these for sale, I'd better make some labels.

I made (and attached) five labels yesterday.  It felt like more.  I still have almost a dozen to do, but the quilts for Porterville were finished.  Or were they?

I took one off the wall, remembering that when it came home from the county fair in September, it had lost some beads.

 Two lines of fringe had been lost.  The hardest part of the repair was not actually doing it, the hardest part was remembering what my beading recipe had been, and where I'd stashed the beads!

 Once I'd finished, I realized that I'd forgotten some of the key bead ingredients, but because it was only two lines of fringe, it seems to have blended in okay.

Another of the quilts was missing a sleeve.  Now it's not.

 I have an old Christmas quilt, that I've been using under my tree for the past several years.  I'd given it to my mom back in the 90's, and when she passed, it came back to me.  I'd washed it, and the red bled like the dickens.  Most of the creamy background turned a shade of pink, from light to almost fuchsia.  Vicki Welsh posted an extremely informative post on dealing with bleeding on her blog, and I tried her suggestion.  ohmygoodness!!  That dingy pinky quilt suddenly sparkles!!  I'd used Biz, Oxyclean, Synthrapol and Retayne.  What was the magic ingredient that brought it back to life?  Kirkland Free & Clear, the product that I use on all my clothes!  Read all about her experimentation here.  And here.

I think I may have actually used All Free & Clear, rather than Kirkland brand, but look how the trees sparkle!  They haven't looked like this for more than a decade!  Those pieced backgrounds used to be as dark as the setting blocks!

Finally, finally I've gotten around to something new.  SAQA is seeking pieces for a 3 year traveling exhibit, and they only need to be 7" x 10".  Surely I can put together something before the end of the month?

Here's what I've put together so far:

It's a bit bigger than the finished 7 x 10, but boy it's a lot of fun!!  My car has been in the shop since early Monday, so I feel trapped at home.  (My son's car has not been washed since the walnut harvest, and I think the window may have been open a crack when they were shaking the trees.  It is beyond filthy, but it runs.  I'd rather stay home than clean it or drive it, so I'm only venturing out when absolutely necessary.)

So there you go.  I'm trying to catch up on the little things, so that I can concentrate on the big things.  Hope you all have time to quilt.  It's a good way to put a smile on one's face, don't you think?

Better, But Not By Much...

Oh, the frustrations!!

I went down on my knees, trying to get the blue out of the back of this quilt. I soaked, I scrubbed, I used Oxyclean. What did I get? Some of the blue came out, but not a whole lot. Look at this mess!!

My perfectly square quilt is no longer. The Color Catchers at the bottom of the frame show you how little dye was actually released. It is still right there, in the back of the quilt. I think the thread must have soaked up the dye, along with the fabric on the back and the batting.

After much coaxing and poking and prodding, I was able to reshape the quilt to this. Not as perfect as before, but better. See that blue streak? I think I know where the saying, "Swearing a blue streak" comes from. ;) Not that I did, but boy, my mind came up with words and phrases that I didn't know I knew. Shocking!

And that's all folks, or almost all. Still needs the labels and the sleeve, which have been waiting patiently since Thursday...

P.S. The reason it was wet the first time around was that the edges were a bit woobly and I wanted them nice and flat before binding. I spritzed it with water and patted it down. Blocking made it nice and flat, but as you saw in my earlier post, the side-effects of the cure were worse than the disease...

Not Much...

Today has been filled with quilting for hire. I took a break to wash this quilt. Today it's 98, we're told that tomorrow will be 78. yikes! I've run out of quilt-washing days, but I haven't run out of quilts!

You know how we all buy tickets to win opportunity quilts? Some people actually do win them. I did, back in 2002. I love this quilt, but I will no longer put it on the bed. One side of the quilt is becoming discolored, because one of us is a space heater. That would not be me. ;)

Valley Oak Quilt Guild Opportunity Quilt 2009

And that's it for now. No opossums last night, thank goodness!!

oh! And I bought a quilt from the SAQA Auction. If you want one, I believe tomorrow will be the last day for the last group. Check them out here, they'll disappear quickly if the previous two sets were anything to judge by. Good luck!

How I Wash a Large Quilt

I am often asked how I wash a quilt. I wash small quilts using much the same method, but whereas I block small quilts, I don't block large ones. I just try to shape them, and let them be.

The first step is to fill the tub. Usually I use Orvus, which is not only a "quilt soap," but it began as a horse soap. We used to use it on our lambs in 4-H. It is very mild, yet took the lanolin right out of their wool.

I throw a few ColorCatchers sheets into the water, in case some of the dye decides to become an issue.

I washed this particular quilt with Oxyclean. My husband tends to wrap this quilt around his neck, without protecting it with the sheet. His side of the quilt has a yellow strip along the top - he perspires while he sleeps, and there's not much I can do about it other than beg him to "protect the quilt with the sheet, pretty please, with sugar on top..." So far that hasn't worked.

Anyhoo, first I soak the quilt in the tub, and agitate it by hand. This time I let it soak for an hour, while I ran errands around town.

I rinse it the same way, until the water runs clear. It takes about three rinses.

In the backyard, I place two 4' x 8' pieces of foam sheathing on tables, to hold the quilt.

I cover them with sheets, then lay out the quilt. As soon as the quilt is laid out, the breezes pick up and cover the quilt with debris. It happens every time, so it must be part of the process.

I remove as much debris as possible, then cover the quilt with more sheets to prevent fading. Of course the breeze dies down once the quilt is covered, and no more debris falls.

As the quilt is drying, I come out and check it every few hours. I will take everything off the foam sheathing and replace the bottom sheets with dry sheets. I'll shake the quilt out, reshape it, and re-cover it, again using dry sheets.

When the temperatures are over 100, quilts will dry in a couple of hours, if that. But when it's cooler, say in the low 90's, it takes all day. I washed this quilt after 12 noon, and had to leave it outside overnight because it was too damp to bring inside. The overnight dew made it wetter, but the next day was warmer/hotter, and the quilt was completely dry by 10am.

And that's how I do it. It's not the only way to wash a quilt, but it's the best one I've found.