Stitch By Tiny Stitch

All quilters know the tedium that is part of piecing and quilting.  Why do we do it?  We all have different reasons.  I was struck with the sewing bug as a very young child.  I have happy memories of sitting on my bed creating fantastical doll clothes that made me insanely proud.  I graduated to sewing my own clothes, then toddler clothes then wedding dresses, and finally quilts.  I never tire of the sewing process in general.  Nevertheless there are tasks in the process that require endless repetition.  Again, why do it?  I do it because:

*It takes my mind off the dreary tasks of life.

*I enjoy audiobooks or music while I sew.

*I look forward to my creative break every day for 3 hours after lunch.

*Creating beauty is supremely up-lifting.

*There is dancing joy at finishing a long, tedious task.

*I am a disciplined person.  I am driven to finish what I start.

*I LOVE to sew!

Thus, the quilt progresses.  Tedious, dainty stitches.  Slow going.  It takes about 9 hours to complete 1/8 of just the outer part of the border.  Satisfaction is sky high and I look forward to getting back to it each day.  Soon it will be done.

One corner complete

The photo shows the border as bright and colorful, but when looking at the total quilt the border design fades into the background - almost.  The final step of border quilting will be piano keys to flatten the outer edges with dark red thread.  Then prairie points.

Hopefully I can get the border stitching done before heading west for two weeks for a wedding shower.  It will be such fun to spend time with my far-away family.

Sew some happy seams this week.  I wish you relief from the tedious tasks as you move on to a beautiful finish.

Forward Motion

....progress on the quilt at last.  No more pillows or puppies to interrupt the process.

I have a 4 inch wide border on my quilt that I am filling with a continuous feather that curves around itself.  After the feathers were done I went back and embellished them with gold, metallic thread.  I was going to fill the stem with pebbles, but when I got finished with the gold thread I noticed that the stem really stood out and looked pretty cool.  No pebbles - great idea!  I am calling this quilt "Desert Mosaic" because it is made up of the colors that represent our Southwest:  red, orange, yellow, turquoise.  It is a pattern of geometric interaction.  What do feathers have to do with geometric design?  They are a foil to the harshness of contrast and hard lines.  As it turns out the embellishment makes me think of cactus with their spines, centipedes, spiders, tarantulas and snakes indigenous to  the desert.   That may be kind of weird, but that is where my brain took it.  What do you think?

Feathered border.

The feathers in each section are exactly the same or the reverse.  I am a symmetrical person.  My quilt is a symmetrical design.  They are not perfect.  I am only human and sometimes the needle takes over and I have to say, "OK" or rip it out.  How do I mark these long feathers and related designs on black fabric?

1.  I draw the designs out on tracing paper.

2.  For the feathers I transfer the basic shape of the stem onto an old manilla file folder and cut out the shape.  I use the old childhood magic of heavy pencil lines, turn the paper over and rub the back until the pencil line transfers, then cut it out.  You can also cut up the tracing paper and trace around it, but I prefer not cutting up my basic design if I don't have to.

Transferring design elements (see below for the individual small patterns)

TIP:  We have tons of useless folders from DH's working years but cereal box cardboard works too.  You can tape pieces together for a long form, and it is a lot cheaper than template plastic especially if you will never use these patterns again.

Large manilla patterns.  The big one is for the basic feather stems.

3.  I pin the cardboard pattern to the quilt (down into the cork board under my ironing board cover), and trace around the shape with my white ceramic pencil.

4.  From there I draw the additional elements by hand with a white ceramic pencil.

5.  For smaller elements that need to be very precise I make little patterns out of the manilla folder.

Small patterns for the final border.

I have another two inch border yet to do, but then I can move on to my first attempt at prairie points, with some experimentation for a different sort of point.  I'll share with you how it turns out, but that is down the road a bit.

Sew some happy seams this week.  I wish you fun making cheap patterns from a Captain Crunch box.

Back Burner Again.....

That title refers to my everlasting quilt.  Why?  Read on:

My husband is hard on chairs.  He inherited my father's big, heavy, antique rocking chair and loved it, but after using it for awhile the upholstery and springs gave out.  I could have re-upholstered it, but I would have to learn how to tie the springs.  I know....it can't be that hard.  Instead we pulled another upholstered, antique chair from storage with a fairly new upholstery job.  Well, he has now destroyed the fabric and the springs on that one too.  So, we pulled out a big, beautiful caned rocker that was made in Nicaragua and that we have not previously had the space to use.  He loves it, but it needs a cushion for complete comfort.

A trip to Joann's netted some fabric, some 5" foam, a zipper and cording.  That is why the quilt is back on "hold" while I make him a nice comfortable cushion.  DH sat on the foam without a cover for a week now and decided that it is comfy.  Making a quilt is delicate work compared to stitching the heavy, upholstery fabric.  I made my own cording from the fabric so the final seams incorporated at least four layers of fabric.  Actually I am pretty pleased as it went together well and looks nice on the chair.  I hope it will wear well!

DH's new cushion (his clutter is blacked out!)

Now back to the quilt....again!

Two corners of quilting done.

Well maybe those two ancient pillows would look better with new fabric on them.  Hmmmm.  I have enough of the upholstery fabric to make a couple of pillows for the sofa, and so I did.

New pillow in front of Puzzle Quilt (Paula Nadelstern)
Photo didn't do well with the colors.  They really look nice in real life.

 Now I need a green pillow.  So I did.  I still need some red buttons and a new pillow form.  I made it with a large log cabin.  Not too pleased.  I shopped in my stash and did the best I could, but it didn't turn out the way my brain said it should.  I am fascinated by the work of Caryl Fallert-Gentry and have been eager to give her method a try.  So I did!  (BTW if you scroll down far enough on her tutorial she shares her method - easy and precise).  I put a swath of yet another green and a piece of red on top the the log cabin.  Now it is really a mish-mash of green with one lonesome bit of red.  It needs more red so I am going to sew red buttons on.  Those in the photo have not been sewn on yet.  I am heading for the thrift store to see if I can find a few more interesting buttons.

My green pillow cover with trial buttons not sewn yet.

Sew some happy seams this week.  I wish you time to sew something new.