Filling in the Time

We are all getting a bit tired of COVID19 running our lives, but I feel lucky.  As a retired couple we don't go out much in normal times.  As a recent meme on Facebook said, "You realize how anti-social you are when a pandemic hits and things don't change that much for you."  I guess we are a bit introverted with our own activities that we enjoy.  We did break out for a trip to Costco, which netted us about 1/3 of what we had on our list.  They are having trouble filling their shelves because of supply problems.  Who would ever dream?  Meanwhile I clean, garden, sew, play on the computer, and enjoy the local wildlife.  I can walk in the early morning without a mask because I rarely meet anyone else.  I passed 18 curious, but non-threatening, deer on my walk the other morning.  Below is a huge elk that decided to sunbathe and chew his cud in our yard.  He is losing his winter coat so looks pretty scruffy at the moment.

Bull elk.

Several months ago I was all excited to finally buy a ruler foot that comes with a small ruler.  I tried it out on a sample square and was delighted.  Couldn't wait to use it on my quilt.  I have a wide border already quilted on my quilt and wanted to finish it off with a quiet border of piano keys.  I found that using the ruler and its accompanying foot wasn't working well with a heavy quilt to drag around.  Disappointing.

Solution:  Rip-it.  I decided to do the lines with my regular FMQ foot and was able to maintain the 1/4 inch distance between lines with the edge of the foot as a guide.  I also drew a straight line every so often with my Sewline marker to keep from wandering off at an angle.  Great way to learn to FMQ straight lines!   The lines are not as perfect as they would be with a ruler, but that is OK.  Do the best you can.

TIP:  Instead of using black thread on black fabric try a very dark, colored thread or dark charcoal.  It is much easier on the eyes than black on black and unnoticeable.  I thought my lines were quite perfect until I took this photo.  Clearly I was looking at them with "rose-colored glasses."

Piano Keys

I have also been working on the Mayan mask that will will be the show stopper at the top of the quilt.  I am stitching all the fused edges down with blanket stitch of various sizes.  I find this so satisfying.  It demands close attention as I go around corners and curves so it never gets boring.  In some spots I have stitched with clear, mono-poly thread and in others I have chosen appropriate colors or gold, metallic thread.  There is a narrow band under the eyes where I wanted to simulate the glow of animal eyes.  Gold thread was too much.  Yellow and orange were too much.  Tan didn't show up at all.

Silk thread under the eye.

Solution:  I finally settled on silk thread that is almost the same color as the fabric, which is actually a tan print (not orange as in the photo).  It is perfect.  It creates the glow with its sheen and adds the perfect bit of interest, but also blends.

Gold metallic on red.

Sew some happy seams this week.  I wish you straight lines, but no worry if they wiggle a bit.

A Finish and a Solution or Two

I finished the second Wedding Star (Judy Niemeyer pattern) table topper quilt.   I have truly enjoyed making two of these now as bridal gifts.  One is purple and the other is green based on the favorite decorating colors of the individual brides.  One wedding has now been postponed until the world is safe again.  The other is still on schedule for October.  I am glad I started these quilts early as they are time consuming, but they are done and ready to gift wrap.

Wedding Star Table Topper (color is more vibrant than the photo shows)

Note the two-color background within the rings.  I love what that did to the design.  It creates a secondary design in the guise of a square, and it makes you wonder for a second what is going on.  It is one of those eye-grabbers that makes you turn around and look again.

Closeup of the quilting on the table topper.

Now I am back on the obstinate "forever quilt."  I WILL finish this thing.  I ran into problems with the edge of the quilt on one side not lining up.  At that point I folded it up in frustration and worked on a dog quilt and the table toppers.  During my free motion thinking time I gradually came up with a map for solving the problem:

1.  Make a Mayan mask, attach an addition to the top of the quilt and use the mask to cover the problem.  The quilt will now be a rectangle instead of a square.  Not necessarily the best way to do things, but a start to get the ideas flowing.

2.  It would need more design elements so I ran through a number of ideas and tested them on Illustrator.  I have now made two Mayan-style birds with outstretched wings to frame the mask.  Cool!  The fusible appliquéd mask and birds incorporate the colors of this very colorful quilt.  Ultimately this is really not the ideal way to fix a cockeyed quilt, but I love the mask and birds and so does DH.

Mayan Bird

3.  Finally, I decided to block the quilt.  Normally this is done when the quilt is finished, trimmed and ready to bind, but I had to see if I could straighten out the anomaly.

4.  Soak the quilt in the bathtub.  I always prewash my fabric, but can you imagine my horror at discovering that the backing fabric was bleeding red in the water in spite of having been pre-washed?  I quickly added Color Catchers, but that was not going to do it.  Fortunately, the washing machine is up and running again in this nice weather so I rinsed it by machine with the rest of my Color Catchers.  Whew!  All is good and the bright colors on the quilt were not affected...at least not that I can see.

5.  Successful blocking.  I was able to square it all up so I don't need the mask and birds.  But I love the mask and birds!  I will continue with the plan and add more fabric (top, batting and backing) to the top of the quilt and apply them.  In Illustrator the design looks great and the execution appears to be viable.  It will be unique if nothing else.

Just another day in my quilting journey!

Sew some happy seams this week.  I wish you good luck on creatively solving problems.  I hope all are safe and healthy as we carefully watch the slow decline of this pandemic.