…with quilting…all over again.

More later…ttys.

Happy Valentine’s Day, y’all!

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Just claiming my blog on the Bloglovin reader. I am trying it out as a replacement for Google Reader, and it requires you to “claim your blog”. I don’t really understand why…but, here goes, lol.

Finally got this one quilted, the binding made and attached to the front (all 440″ of it), ready to be hand stitched to the back. I’m posting a ridiculous amount of pictures, but it felt so good to get this off the machine. I’m not thrilled with my feather work, but I’m a bit rusty from lack of practice. It will take some time to get all my mojo back. The circles and stars were all done with my Circle Lord basic unit and Aztec template. I know I have said this before, but I love my Circle Lord stuff! The color is a bit washed out in most of the pics, too. Guess it’s because the way the light was shining in, but the tans and creams are not nearly that pale, and the reds and greens are more vibrant. The swirly filler quilting in the tan spaces was my attempt at mimicking the pattern of the border fabric, which is also used in the blocks. I think you can see it close up in one or two of the photos. Anyhoo….here it is.

Kinda hit a bit of a rough spot again this winter…I think in a lot of ways, I just simply didn’t deal with some things. Letting go of a beloved spouse is, quite simply, one of the hardest things ever.  I think I really tried to rush through some of that process. But, I’m better now. I’m back to quilting and getting ready for a kitchen and bathroom remodel (finally!) here at home. I started working out again and have lost not only close to 15 lbs, but I measure 2″ smaller around. Yay! I’m determined to truly be on my way to a happier, healthier me, and not just a happy face slapped on for the world.  Guess my whole life has undergone a remodel.  Anyway, it won’t be much longer, in fact maybe even today, that this monster will come off the machine and binding can begin!

This weekend, I was marking a feather spine on my log cabin variation quilt I have been posting. And, I found a tiny rip in one of the logs. And, then another in the log right below it. I have no idea how they got there. My first thought was one of my pins I had used to baste it as I was stabilizing. But, I don’t know how one pin ripped the quilt in two different logs. I’m still thinking that scenario is the most likely culprit, but for the life I me I can’t figure out exactly how. Once the shock wore off and it fully sunk in, my first reaction was @#$##!, quickly followed by just wanting to melt into a tearful puddle on my quilting room floor, to moving to a plan of action. I have to fix this somehow! I have too much work and fabric invested. I was way past the point of taking it apart and piecing in new logs. That would have involved too much frogging and requilting. I have plenty of extra fabric, so I got scraps from the two pieces involved, matched up the print, and appliqued two square “patches” over top of each rip. I think once it quilted, it will hardly be noticeable. Still, it was a bit disheartening and made me feel a little sick. But, in the grand scheme of life, this is not really a problem…merely a little situation. And, I know the recipient is still going to love it. Let me add at this point, that this is NOT a client quilt, thankfully, or I would have been hysterical. I don’t know if I have mentioned, that shortly after Greg passed away, I stopped quilting for hire. I only work on my own stuff now, and as much as I loved quilting for others, it has eased some stress in my life.

I didn’t think to take a pic til I had already repaired one of them, but this is what they both looked like. The purple you see is from my erasable fabric marker I was marking the spine with, then I circled the rip with it.

This is after both had been patched. Not too bad, I think. It will have to do, regardless. Feel free to add your comments regarding how you would have fixed it, had it been yours.  That might make for some interesting discussion, as well as being helpful to someone else finding themselves in the same situation. Again, keep in mind, this is not a customer quilt. Along that line, what would you have done if it was a customer quilt? For sure, they would need to be involved in the decision making process, I think.

On the quilting front, things didn’t get much better after that. I began to “feather” the spine, and being that I am a little out of practice, I did not at all like the “flow” or look of the first few I stitched, so I stopped and am frogging them. I hate frogging, so I do a little, then leave it for a bit, do a little, then leave it. It may take a few days to get the few I quilted back out, lol. Eventually, I will let you know how they finally turned out, hehe.

This was fun to make. I also watched a really cute movie while I was working on it. If you haven’t seen “I Don’t Know How She Does It”, starring Sarah Jessica Parker, it’s worth a watch. That is, if you like funny, chick flick, feel good movies. 🙂 Hope you are enjoying your weekend.

I love my Circle Lord. I love feathers. I love it when a plan comes together. 😀

(Margo, guess I’m doing feathers instead of the leaves I originally planned.)

Here is a little snippet of some filler I going to use in some of the tan sections. I only did this one bit before going on to finish the ditch work and start the feathered star medallions. I just had to see if I liked the idea I had for it. I was trying to do something that would mimic the print in the darker tan fabric.

I’m going to be headed off to a work conference in Galveston for a few days, so I won’t get to work on it anymore for about a week. 😦  I’m going to miss it while I’m gone! Gosh, it feels good to be enjoying my quilting again! I just wish I could yell to Greg, “hey honey! Come see this!” And then, I would hear him say “Cool!!”

It’s not perfect (not that my quilting ever is, lol) but, considering I haven’t done this kind of work in probably close to two years now, I’m pretty happy with it. Also, the lighting in my quilting room sucks, making it hard to see where I’m going or where I’ve been sometimes. I need to find a solution to that problem.

Have a great weekend, y’all!