Busy outside

I've got a quilt on the machine and it's stabilized.  I have someone coming by tomorrow to spend the day with me so I won't get to the quilting until Wednesday.  I've been spending a lot of time in my backyard lately.  Now that it's not raining day after day I'm doing what I can.  I've been cleaning weeds out of the fence as best I am able.  Can't reach most of them.

Picking cherries from the tree.

Making DUH mistakes in the garden and getting a good laugh at myself about them.  (The fence is in the wrong place.)

I was asked how a pieced backing should be done so it doesn't cause problems with tucks.  Well, you must be sure the grain line of all the fabrics go in the same direction.  If one fabric is cut cross grain (the stretchy way) and the fabric sewn next to it is cut straight grain (the non stretchy way) you get the problem of tucks.  No matter how tight you roll the backing on the rollers, you can only go as tight as the straight grain will let you.  That leaves the cross grain fabric with some slack.  Even a small amount of uneven stretch can cause tucks underneath.  If you are hand quilting the difference in grain lines is not a problem.  It's only when the pieced backing is put onto the rollers of a quilting machine that it causes a problem. 

Hmm... I know there is something I'm forgetting to type-talk about.  I can't think of what it is at the moment.  Anyway, my internet time is up.  I'm limiting myself for a little while in order to get more work finished around my house. 

They are done

The two memory quilts are finished and have been picked up.  I believe there will be plenty of tears over the weekend.  I'll hear all about it Monday when the man comes back to do some more handyman work for me. 

This is the first one.... left side.

The right side.

The tribute square.

The second one.... left side.

Other side.

The tribute square.

I did simple crosshatching all over both the quilts because it's subtle and follows the squares theme.   Her clothes are the important focus.... not the quilting.  I used cream color thread except for the tribute squares.  On those I used mono thread.  I wrapped the backing over the front for the binding.

It's a holiday weekend and I plan on relaxing instead of quilting.  I might work on the garden... then again... maybe not.  It's supposed to rain most of the weekend.  Actually, they say it will probably be raining until Friday of next week. The river is still at flood stage and the weather service can't make up it's mind how much farther the Ohio River might flood.  One prediction says it will be at 29 feet above flood stage and other predictions say only 27 feet above.  A flood is a flood... how much water doesn't matter... it's still destructive and dangerous.

Have a great holiday weekend everyone!

What is today?

Monday after my doctor appointment I came home to work on getting rid of this.

Which now looks like this. 

This side.

Now looks like this.  See how much the cherry tree in the foreground has filled out in only a couple of weeks?  It's full of tiny cherry buds.

I got lucky Monday.  I saw a city clean up crew working in this area cleaning up damaged trees from the last storm that came through our area.  I asked if they would mind cleaning up the wood from back behind my house too.  To my surprise they did it!  They didn't mind adding my stuff into their load even though it wasn't on their list.  I went behind them and raked up all the little stuff left behind. 

Along about dark I'm standing admiring the work that's been done and I'm thinking to myself that this should be my next project of cleaning up the jungle.  All the vines and small scrubs that are growing in the fence.  If I don't take care of it right away it will take over the yard by summer.  I think I can start on it in the morning.

I hear a little voice in my mind say..... today is the 18th.  Then it dawned on me..... the date is the 18th!  Yikes!  I had completely forgotten.  The two quilts which are my part of the bargain are supposed to be finished by the 22nd.  I had agreed to change the due date a couple of weeks ago so he could give the girls their quilts for their birthday.  I've been so thrilled and involved with the changes in my backyard I had completely forgotten about the new due date.  So today (Tuesday) I headed straight to the studio when I got up.  The tops are now done and ready for quilting.  

She wore a shawl quite often.  She had two favorites which are now the borders on the quilt.  The one above was a shawl of fleece.  This one is handwoven from Mexico.

Because of the loose weave it took quite a bit of work to keep it from raveling after the cutting.  I put a stabilizer on the back then cut the strips.  Handling very gently I put fray check along the edges then zig zagged to hold it together.   Tomorrow the first will be quilted, hopefully before Ladybug arrives.  The other will be quilted on Thursday and the binding on both will be done Friday morning.  Providing..... we don't loose power during the storms coming through here tonight. 

He came by today to give final approval of the tops.  Last chance to make changes before the quilting is done.  It's always a teary eyed emotion when the quilt tops are viewed for the first time.  I believe his daughters will like the quilts as much as he did.   I could hear the angel whisper in my ear.... you did good. 

Sunshine!

I've been working on the current quilt.  It barely fits on the machine.  I've gotten it stabilized and I have the outside border almost finished.  I'm doing a weaving feather design on it in two colors.   I'm using these four colors on this quilt just to make it different from my usual quilting techniques.  The weaving feather is done using the two colors on the left. 

The colors are a subtle change to the look of the fabric without overwhelming it. 

It may be hard to see the changing of the colors in the photo.  Here's another look from a different angle. 

Many machine quilters (me included) hesitate about using color that does not match the fabric because it shows up every flaw of the quilting.  Especially on a light color backing.  With practice comes confidence.  I practice a lot!  I'm hoping to have this quilt finished by the weekend.  So, now I'm going to put something in the crock pot and warm up the machine for a full day's work. 

Another finished

I had to work quickly on this one.  The original date for it to be finished was the 28th.  Due to an earlier retirement than expected; I was asked if I could complete it earlier.  So I used some of my quickest freehand techniques and got it done.  Done is good!  The owner picked it up already.

I did a flip flop feather design on the outside border and a ribbon design on the inside border.

Another view of the flip flop feather border.

This is the design on the corner blocks.

Same design on the setting triangles.

It's hard to see the leafy feather design on the star points.  Each triangle of the star got an individual leafy feather instead of one long feather.

So here's what they look like on the back.  The photo looks like the edge of the quilt but it's not.  The white fabric of the back's center didn't show up.

Here is how the center of the back looks.  These leafy feathers are in the center of the star.

I like how they appear to kiss even though I didn't plan it that way.

One other thing about this quilt is that I chose a contrasting thread.  NOT a good thing when speed quilting is required.  Contrasting thread will show up every tiny flaw in the quilting. Never the less, I chose a steel grey thread and just went for it.  My thinking was that the grey thread would look good on both the black & the white fabrics and I wouldn't need to change it half way through the quilting.  I was also thinking I really need practice using contrasting threads.  I don't do this technique often enough to get really good at it.  I would like to do more contrast thread work on some of my art quilts.

I have two more to finish right away.  "With luck" I'll get them both finished by tomorrow night.