From a small box of red scraps I made this quilt which looks far better than the photo. My hubby claimed it as soon as he saw it. Now am working on this one (below) and will make another one also, all from that box of red scraps. The three of them are lap size or larger (or will be) for big laps!
The blue sashing is not my choice. A friend convinced me to try it. I've never been a fan of red/blue together, but it does have a certain appeal. Besides, it is from the stash and I am not buying more fabric! The left two verticals are sewn, with the third ready to attach and the fourth just hanging there looking messy. I am thinking of a 5" piano key boarder with leftover reds (they multiply in the dark when no one is looking). There is enough of them, plus a bit of blue to accent or put in the corners.
The third quilt has a brown/red print ready to cut up for sashing.
Making these slab quilts is easy and fun. I'll quilt them with a panto and they will likely go to QoV Canada.
Scott's king size quilt is done, but no photo yet. We are taking it to our church where we can hang it from a beam and get back far enough to take a picture. It will be quite a production needing two ladders, at least two men, lots of clamps and patience on my part!
Finally, thirty-plus hours of quilting is finished. My house is not big enough to get a full-view photo, so here are bits and pieces. As easily seen, it needs to be squared up and trimmed, and the binding put on. Also, it is still wrinkled from being wrapped around the back roller for so long. However, I feel 10lbs lighter!
Also, I'm putting all my quilts (that I have photos for) in the Gallery, link on the right, EXCEPT those that are for sale. This will take a few weeks. It's interesting to see the progression.
I don't set time goals for quilts because this is supposed to be relaxing, right? But this quilt has not been (no, I'm not going to whine). Now I'm quilting it. Here is a small section partly done. Actually, this part was fun. The leaves are dark enough that my jiggles and jerks are not too visible.
This is a relaxing break from the beach scene. The pieces are all 2.5 x 6.5 making blocks that will finish at 6" x 10" - I'm making about 81 or more of them, and likely a border. Good stash buster that will require more thinking/planning when the blocks are all finished and need a better arrangement. At the moment, sewing them is like a coffee break (I don't drink coffee) when free motion becomes tiring. I will use a panto on this hot chili pot!
It is nice to have a few quilts ready to quilt, and the tarp off my machine which was there to protect it from flying plaster/dust. Now to get at it...
Scott's king-size is draped over my craft table, ironed, all the hiccups fixed, etc. Hi Edith... It looks much better than it did when you were here. I washed the backing and it came out smoother and no wrinkles at all. The batting was one long piece equivalent for two kings, so hubby and I rolled it on the bar under my machine. It needs a trim but it is ready too. This has been a huge challenge, and if anyone has made a king, you know 'huge' is the correct word. That backing is 120" wide. The batting is like wrestling an alligator. The quilt top is too large for my design wall and for the table it is folded on, but it looks great on a bed. Glad to get this far!
Others: The purple slab hangs with batting and backing, ready to put on the machine. I have a wonky log cabin in the same state of readiness and a large crib quilt also. Right now, there is a large table runner pinned on the machine. I just need to have my lunch, put supper in the crock pot, add the correct thread and do it! Yeah.
Also have neatly folded four shelves of fabric. Only about 20 left, but this is progress. Neat makes me feel ambitious.
Onward and upward... thank You God!
This quilt is partly on the design wall and partly on a craft table. So the view is somewhat foreshortened. It actually has as much beach as water.
I decide to baste the leaves in place because pins are not too much fun when sewing complex applique. I wanted to post this in case someone ever finds themselves in the same dilemma — trying to manage a huge project and keep it all square and straight. This has a few wrinkles, but nothing serious. Pressing and quilting will fix it.
There are more leaves to go on the left end (just out of sight) and palm trees and leaves up the sides. I will look good on the bed, but right now I'm tired just looking at the picture.
I've got this much sewn together (after lots of improvising). The bit of lower sky is just pinned, and the way I will quilt it will give it some distinction from those far-away islands. I also have the rest of the sky ready to piece and put on the upper half.
Next, a jungle of leaves go around the bottom and lower sides, with palm trees up to the top. This one is a king-size and taking lots of hours. Also the driftwood is just pinned on because I'm not sure where it will go, and I might resize it.
Here is my sketch for the leaves and trees, but as you can see, it is only a guide. I'm hoping the leaves will be a lot easier to make that that water and sand!
Pressing on with Scott's king size and with the bottom half background, already feeling the stress of manipulating that much fabric. This is mostly improve with small mock-ups to follow and a bunch of fabrics in the right values and colors. I'm telling people who ask what I'm working on that it is working on me.
These mock-ups are a tip from an artist friend. The one on the left is an outline drawing with the most detail. The middle is a value sketch. The one on the right is a paste-up using fabrics that work with the values. I didn't finish the palm trees because that is not necessary (but it is a lot easier than making the large ones!) The tropical leaves will be on the sides that hang over the bed, with the beach on the top. He doesn't want a sneak peak so hope he likes it.
Here is a close-up of the right edge, which will be mostly hidden by large leaves, but shows how I'm keeping this monster on my work table - large paper clips - see one in the upper right corner!
Our son Scott is still living under the delusion that his mother can do whatever he asks. His request for a quilt to go on his king-size bed falls into that category. He wants a Hawaiian beach scene, with palm trees.
For a long time, this was way too threatening to even think about. Then last fall, when we were in Texas visiting our daughter and her hubby, she was working and the house was clean. I hauled out some drawing material and drew several sketches. One seemed to work best. When we got home, I put the drawing into CorelDraw, saved it as a .pdf and took it to Staples. They have a 36" printer so produced for me a full-size pattern. The pattern is too big to work with this part, so I printed it out letter size. You might have to double-click on these to see them better ...
I stuck it up on the wall and shuddered every time I walked by it. But finally decided this will not get made with shuddering. So I opened CD and did a value picture, filling each of the elements in the quilt with an approximate value, only in black, white, and grays.
And after another few weeks of shuddering, decided to do the same with color. I'd been collecting fabric, but some of it was too gaudy, or the wrong colors. The scrap bins helped. I didn't put all the palm leaves on the bigger trees, but enough to get a feel for what it would look like. Those leaves, because they are against a light sky, needed to be lighter than the other foliage, otherwise the contrast was too much.
Also, those areas will be a lot bigger so will be pieced for interest sake. Note that the foliage will hang down the sides of the bed, and the beach will be on the top, with some leaves too. I'll be adding more detail, like birds, butterflies, shells, etc.
Here is what I now have to translate into the enormous size. I told him I wasn't sure I had enough muscles to wrestle with this, but he didn't seem to understand what I was talking about! LOL.
Seriously, I'll need some prayer for this project!
