DONE! DONE! DONE!

I'm sitting here, stuffed again, feeling sluggish, and wondering why I ate so much! My ham is pretty much used up, except for the bone, wisely put in the freezer for potato soup another day, and I have beans and ham simmering on the stove, and have made corn bread for supper. Life is good.

Incidently, the beans were a gift from my LQS! Hey, the farmers grow beans around here! It's nice to live in such a friendly community.

Shirt Quilt #2 -- Yeah - DONE, and I can start another project. This is all washed (to eliminate water soluble basting thread) and crinkly, complete with my label, and YES, I like it as well as Shirt Quilt #1. Amazing how friendly those old shirt plaids are. This one is about 65" x 75" - a generous lap/nap size. I left the pocket unquilted.

I left the sashing unquilted until after all the blocks were quilted, and ran into some problems with puckers and pleats. Next time I will be sure to quilt them at the same time as the block quilting. However, no one is going to find them -- I just know they exist.

Below is what I thought was the perfect plan for quilting the blocks, but no matter what I did, I could NOT follow this! Practiced on paper, practiced on my MagnaDoodle, drew arrows on the stencil to help my brain, and even drew it out on the block, but the drawing got more complicated because I had to draw in both blue and in chalk. Finally gave it up and will attribute failure to a Senior Brain. Almost every block is quilted with a different pattern - good practice. Most of them are 'O.K', there is one ringer, and a couple are done brilliantly!

Saturday I visited my LQS and came home with this book. Hey, they give me a nice discount - I gotta buy something as a visit is worth a therapy session (so I've heard!) The author gives numerous practical drawings/quilting designs, where to start, where to end, etc. I'm enjoying this book, and have already figured out one previously confusing pattern.
It's good to be sewing again!

2 Experiments, 50% Success

Some of you may be getting bored with my project! But, if not, and if you like the learning process, hey, I am still learning also, so I'm mentioning how I slogged through the process.
My "Gobsmacked Kaleidoscope" is done. I will thank Sheila in Australia for that perfect name.

I used a rayon heavier thread for the swirl-y borders, and a variegated pastel cotton, 50 wt. for the top, which was quilted a LOT with "innies and outies" and "dwirling" ...(hah, guess who has been watching her quilting DVDs a LOT!). I DID go back with invisible thread and stitch in the ditch between the top and the first white border -- it was a little pooched up. My batting is 80/20 blend.

I tried two experiments with this quilt. Since I quilt on a DSM, and this is not a small quilt, I wanted it to really stay together, during the pushing/pulling through my machine harp. It was already spray basted it, and pinned.

Experient #1: Water soluble thread. After sandwiching, I machine sewed long basting stitches with water soluble thread (that thread is white). This worked very well, and this quilt has not even one pucker on the back. I was less stressed when sewing my real quilting stitches, because I knew the basting stitches were holding it well. A spool of that thread is $6.95, 300 yds (kinda expensive but ...) I figured I could do 2 quilts with one spool - yes, I calculated it! LOL

The down side is ... that thread is white, as were parts of my variegated quilting thread. And in these close quarters, sometimes I started quilting/echoing the soluble thread line instead of echoing the previous quilting line. It might be a good idea to use one straight direction for the water soluble thread. While not part of this experiment, note how busy some of that fabric is and I became 'lost' a number of times, needing to do the ole frog stitch! On a DSM, your nose is right down there next to your fabric, and you can't see the whole picture as you can with a long-arm! And, long swoopy lines are not easy.

After a brief washing, the soluble thread is gone, and the quilt is lovely!

Experiment #2 - I tried FUSIBLE thread on the binding. My theory (hey, I heard it on the Internet!) was fusible in the bobbin when sewing on the binding, then when I press the binding to the back, it would fuse itself down, eliminating the pinning project that always sticks me. I would still hand sew it down.

Well, after sewing 12 inches of it down, I had the good sense to give fusing a try ... uh, ouch, burned fingers, turn iron hotter, ouch, dang it, not sticking, hold it on longer, dang it ... well this did not seem worth the trouble so, I finished the binding the traditional way. After a quick wash to dissolve the water soluble ... Uh ohhh ... fusible also does NOT take the place of regular thread -- who knew? I did manage to hand sew that open 12 inches down with no problem. Even DH says he really likes all the puckering. 8-)

BTW, do you know you can use a fabric softener sheet with your hand sewing, and pull your thread through it. Works for me. I've never bought the "Conditioner" ...

Booty, Loot, and Stuff, for ME!

Saturday was promising to be a good day. Weather lovely, no big jobs to do - everyone happy. I had cleared out my sewing room enough to open up the back of my sewing table, in preparation for machine quilting. Then, Fons and Porter/Love of Quilting was on the TV, not a re-run, and (ta-ta-ta!) I was in charge of both the remote control AND the Lazy Boy.

Around noonish I put gas in my car, and was pleased the price/gallon had dropped a few cents more. Nice day, feeling good, zipped through the Dairy Queen for a 'feel-good' ice cream cone. Happiness and life is often made up of small pleasurable bits, isn't it?

When I arrived home, this mail what was waiting for me ... The box is from Patti of Quilting is my Passion for being the 50th person to comment to her post of July 14. And look at all this good stuff! A darling little Mary Engelbright tin sewing box, LOTS of fabric and a whole package of beautiful fallish FQs, a table-runner pattern, a bag of really sinfully sexy chocolates - which is not shown because I asked DH to hide it and dole them out to me one at a time. I am weak, I admit. Oh Patti, this is just too wonderful - thank you so much.

But wait, there's more. I also received my DVD from the Pajama Quilter but have not been able to watch it, because I've been busy looking for that bag of sinfully sexy chocolates.

I'm making preparations to machine quilt my first Kaleidoscope - the one that is pretty wild. It's larger than the last one posted. Pushing, mashing, pulling a quilt through the harp in my machine, even though it's a generous 10 inches, is still tedious and not simple, so this time I decided to experiment. After sandwiching, spraying and pinning the quilt, I loaded water soluble thread on top and bobbin and ran huge basting stitches (dogs down) on the quilt, from side to side. Maybe this is pointless, but I WAS able to get the pins out and didn't have to worry about hitting them, and I feel the quilt is more stable with the basting. The spool of dissolving thread is only 300 yards, and was $6.95, and I had leftover thread.

One issue I am having is that my quilting thread is light in some areas, looking a lot like the basting thread, so I really have to concentrate - it's easy to lose my way with machine quilting this method, when my eyes are so close to the stitches. You can see the vertical stitches which are the soluble thread. It simply melts when doused with water. And, as I said, it's an experiment. Also, my machine quilting thread is different than the last very nice one and does not 'lay in the fabric' as nicely.

And lastly, one of the frequent visitors to our deck, looking lovely and fine, with stunning colored plumage.