"Invisible" hand quilting...

I'm quilting along on my "Folk Art Applique" quilt...I didn't get it finished for the 36th annual Sauder Village Quilt Show.  I would of had to have it finished by last Sunday to drive it down in time for show set up.  I realized the Tuesday before that I was ABSOLUTELY INSANE to think I would finish the hand quilting in time.  Maybe, if I had nothing else to do the rest of the week, but I didn't have that luxury.  (The Wonder Woman cape is back in mothballs...)

Wow...NONE of my black quilting thread shows up in the pictures...except where I crossed the vine when outline quilting the grapes.  Those grapes are floating on a skinny piano key quilted background.  I should have quilted this in GREEN...because my  BASTING stitches certainly show up, LOL...

I am outline quilting all the applique in black, then quilting on top of the applique motifs in off white.  I am doing a cross-hatching design behind the applique blocks, then, as mentioned, the "invisible," skinny piano key design on the outer border, behind the grapes.

At least the white thread shows up!  This feels a little like the "Emperor's New Cloths" style of quilting in that I'm telling you the black quilting lines are there, but who knows...maybe they really aren't...

Does anyone out there have suggestions for photographing black quilting thread on black fabric?!?

So now I am ENJOYING the leisurely hand quilting even more...now that there is not a self-inflicted gun held to my head (big grin).

I took the two other quilts I had planned on..."Boxer Rebellion" (otherwise known as my husband's old undies...)...

...and "X Marks the Block," an original, free-pieced, "liberated" quilt that I made for my daughter.  The original plan was to hand quilt this one, but that plan changed last February.

The show runs from Tuesday, May 1 through Sunday, May 6, and I am going tomorrow (Friday).  A little bird emailed me Tuesday morning to tell me that "Boxer Rebellion" won second place in the Small Wall Hanging, Mixed Technique, Hand Quilted category (thanks, Norma!).  Being made from old underwear and stupidly quirky, the best I could have ever hoped for was an "Honorable un-Mention-ables" ribbon...hee-hee-hee.

When I called Steve at work to tell him what I heard, he was happy his underpants were being enjoyed by the judges and so many women from all over the Midwest.  HA!  You just never know...

My daughter is a self-proclaimed nerd...straight A student (in an IB program, no less!), closet novel author (we just printed initial copies of her first book!), a musician, a lover of Harry Potter, Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Who, Merlin, and horses.  When I say she loves Harry Potter books, movies and characters, etc., I mean she LOVES them!  Here she is, years ago, posing with her first Harry Potter quilt that I came up with...she has requested another, more dark and mysterious one...not "cute" like this one.

(She had just lost her two front teeth...)

Anyway, my friend Bonnie (no blog) turned me onto the coolest site for "nerd quilting"...it's called Fandom In Stitches.  This site has all kinds of great, FREE, paper-pieced blocks by and for fans of Harry Potter, "Dr. Who," "The Muppets," The Lord of the Rings, "Merlin," Sherlock Holmes, etc.  This site even has some favorite Disney, comics, games, sports, and other patterns.  You'll enjoy browsing here!

Tomorrow I am off with friends to the 36th Annual Sauder Village Quilt Show in Archbold, Ohio...I can't wait!  I'm kind of bummed that I didn't finish my "Folk Art Applique" quilt in time...next year!

I will take lots of pictures to share with you!

In stitches,
Teresa  :o)

Tough choice for a devotee...

My 12-year-old daughter, Riley, is a HUGE Harry Potter fan.  She has been ever since we read the first book together when she was 4-5.  I made this "HARRY POTTER" quilt for her when she was 5-6 years old (I designed the blocks and drew some of the applique motifs...the others came from The Quilting Season in Saline, Michigan).  I don't remember who made the wizard fabric that I used for the borders, but at the time it was perfect (even looked a little like Dumbledore...).

Don't get me wrong, she is still a huge Harry Potter geek, but now her number one love is HORSES.  She picked out all the fabrics for "ALL FENCED IN" ("Poker Run" from Buggy Barn).  It is my first Buggy Barn effort, even though I have been collecting their books and patterns for years.  (I want to do the one with the cats and flowers next!).  I had this one machine-quilted by Rhonda Loy of Dexter, Michigan in a simple, small stippling pattern...there are only so many hand-quilting hours in the day (sigh).  All I need to do is sew on the buttons for the eyes (they look strange with no eyes...).

 

There are still three quilts waiting for me to bind them, but I have to say that all I want to do is work on "Civil War Bride Quilt" blocks.  I guess I should pace myself, but it is hard not to be thinking about fabric choices and dreaming of the groom block that I am making up in my head.  (Check out my blog list for a link to a group of very talented quilters from all around the globe who are working on and sharing this project journey together.)

In stitches,

Teresa  :o)