The give away and a happy ending...

Since everyone in the house is asleep but me and unable to draw a winner for me, I used the random number generator to determine the comment number that would win the gently used "All Around the Block" pattern.  The winner is...lucky number eleven...Crispy of Crispy Quilts.  Congratulations!  Thanks to everyone who commented/participated.  I wish I had something to send to everyone! 

I could really feel the love today from everyone that responded with comforting words of encouragement concerning my silly hiccup with my "All Around the Town" quilt top.  Funny, it seems like a silly hiccup now but it seemed HUGE last night.

Fixing everything and finishing the top a second time wasn't so bad.  I put off everything else I was supposed to do today and just got it done.  I just finished basting it and it is ready for hand quilting.  Yee-haw!

Want to see how I squared the center of this 60 inch x 60 inch quilt top? 

Yep...that is every big acrylic ruler I own, plopped on the top and shuffled around until I was completely satisfied.  I sure justified buying them all over the years with this one crazy project.  I'm sure there are other ways to square a large project, but this was fun and it actually worked.

And here it is, all basted.  I ran out of Thursday, so the first quilting stitch will have to wait until Friday...sigh.

In stitches,

Teresa  :o)

Back to "square" one...it sucks to be a grown up...

It is minus 8 degrees here this morning!   Brrrrrr!  I did a no-no yesterday and boy has it ever been a learning experience!!  I want to share it with you because I think that blogging is all about shared experience...the good, the bad, and the UGLY.

As many of you know, the method of applique that I like to use involves using glue.  Actually two kinds of glue...Elmer's glue sticks for prepping my pieces and Roxanne's glue baste, instead of pins, for applique placement.  I LOVE this method...but I am still learning so much about it...like yesterday.

I am of the opinion that no matter how good we think we are with a quilting technique, no matter how comfortable we are, we never truly master anything because there is always something else to learn about it.  I love my applique technique...it allows me the design freedom I seek and I am usually happy with the speed and results.

If there is a down side to using the glues, it would be the glue removal.  I am comfortable enough with my technique that I am now using the bare minimum of glue, both for pressing the tiny turn under allowances to the backside of the fabric pieces and placement (dot-dot-not-a lot...). 

The glues are archival quality, meaning they don't contain acids that would otherwise damage the fabric over time.  Despite this, I usually soak my applique blocks and borders in water with gently squeezing to remove the glue.  Then I press carefully with a dry iron on the back side to dry them and then I trim them to size.

This "All Around the Town" project was a little different than my usual fare because on every one of the 12 blocks, there were little bits of "lawn" that weren't sewn down at the block bottoms because they overlapped adjacent blocks upon assembly.

So I waited, anxiously, about glue removal, somehow thinking "fiddle-dee-dee...I'll worry about that tomorrow."  It was my Gone With the Wind moment.  I distracted myself by adding one more little appliqued touch...a quilt block on the end of the barn, as suggested by Stephanie of The Pumpkin Barn (thanks!),

Yesterday, as I was contemplating my quilt top, ready to layer and baste it, dreaming of using my new thimble, I thought about the glue...and Scarlett finally woke up.  I had already added the two borders and worked really hard to make it completely square and flat.  Perfect.

I decided that the glue must be removed, so I filled the wash tub with water, stay-stitched around the outside edge of the top, and plunged the beast into the water.  I thought that if I was careful enough, I could blot it in a towel, block it and press carefully to get it back to a square, perfectly flat object of my desire.

Oh my God...

After 2 hours of painstaking, excruciating pressing work, my top was flat...almost, and square...sort of.  I knew that all my fabrics had been prewashed against fading and shrinkage, I had been mindful of the fabric grain when cutting out my pieces, I had appliqued with lovely silk thread and I had ripped my two borders on the lengthwise grain...what could go wrong??

Ugh...100% cotton piecing thread...

Bowed, "smiling" borders...

Totally tortured corner blocks...I actually thought this "hill and valley" area would quilt out...

Everything I had stitched with my sewing machine...assembling blocks and putting on borders...pulled in and shrank...BADLY.  All in all I did a great job of stretching, pressing and salvaging my mistake.  But, when you have spent this long doing intricate hand applique on a top you love and hope to pass down through the ages, you don't cut corners.

I hung it on my design wall and was horrified by what I saw (sorry...no picture...I was too busy throwing up ).  The middle actually sagged and it didn't lie flat against my design wall/ugly pink college blankie that usually grabs everything.

But, in denial, I quickly stretched out my backing on the tables, smoothed on my batting, and attempted to make that sucker 2-dimensional again, using my long rotary rulers to try and gently ease the weirdness into a square and flat quilt sandwich.  I was dreaming about using my new thimble...it's supposed to "quilt out," right?

I even pinned it and put a few basting stitches in before going to do my music job at the church last night.  Denial, denial, denial...

On the way home it hit me...this is not acceptable.  This slip-shod, half-ass effort is not worthy of all the hours I put into this top.  Who cares what a judge or my friends would say or think, I would know that I had not done my best.

I knew that the car tire applique stitches would need to be removed and the tires pinned back out of the way, the borders would have to come off, and I would need to relax the top and tortured quilt corners and re-square the quilt center.  Then I would have to rip NEW border strips and finish it a second time, re-appliqueing all the car tires.  Ugh...

 

My poor, "flat" car tires...

So I did all the ugly, unsewing last night, looking forward to today when I would start afresh to fix my quilt.  And I will fix it and work really hard to make it perfectly square and true yet again.  Then I will TOTALLY enjoy the hand quilting experience then and bind and sleeve it knowing that it will hang straight on my wall...in all four positions (since I can't tell what side is really "up" on this sucker).

Next time I applique blocks with pieces that over lap, I will baste those few inches of turned under allowances and soak away, press true and trim.  Or I will needle turn that little bit.  Once I finally decided to face the music and fix this, I was surprising calm.  It sucks to be a grown up sometimes.

There are those who don't worry about such things.  And for some projects, it is perfectly acceptable to believe in the "galloping horse" view of quilting..."if you can't tell when riding by on a galloping horse, don't worry about it..."

This is not that kind of project and I am not that kind of quilter.

In stitches,
Teresa  :o)

I'm in LOVE and the pattern give away...

Ah...love is fickle.  I usually think of myself as pretty loyal partner.  My third finger on my right hand has been married to the same Roxanne's quilting thimble for years.  I occasionally use the old fashioned silver one for applique, as it was my grandmother's.  And, I like the adhesive thimble pads when I go "au naturale."

I have had 3 Roxanne's thimbles over the many years, with the brass one as my favorite for the last 8-9 years.  Well, move on over 'cause I have a new love...a new thimble!

(I still love my Scissoroos, Nat!!)

I just bought this little beauty after Barb (Fun With Barb) shared her story of finding her thimble after it had been missing for a while.  I was so touched by her emotion in telling her story that I just had to look into the matter for myself.

The thimble is made by T.J. Lane at http://www.thimbles2fit.com/.   I was a little skeptical of getting a good fit ordering it online, but I am completely pleased.  They guarantee the fit.

I chose an "open thimble," which allows for your fingernail, usually not a problem for me..please excuse my man-ish, piano-player, horrible manicure.  I downloaded her paper measuring strip and followed the directions for a great fit.  You can get the opening round or slightly oval.  I found the slightly oval to be perfect.  (Hey Glenn...how do you like yours?)

The fit with the Roxanne's thimble was never great.  It just wasn't shaped like my finger tip, so my finger tip never went to the end of the thimble.  It was heavy and after it flew off my finger and hit one poor woman in the chest while I was teaching a hand quilting class, I knew the love affair was over and I needed to move on.  Sigh.

This new thimble fits perfectly...like a second skin.  And it is so lightweight and beautiful.  They have many styles to choose from.  When I first slipped it on, I was a little worried that it might be too short and not stay on, but it is fabulous.

I've tried every kind of thimble...leather, snakeskin, plastic, metal, rubber...there was once even a paddle-shaped thingee that you held, which someone borrowed and never returned, so I can't show it to you.  (It actually worked so I am sorry I don't have it anymore...)

Anyway, on to the pattern give away.  I recently finished the top called "All Around the Town" by Sue Garmon.

There has been so much interest in this older BOM pattern, purchased from Quakertown Quilts in Houston, and it was a little expensive so I thought I would give it away.  This way, someone else can enjoy this journey.  (I taped the original pattern sheets together for each of the 12 blocks to lay out my applique.  I think I would mess them up if I was to untape them, so I will just roll them up gently and put them in a tube mailer along with the rest of the directions and the picture that came with it.)

So leave a comment by Thursday evening at midnight EST and I will announce a winner on Friday morning.

And now, some eye candy!!  Check out this incredible Halloween gourd that my best friend Ola designed and made for my husband as a Christmas gift.  We are  now using it as a night light in our bedroom with one of those LED tea lights.  There's a ghost on top of the cute pumpkin and somehow she made the most beautiful cut in the gourd to separate the shapes.  Look...it even looks like Steve!! (he's holding it in the dark picture)

Next, Mary J. is at it again, holding a second top made using the Fons and Porter doggie pattern that was available on their web site.  The ears are 3-D and I just love their expressive eyes.

And finally, Beth K. surprised me, Ola and Mary J. with homemade mittens today.  We were 3 very happy kittens with our lovely new mittens!  Thanks Beth!!

It's been a fabulous week and it is only Wednesday!!

In stitches,

Teresa  :o)

That new car smell..."All Around the Town" top is finished!

Adding the cars to "All Around the Town" is the final step to making this quilt top...and now I am there.  It was fun to finally get to choose the colors and placement.  I ended up adding a few extra ones.  And now the top is done!

I finished last night while watching "Masterpiece Theater" on PBS.  Now I will always associate this top with "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" (in addition to "American Pickers" on the History Channel).

I was lucky to have a piece large enough for the outer border in my stash.  The top is slightly under 60 x 60 (which assures I can enter it as a wall hanging rather than a bed quilt in the upcoming Sauder Village Quilt Show).

The quilt isn't as dark looking as the pictures above...the close-ups below turned out a little brighter and the colors look more true.

I think this will fun to hand quilt!  I can't wait to get it layered and basted!

I'm sure a lot of sewing was done yesterday and last night during the Super Bowl...can't wait to see everyone's blogged progress!

In stitches,

Teresa  :o)

Wordless Saturday...fish catch and sheep

In stitches,

Teresa  :o)