Saved by the Muse

The last couple of weeks brought the final touch to my granddaughter Lucy's quilt, as her birthdate could at last be embroidered on the quilt along with her name.

Stitched with the Broadway font on the Janome Horizon 8900...not my first choice but it showed up better than the others. 

(For a full photo of Lucy's quilt, see the blog post titled 'Something Fishy.')

Also finished this week, except for the hanging sleeve, is the quilt that nearly got cut in half at one point. If you've visited this blog before, you might remember the piece on the left.

The water and sky were handpainted with diluted Tsukineko inks. After the batik mountains were added, I hit a wall. No, not the design wall, although I probably felt like hitting it at the time. :)  I mean, I drew a blank. My creativity suddenly took a hiatus, at least on this particular project. Nothing else seemed to be working on this background.

The best I got before giving up and putting it away were the additional fabrics auditioned in the photo at right. At that point, a couple of readers encouraged me not to do what I was threatening to do, which was to cut this piece apart in the middle and use it for two separate landscapes. I'm so glad they did!


About the time Lucy was due 4 weeks ago, creativity had not only come back but had gone straight into overdrive. At that point both this quilt top and one other were being put together in record time. Yesterday, this one was finished, except for the hanging sleeve.

Photo #1 was taken on the design wall in the best light I could get at the time. Photo #2 was taken near a window with the quilt pinned to a big piece of green foam rubber. It gives you a better idea what the quilting looks like. Unfortunately, the tripod wasn't set up for #2, and you can tell...without it, I take crooked photos!


The other quilt top I mentioned being done is actually finished being quilted, as well, but isn't squared and trimmed and bound yet. I'll save it for next time.

Linking up with Lizzie Lenard Vintage Sewing's Free Motion Mavericks post and Confessions of a Fabric Addict's Whoop Whoop Fridays post. Be sure to check out the reader links at the end of each of these inspiring blogs.

Everyone have a great weekend, and stay safe from violent weather. There's been a lot of that around this last week or so.

Linda

Something Fishy

auditioning background blocks and sashing

Last August saw the beginning of a quilt for my husband's and my first grandchild, Lucy Maeve, due to arrive March 15.

Not much blogging has been done in the many weeks since this became my main project, as I wanted our daughter-in-law, Shannon, to be at least a little surprised.

This week--after months of sketching, calculating, debating, cutting, piecing, pattern drawing, fusing, appliqueing, embroidering, hair pulling (and occasional cursing), template-making and quilting--Lucy's quilt is finished at last!

Lucy's papa, our son Alex, and her mama, Shannon. (Update: Forgot to say, the blank block at the bottom
is waiting for Lucy's name and birthdate.)

Laid on an an extra-long twin bed.
(There is an identical bed--frame, headboard and footboard--in Lucy's
house. The two beds were built as bunk beds by her great-grandfather
for my husband and his sister when they were little.)

Only the borders were stitched in free motion, unfortunately. With two layers of batting and lots of applique, most of the quilt refused to budge without a dual-feed foot to show it who was boss--which made it pretty challenging when echo-quilting around circular shapes. Thread had to be cut repeatedly. More than 300 knots are buried in the quilt. Is that bad?? I ask because I've never made a bed quilt like this one. My others were straight-stitched with no breaks.





Below are some close-ups (click on a photo if you would like to enlarge it):

The bottom border is supposed to look like scallop shells
sticking out of the sand.

Lucy's mama loves jellyfish, so I couldn't
resist making one the main feature of the quilt.

Leah Day followers might recognize the Bubble Wand stitch on the blue border.
The green border is supposed to be heart-shaped seaweed.

The turtle is the only creature breaking the surface.

Made a template for the waves
in the top border.

It looks like a very joyful quilt to me, so I'm tempted to name it Jellyfish Joy or something equally corny. But then again, I'd rather wait until Lucy is old enough to name it herself or maybe even decide it doesn't need a name. Actually, I can't wait to hear her ideas and opinions on everything!

Here are some photos of the back:

(Back corner flipped over on top of the quilt)

The idea was to have a peaceful side and a busy side, depending on Lucy's mood.











On to another project. If you've seen this blog before, you might remember this vintage knitted sweater pattern in progress from a previous post.

Last week it was finished, along with the matching bonnet. Here's Shannon just after receiving them at her baby shower.

The fastenings, a little hard to see here, are loops and shank buttons.

That was a very fun day, and seeing all the wonderful gifts and supplies brought home the reality that a new member of the family is arriving in just 4 weeks!!!

Before signing off, I'm linking up with some of my favorite quilting blogs--Confessions of a Fabric Addict's Whoop Whoop Friday, Lizzie Lenard's Free Motion Mavericks, (since I did free-motion stitch the borders!) and A Quilting Reader's Garden WIPs Be Gone. Check all of them out as well as their reader linkups, whether you are looking for inspiration or simply want to spend some quality time on the internet. You'll get both, I promise.

Meanwhile, a bit of encouragement for everyone expecting lots of snow, like we are tonight...spring will be here in just 5 weeks!

Linda

Feathers with Heart

In my four years of quilting in free motion (feed dogs down), I had never stitched the much-touted 'feathers.' So I was feeling pretty good about having finally taken the plunge yesterday...until I looked a little closer.

These are not feathers...are they? They're more like hearts, right? At least where the halves match on either side of the center vein. Wherever they don't match, I'm not sure what you'd call them. Anyway, they seem to work pretty well for the water plants in the underwater scene quilt. But that means I still haven't stitched 'feathers' in a quilt! Ah, well, someday...

Empty square reserved for quilt dedication

Also added were sea creatures on the ocean bottom. The sand dollar, starfish, and octopus came from photos I found and cropped, then printed on printer fabric, sprayed with Scotch-guard, and embellished with Isacord embroidery thread using a hoop.

Enough margin was cut around each creature to satin-stitch the printer fabric (fused with Steam-a-Seam 2 Lite) onto the quilt top with a dark-green thread that blends into the background fabric.

Also been doodling with other plant designs for free-motion stitching in the borders, and came up with this. (It wouldn't surprise me to find out that this was in one of my quilting magazines and my brain just retrieved it from the ol' memory bank.) Notice what we've got going here...again!

Sure looks like hearts to me. And now that I think of it, there may be a good reason for that.  :)

Speaking of which...

There's a new drawer in the studio.

This drawer is far from full, but we just got the news a few weeks ago, and now we're waiting to find out if our first grandbaby is a boy or a girl. (Until then, I'm firmly disciplining myself to keep all pink, lavender and frills out of anything to which I take a needle of any kind.)

Meanwhile, VVHH (very versatile handy husband), who made the quilt studio and tons of other amazing things in this house, has been making use of the hundreds of wine corks in our basement. Until recently he'd been making beautiful cork bulletin boards with them. Now the corks are taking on a life of their own--wildlife, that is. Meaning, specifically, reindeer and Christmas trees!

(excuse the acrylic sewing table)

The cicada-shell cowboy riding the center reindeer was not my idea.

I'm finishing up here with some other non-quilting photos taken this morning, just because it's a beautiful morning and is approaching my favorite time of year...fall!

Garden harvest and part of tonight's pasta sauce (Run, tomatoes, run!!)

Speaking of wildlife...

Hornets' nest next door. So far they've been no trouble.

Kitty and Mama Cat, who adopted us as their people in 2010, and have their own lawn chairs out back for sitting with us while we drink coffee in the morning. Our indoor cats think they're the devil.

Rock brought from the same place that is pictured in the background quilt (Rock of Ages) on this blog page. The hole was worn naturally by water eons ago.

Hooking up here with Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday. Go there and see what an awesome gift Sarah received this week! Also linking to Lizzie Lenard Vintage Sewing's Free Motion Mavericks. Check out her beautiful work, as well as the inspiring reader links at the bottom of each of these blogs.

Have a wonderful weekend~~

Linda