MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!

This afternoon, I finished the binding of #21 and boy, am I feeling amazed!!   I accomplished #quilt21in2021.  That shelf is empty (though I'm sure it will attract new stuff quickly)!! 

As I said a couple weeks ago, I saved the easiest quilting job for last -- I believed I could get it done in three days once I decided "raining hearts" would work for the quilting!  The edge-to-edge wavy lines with hearts inserted randomly went quickly and there were no thread ends to bury!!  I've used the same  idea on other quilts inserting snowflakes, stars, leaves and little flowers.

It's dreary and raining here today so I had to settle for draping it over the front porch railing for a photo.  This top was a shop model to sell the preprinted nursery rhyme panels and my mother pieced it for me -- as usual the fabric sold out before the top was quilted so it's been patiently waiting for it's day at the machine for about 20 years?!?  My plan is to give it to mom's next great-grandchild!!

And I need to share number 20!  It was another intimidating top!  First I had to let go of the "it's hand- pieced, it should be hand-quilted" notion.   If I was going to reach my goal, hand-quilting wasn't a good option.  I literally had no ideas about a quilting design but with time growing short, I pushed myself to "just start".   

I outline-quilted the central wreath and the large green wreath and happily, the inspiration began to appear, one piece at a time -- each aspect growing out of the previous quilting.  About half way through the quilt, I remembered that the piecing design occurred in the same fashion -- little by little, section by section.  While it probably would not be considered improvisation in "design", it was definitely a work of improvisation in "ideas". 

I found some inspiration by revisiting one of my blogposts from 2014 HERE and pulling out the quilt I did that winter as I experimented with machine quilting flower garden motifs.  Each of the six corners of the green wreath are quilted like a hexie flower motif.

A pencil sketch I found in my drawer 

and a practice piece provided the design for the balance of the green wreath.

Of course, it hardly shows up on the scrappy hexagons but it was fun to stitch through and a close up view will reveal it's details.

My "go-to" background quilting design for hexagons is an equilateral triangle grid but with English paper pieced hexagons, it need to shift a bit  as the opened seams of English paper piecing are too weak for stitch-in-the-ditch quilting so the grid is based on the centers of each hexagon edge as in the photograph below.  

The motifs that are appliqued around the wide border are not as perfectly aligned as I intended (what is??), so after an afternoon of gridlock -- drawing chalk lines, erasing chalk lines, etc. -- I settled on arcs  in the hexagons and straight lines connecting the motifs that camouflaged the imperfect alignment and spacing. 

I did have one challenge with quilting this top -- occasional crappy bobbin thread tension!?!  There are three possible reasons for this -- an un-balanced tension setting for the threads I'm using which is the easiest to correct in my opinion.  Then there is un-balanced speed when I'm moving the quilt through the machine too fast for the speed the machine is running -- I have to constantly remind myself to slow down my feeding speed.  And finally, it happens when I quilt to the "northeast".  My machine behaves badly when I move the quilt through heading in that direction.  There is no option but to stop and adjust the quilt so I'm not quilting "northeast".

Happily, I've figured out a fix that works 90% of the time!

Working on the topside of the quilt, I lift each individual stitch to pull the excess top thread up until the stitching on the back looks normal.  This creates a "loop" of extra thread on the top.

Then I insert a self-threading needle at one end of the loop and carefully "grab" that loop and pull it under the surface of the quilt top.  It's much like burying a thread end.

It's also rather tedious and I find that doing it a few times reinforces the idea with my brain that I need to slow down the hands to mesh better with the speed at which I'm running the machine.

Of course, you can also take the stitching completely out and start over again -- equally annoying, so take your pick.

My purpose for finishing all these tops into usable quilts this year is to make it easier for my family to deal with them when the time comes to downsize or disperse -- in theory, a finished quilt should be easier to rehome than a quilt top.   The "master plan" is to let my family put their names on quilts they want, then gradual disperse ones they don't want as opportunities present -- I've already rehomed 8 quilts in the past five months!!  At 44" by 48", this one is a little small for a lap robe, but a little large for a wall hanging . . . . . and then on my way down the stairs after binding it, I made the instant decision to keep this one for now as it will fit perfectly on the stair wall!!

(We'll see how long it takes to add a casing?!?)

We sort of missed Christmas here (thanks, Covid) and it appears New Year's will be the same.  The options are limited again and the challenge once more is to push away "fatalism" and find that corner of contentment where hours drift past more easily.  I'm already weary of our dreary weather (no snow) and aside from the lettuce in the cold frame and invasive ivy to pull, the garden offers no respite.  Luckily, I have a messy studio with an empty shelf to occupy my time -- I'm sure I can fill that shelf back up.

The past couple afternoons have seen tidy-up progress already and a list is emerging of stuff to do.

Next week starts another year with new goals for me.

Blessings to each of you in the New Year and thank you for encouraging me to achieve

#quilt21in2021!!

Mary