And now some quilting

It just hit me that I haven't mentioned quilting here for quite a while. (Mostly because not much has been happening in that department lately!) But today I pinned one quarter section of the quilt for my son and daughter-in-law. I mentioned this project back here . This has been a project long in the making. I began planning it when Ben & Lee were engaged, but it was set aside because I was making another quilt for a friend's birthday, which was committed to before the engagement happened. I had decided to quilt that project in sections (Quilt As You Go), because I find handling really big bed quilts difficult these days, so it was a trial run for this quilt. (Why does everyone have such big beds nowadays? The mattress on our new bed is four inches thicker than the old one, because it has a layer of memory foam on it. I had to rethink the quilt I'm making for it.)

I made my friend's quilt in sections, and quilted them to about 2in away from the edges of the sections. Then I sewed the top layers together, trimmed the batting level with the seam so it butted together and then hand stitched one layer of the backing over the other. The problem was, I really hated that method. It was so hard to get everything lined up neatly on the back, because those sections weren't quilted and I still had to quilt over the areas where the sections joined. So each time I joined sections together, I had to quilt this little area, so it matched up with the existing quilting. Lots of stop starts. Who invented this dumb method?

All this put me off finishing this quilt for Ben and Lee. How was I going to quilt it? I love hand quilting with a passion, but not if it involves quilting through all those seams you get in a Log Cabin quilt. I am a happy machine quilter, especially with free motion quilting, but this is a very big quilt. Then last year, I discovered another method of quilting in sections. I'm sorry I can't credit it, because I don't remember now where I read about it. I suspect it isn't just one person's method anyway. But it's so much simpler than what I did before. You quilt each section right up to the seam line. Then you sew the sections together, right sides together, adding a sashing strip on the back. So you have section 1 face down, section 2 face up, then a narrow folded strip with the raw edges lined up with the other raw edges. After you have sewn them all together, you trim the batting on both sections back as close to the stitching as possible. (This is why you only quilt up to the seam line.) Then you lay the sections face down, and fold the folded strip over the raw edges on the back and slip stitch it down. This should be a lot easier than folding backing over itself, because everything is quilted and can't shift around. And I won't have to go back and quilt anywhere. I'm so hoping this is going work out! (Every large quilt I make from now on is going to be hand quilted. Period.)

Happy happy....

Dianne on Like Minded Artist asked us "What's your definition of a perfect day?"
My answer was "Warm and sunny, so I can go out in the garden early.
David home, working in his workshop and calling me to look at what he is making. Then back into my workroom for a few hours of contented pottering with no deadlines.
A visit from another textile artist for an hour or so.
Then back out into the garden in the late afternoon.
Lazy dinner with friends at an Italian or Moroccan or French restaurant, or the local Thai."
I didn't quite achieve all that lately, but I have had some really great days! Yesterday, in particular, was very like my perfect day. New medication is making me a considerably happier camper, and I have been really storming along, in the garden and in the workroom. My veggie patch is almost cleared after a year's disuse due to the water restrictions. I left it a little late in the day to photograph it, sorry!


The quilt for my son Ben and daughter-in-law Lee is to top stage. I'd like to pretend I just whipped this up this week, but to be truthful, it's taken me six years to get it this far! It is a very big quilt! Doesn't it look good on the bed David made for us?

And here is a little teaser of the fabric book pages for the Like Minded Artist swap, which are all almost finished. We had to make 14 pages for the swap, on a flower theme. They are due to be posted on Friday.