PHOTOGRAPHYING BIG FLOWER

 We set up Darrell's bench room for photos and hung Amity Baroque for photographing.  He took a bunch of photos.

This is not one of the photos he took.  I shot this with my iPhone.

FACED

 I sewed the facing onto Amity Baroque using some of the excess backing that was trimmed off after quilting.  I did have to add some Kona Pecan on the bottom edge.

This sateen backing was probably not a good idea.  It's wonderfully soft, but there have been several 'pulled threads' which don't look very good.

I'm now in the process of hand sewing the facing onto the back of the quilt, today while listening to the Brave Patch group discussing our current book, Threads of Life by Clare Hunter.

BACK AND LOADED

 I made a backing for the Long-legged Star quilt and loaded it up on the longarm.

I had found this great ombre cloud print in my stash - it's an oldie, probably from the late 90's by Nancy Crow.  I didn't make a label, but I did ink my name in one of the white stripes.  

Then, I loaded it onto the longarm and started quilting it.  I got about half way.

AMITY B QUILTED!

 Despite all the heartaches and stress, I've managed to finish quilting on Amity Baroque and get it off the machine today.

I reached the conclusion that I won't be showing it.  I'm a little heartbroken.  Putting it into a show and having it be appreciated would have gone a long way to justify all of the hard work I've put into it. But, there are problems that cropped up, mainly the hole I inadvertently snipped in it when cutting threads.  I might have been able to live with that, but I also discovered a place where one of the loosely woven plaids was pulling apart from the seam.  It looks too bad to be hanging in public and being inspected.  It's not my best work.

But, I do love this quilt and appreciate it for what it is and how it got there.  I will find it a place of honor to live.

Here are the threads I used on it:

SASHED

 I originally wanted to put white sashing with small black crosses in the intersections.  I have lots of Kona black, but I was surprised that I had no White.  

I looked through my white prints, but nothing seem right.  So, I went with this black and white strip that I fussy-cut to be all the same.  It turned out kind of funky.

RED BRUSH

 Since the rainbow makeup brush has worked so well to keep my 770 Bernina clean and dusted, I bought a red one for the Q24.

Red for Bernina!

LONG LEGGED STARS

 I started making these star blocks in Joe Cunningham's Quilt Freedom Workshop last weekend.  Instead of just throwing the three blocks in the scrap bin I decided to make more and turn them into a little quilt.  So, this morning with the Monday Brave Patch group, I made some more!

HALF WAY MAYBE

 I've got the flower part all quilted.  There's a lot of background to do still.  And then there's the leaves.

It's coming along!

QUILTING ON AMITY

 More quilting - coming along great!

MORE QUILTING ON FLOWER

 It's slow going, I'm tying and burying the starts and stops as I go, which slows me down.  And, there's endless thread changes.  But, it's coming along nicely.

FUN WITH QUILTING

 This new machine, Erik, is a dream to use.  I'm having fun quilting on the big flower, Amity Baroque.  

WATERCOLOR APPLES

I signed up for an online workshop with Jane LaFazio.  This week's assignment was to sketch and paint some fruit from life.

I was amazed how drawing that little line around the apples turned a boring painting into a more interesting one.  (Jane's suggestion)

LET THE QUILTING BEGIN

 I've been fretting over the quilting for the big flower, Amity Baroque.

Well, today is the day.  I got it loaded onto Eric the Bold and Big (where I discovered that one of the leaders has been installed backwards.  I called Ben and he'll come out after I finish this quilt and fix it).

But, first I had to applique the circle in the middle of the petals and removed the excess fabric from behind it.  Cutting into it was scary.  And, I got to use my new duckbill scissors that came with the longarm package.  

Then I got started on the quilting.  I'm happy with it so far.

BACKING FOR AMITY

 I've finally started on the backing for the Amity: Baroque quilt.  I need to get it quilted and photographed before the end of the month.

I picked up this large floral backing fabric the other day at Wyldwood in Renton.  It was a remnant, only about a yard wide, but 108" long. I cut it into three parts and added some leftover plaids from some of the fabrics I used on the front.

GOING BIG!

 Have I mentioned that I wasn't happy with the limitations of the 9-foot Bernina longarm?  I've been regretting getting such a small machine.  I thought it would be able to handle just about the same width as my old 10-foot, but no, I was really wrong.  The Bernina 9-foot will only take, officially a 72" wide quilt.  I did manage to get that 77-1/2" on there though.  But it was a stretch. 

So, I enquired about changing the small frame in for a 12-foot.  I was told it was possible, but it would cost me!

But, what the hell is money for, if not to make one happy?

Today was the day they swapped it out.

The 9-foot - Before

The 12-foot - After

It fits!  There's less room going around it, but it was room that was basically unused before.  One of the benefits, however, is all that space underneath.  Now, all of the boxes I had stored behind the old one, can be stored under this one - out of sight and out of the way of the cabinets behind.

SWEATER DOG PILLOW CASE

 I finally got the Dog in Sweater pillow case put together. It' done.

Now I've got to get it to Hailey.

QUILTED DOG

 I finished up the quilting on the Dog in Sweater pillow case parts.  I will be sewing these parts together tomorrow, I hope.

Now I've got to get busy cleaning up the studio and the Bernina Q24 to get ready for the big switch out on Friday.

For those of you who don't know, I'm swapping this nine-foot frame for a 12-footer.  I need to get rid of a bunch of stuff in here.

BEAUTIFUL MORNING WALK

 The clouds blew away, the sun came out and we went for a walk in Lincoln Park this morrning.

It was very windy though, but beautiful.

DOG IN SWEATER

 Dogs In Sweaters is a pattern by Elizabeth Hartman.  I'm making a pillow for Hailey and her family.  They had a black and tan dachshund, Duke, whom they lost recently.  So, when Hailey was her for a few days, during her spring break, I asked her to pick the colors. 

I cut and sewed it all together while she was out having a day with her Grandpa.  I worked on it today while attending a Groove Session on Brave Patch from 9am to 11am.  Then the Sew Modern Connection zoomed from 11am until about 3pm.  So, that was a long day of sewing, but I got both the top done and the dog's name pieced on one of the back parts.  That was a lot of sewing, I'm tired.

NEW HOME FOR CABIN QUILT

 When I finished the Cabin quilt, my friend Sabine said she liked it.  I asked her if she wanted it, and she said yes!  So, I sent it to her.  She lives in Germany.

It took about 10 days for it go get there - I sent it the most inexpensive way - and it still wasn't cheap.

It was interesting watching the text updates I received from USPS as to where it was.  It went from here to Portland then to Los Angeles, where it hung out for several days, coming and going to different stations.  Then it was on to Atlanta where it spent another few days.  Finally, it arrived in Frankfurt, and took the slow route to Essingen, where she lives.

She sent me a wonderful note, along with this picture.  

I'm happy it found a good home.  

NEBULA TOP DONE

 I finally got this huge (97" by 98") quilt top done!  Yoo-hoo!

I really don't like having to sew on things this big - they are hard to keep straight in the machine, always wanting to slip and slide off the table.  Jeez.

Anyway, it's now folded up and waiting for a backing (another even huger thing!) and waiting for my new bigger, longer quilting frame before it can be quilted.

I got a surpise in the mail today.  It was a letter from my friend Sabine, who lives in Germany.  She sent me a really nice card with a piece of fabric as a frontispiece.  And, inside there is a needle - it's in Germany, but I think it will come in very handy when burying quilting thread ends.  I'll have to have google translate some of it, that will be fun.

I love the stamps, too!