COLOR STAR QUILTED

 I've been busy doing other stuff the last few days and getting the business B&O Taxes filed and paid by the end of the month. 

But, today I was back to quilt Color Star on the longarm.

And now it is officially quilted and off the machine.

NEXT UFO TO DO

 November's UFO Challenge is my Color Star quilt top.  I made a backing using greys and black and white prints from my stash.  I didn't put a label on it.  The center of this quilt was a printed panel of the color star.  I had added some black fabric to the top and bottom of it to make it rectangular.  Then I added the four borders using coordinating fabrics and put it away.  It was not yet big enough for a twin sized quilt, so I added another plain black border to make it 66" by 80" when I pulled it out to finish.

I loaded the backing onto the longarm yesterday.  Today I added the batting and the top and got busy setting up a pantograph and starting the quilting on it .  I only got one pass made before it was time to go in for the day.

CUTTING PANTS

 Darrell was getting rid of a pile of pants he didn't want anymore.  I grabbed them.

I spent the morning cutting them up into just fabric.  That means getting rid of all of the heavy seams.

I felt a little bad because most of the pants were still wearable.  But, I want to make a quilt.

BINDING SPIDER LEGS

 I enlisted help from my quilty friends from Brave Patch in deciding on which fabric to use for the binding on Spider Legs.  We settled on this black and white strip.  I like to use bias binding, which means the strip will be diagonal.  

I made the binding and got it sewed on today.

Then I put it up on the wall and took the photos I need if I want to submit it to a show.

This quilt is done!  It's 63" by 81" 

WITCH HAT

As if I didn't have other things to do I decided instead to make a Witch's Hat.  I had a chunk of old Alexander Henry fabric with magical symbols, bats, cats and other stuff on it that would be perfect for this project.

It was a battle getting the cone sewn onto the brim and it isn't pretty, but it looks okay on the outside and that's all that matters.

I quilted it on the longarm first.

Then cut out the parts with a pattern from Prairie Misfit.  And sewed them together after I watched her short video on YouTube and read the directions on the pattern.  

And it turned out all right!

VINTAGE CAT BUCKET

I watched a how-to video on Creative Bug and made this Vintage looking Halloween Cat bucket.

Its papier-mâché over a plastic pumpkin bucket.

SPIDER LEGS QUILTING FINISHED

 I finished the quilting on the Spider Legs quilt, made from Spider Web parts from Sherri Lynn Wood's improv workshop.  I'm very pleased with how this quilt looks.  The teal background fabric is just so much fun.  And it's always satisfying to use up scraps like I did in the black and white 'webs'.  

I used a light teal thread in the 'background' areas.  I only had a partial small spool and was concerned about running out.  But, I won!  I won the thread-chicken game.  Just barely.

ps, that's my little pin cushion, Freydis. She's in charge of my spiral eye needle.

Here is is. Almost done.

PHOTO DAY

 Darrell just finished one of his projects and photographed it this morning.  Then I got out my quilt stand and hung Carpe Diem and he photographed it too.

His lighting is color temperature adjustable.  Its very interesting to change them and see what it does to the colors of the quilt.  But they do really show off the quilting.

DIAGONAL QUILTING

 Now that Carpe Diem is off my mind for the most part, I can get back to quilting the neglected Spider Legs quilt which is loaded diagonally on the longarm.

I've been ignoring it and doing other projects lately.  But, I got back to it today and made a little progress.  It's now past the half way mark.

CARPE DIEM FINISHED

 I got the facing made and sewn on and Carpe Diem is now a finished quilt.

This is finish number 13 for the year.

TESTING

 I wasn't sure which orange thread I used that caused the bleed on Carpe Diem.  So, I set up an experiment to find the culprit.

I took the four likely suspects and put some of their thread onto some white Kona, some light grey Kona and the Taupe/Grey Artisan Cotton that was used in the quilt.  I added water and waited.

And none of them bled.

So I added some of the variables.  I added some of the water soluble blue marker - and nothing.  I added a drop of machine oil thinking there might have been some on the needle when I basted the quilt - and nothing.  I rubbed some of the thread with my fingers thinking maybe it was the oil from my hands - and nothing.  I added hot water - and nothing.  

I am baffled as to why that thread ran.

MADE A BEAD SPIDER

 I made a spider with beads.

I'm going to dangle it somewhere.  Live long and prosper.

SYNTHROPOL TO THE RESCUE

 After much talk and advice received, I got my Synthropol and mixed a strong solution with water and began dobbing, blotting and rubbing at the orange bleed (caused by the Aurifil thread I used to baste this quilt).

It is hard to see if its working when the fabric gets wet, but it does appear to be.  I'll have to wait until it dries tomorrow to know how well it worked.

It took almost three hours to do the whole quilt.  I'm hopeful that I got it all.  By the end of that time, my hands were puckered and were beginning to cramp.  

TINY HEXAGONS

 I've started making a Needle Book from a pattern by Sue Spargo.

It involves making this tiny hexagon flower.  I made my own paper hexies to wrap the fabrics around.  I will sew them together tonight while watching TV.  

ORANGE BLEED ON QUILT

 I was very disappointed to see Carpe Diem when I got home.  It's been three days on the work wall drying from the water I sprayed on it to remove the blue marking lines.  The blue lines are mostly gone, but the orange bleed from the Aurifil thread is still visible on the quilt.

This is so heartbreaking for me.  I've put a lot of work into making this quilt and I'm very proud of it.  And to have an internationally popular thread brand bleed is very upsetting.  I don't think of thread color as ever bleeding.  I need to think about what to do because I can't submit it to a show looking like this.  I don't want to wash it.  The batting is 100% wool and will shrink and wouldn't look right for a show either. I need to consult with my quilt friends and think about this.

DAY TWO OF WORKSHOP

 Day Two of the Exquisite Bead Book Workshop.  First thing, we rinsed the dyes from our fabrics then set them out to dry.

And we began beading on our practice pieces.

We began with stitching what will become the binding on the pages

It's a blanket stitch with a knot added.

EXQUISITE BEAD WORKSHOP

 I left home at about 7am heading north to La Conner for the Exquisite Bead Book Workshop with Gail Harker.  

I arrived a little early even though I stopped several times including at Starbucks for breakfast and coffee.

The workshop was in the Civic Garden Center, which is right across the street from the Quilt Museum.

The Pacific NW Quilt and Fiber Arts Museum

The LaConner Civic Garden Club

The first day we dyed the fabrics we prepared and brought, wool and silk organza.  Each reacted differently to the dyes.  The wool took a lot of dye while the organza needed very little, but it didn't spread very well for either.  So, we massaged it to get the dyes to move in interesting ways.

Dyes prepared.

Gail explaining to us how we'll do it.

And we dyed some perle cotton thread that we'll use on binding our books.

Here are some of the others fabrics - we set them out on plastic to leave them overnight.

And my fabrics.

DONE HAND QUILTING

 I finally finished the hand quilting big stitch on the Carpe Diem quilt of improv Hourglass blocks.

I haven't done any hand quilting in decades, at least on anything this big.  

I pinned up a sheet of plastic on the work wall and pinned the quilt up, using lots of pins.  My purpose was to get it squared up and straight.  Then I sprayed it with water to get the blue marking lines to disappear.  It took a lot of spraying, some of the marks were a little stubborn, but they all eventually went away.

However, orange from the Aurifil 50wt thread I used for the basting left orange marks and faint lines here and there on the lightest fabric.  Very disappointing. 

I patted the quilt, while wet, to get the layers  to meld together and it looks a lot better now.  

So here it is:

Before I sprayed with water, notice the orange dots and faint lines between.

After water, marking lines are gone, but orange dots still visible.