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Monday, December 01, 2008

Quilting Away....



It's always amazing to me how fast hand quilting goes even when you can only sit at it for 15 or 20 minutes at a time in between everything else. I guess it's that same ole advice on how to eat an ELEPHANT...one bite at a time!

I'm still working on the center, while thinking of what I want to do in the borders. The stripped outer border is easy enough to figure out..it's those big purple areas that I haven't decided on yet. It's my fave thing to just draw a feather in there and quilt it...but...does that make me too predictable?

The Jan/Feb 2009 issue of Quiltmaker Magazine is out to subscribers. I have a quilt pattern and article in there, and can I get my hands on the magazine? NO!! I may have to run and hit Barnes & Noble today to see if it is on the shelves yet. Silly me..I don't have a subscription,because when I have a quilt in an issue, they send me my copy free, so why have doubles? Now I'm chomping at the bit to see it.


Here are a couple pics of an antique Princess Feather quilt I snuck pics of in the museum in Charlotte. Don't worry, I didn't use flash! But I wish you could have seen it up close. I think how these ladies did all this work by window light....or kerosene at night...it's a wonder they didn't go blind! I know with my eyes, I can never get ENOUGH light...how did they do it?

I love 4 block quilts. Maybe some day I'll do more applique, but right now if I'm going to be hand stitching anything, I want it to be quilting, not applique. If I hang around appliquers long enough, will it rub off on me? Or will I always see things divided up geometrically into little pieced pieces? I really love that diamond sashing on this antique quilt :c)

DH & Son are both off to work and I am HOME ALONE! I've got the turkey carcass all boiled and picked, the broth chilled until it gels to remove the fat from the top. This morning all the veggies are chopped, the meat added back to the broth and all is simmering in my crock pot. I love days like this....

13 comments:

  1. My guess is that if you enjoy hand quilting you will enjoy the applique also - at least I do once I get going on it.

    Thanks for reminding me of my turkey carcass. All cooked up and in the extra fridge waiting to be picked clean and then get the soup made. Maybe tomorrow since I want to finish my log cabin blocks this morning so I can put them together this evening!

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  2. Wow! Rock House was bult 2 years before ours.

    I love those solids. Nothing like having the house to yourself for a few hours.

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  3. I too am home alone today. I plan on making a turkey casserole today.

    Can you feel me thinking of you? I have made 72 quarter blocks of the Boxy Stars for the exchange. I used my Featherweight. I got over my fear of the oiling and lubing the machine. She purrs like a kitten.
    I got my magazine Saturday. It is a great article and pattern. Am I right that it is a variation on the Star Struck?
    Must go finish the laundry on this snowy day.
    XOXOXO Subee

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  4. Bonnie my life at the moment is quite crazy i am longing to get to the machine or my rocker and do some real sewing even for 15 minutes heck 10 would be great but for now I will keep running.

    I hope you ahve a wonderful day.

    daisymum

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  5. Nothin' like a day spent at home, quilting, with soup a simmerin'... Enjoy!

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  6. The quilting is very nice looking, I am hand quilting my pineapple blossom, and I can only quilt and or so.but I am already near done... Have a great week.

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  7. Hi,

    Are those all solids in your quilt?
    It looks fantastic! I am only new to the world of quilting, and currently tackling your happy scrappy houses (problem is, with only 3 quilts under my belt I dont have all that many scraps!!)

    Thank you so much for all your inspiring, fantastic quilts!

    Erin in Australia :)

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  8. Hi Bonnie,
    I love your new quilt, and I must admitt I need to adopt the eating an elephant mentality when I start a project.
    You look great by the way

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  9. I can hardly point fingers about predictability, what with my need to quilt fans everywhere. When it looks good, it looks good. Just like feathers. Just Quilt It is looking gorgeous - happy you're getting some soothing hand quilting time in. Dinner sounds yummy!

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  10. Maybe we should swap... I tend to do too much appliqué and stitching and forget on the quilting ;-). I love you coming to the Netherlands soon and will be definitely there to meet you! (NO workshop) as I am out for the weekend with a not-quilting-friend!

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  11. Such a pretty patriotic quilt, and look at all that quilting!
    Karen
    http://karensquilting.com/blog/

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  12. OOOH!!! I love the black and red! The quilt looks awesome.

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  13. I'm so glad I found your web site! I just started quilting, and am completely hooked on hand quilting. After a few small projects I am now hand quilting a queen size red and white quilt. It will take forever, but I don't mind, it's the journey I enjoy, not the finished product.
    I agree with you, I find appliqué is a completely different type of endeavour, and I am much more drawn to the geometry of piecing, softened by the hand-quilting texture.
    I tried quilting fans without marking, à la Gwen Marston, but my first attempts were not pretty. But another post of yours encourages me to keep trying, and that's good, because marking seems like such a drag. I just want to relax with my quilt, not agonize over measurements (and whether that ink really *will* disappear).
    Thanks for all the inspiration!

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