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Monday, September 03, 2012

Quilting up a STORM!

Until the huge rain and thunder storm put my power out in the center of the LAST ROW I was quilting!

It was a doozy of a storm too….the power was out for hours, than was on again, then was off again. I gave up and went and took a nap!

Of course, it was on again when I woke up and I could have had this thing done a long time ago, but……the nap was nice too.

I’m tickled at how many are joining in with me on the One Hour of Needle & Thread challenge! I haven’t sat at mine yet today. With the power off, my house is way too dark! I’m in the woods, even with windows, it’s all shade and tree cover outside. The roof over the front porch makes that ALWAYS in shadow out there….and the basement is a hole with one small window that opens to tree covered shade so it’s dark EVERYWHERE with no power.

And too hot to want to light kerosene lamps. It’s got to be REALLY an emergency to want to create that heat in a house in the south in the summer!

However, the power came back on, and I finished the quilting!

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I chose an edge to edge design that had no “real” motif to it…just swirls and curls. I didn’t want the pattern of the quilting to shout out from the quilt, I want the blocks to come forward. This quilt is all about the piecing, and there is loads of it.

I also needed something tight enough that “most” if not all the pieces had quilting running through them to anchor them down. This pattern hit nearly everything, except maybe in the blocks where the 1/2 square triangles are about the size of my little pinky finger nail.

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I think it looks pretty good!

No matter what I chose, there was nothing that was going to look “1870”. Let’s be real. It’s machine quilting. Even stitch in the ditch is not appropriate quilting by machine for this kind of quilt, and I hate stitch in the ditch anyway! Baptist fans would not have hit enough of the pieces in each block leaving too many unquilted. Feathers? Noooo….that’s too fancy for this kind of quilt too. Too much icing on the cake..what’s next after that? Sew crystals to it? No thanks! This swirl will do! Swirls also perform another vaulable function….they can suck up areas of too much fullness – I had a couple blocks that were so heavily pieced that they poofed a bit, and the swirls eased them right in with no bagging or sagging.

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I’m not particularly found of cross-hatching by machine either –One color of thread that crosses many colors of fabrics can make things look like a mattress pad. I used a sand colored thread that blended through everything as best as I could get it.

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Now for the binding..... Red would be predictable?

But you know what I see when I look at these blocks? That Prussian blue!

It would be an unexpected punch that would tie the blue bits in the same way the yellow border made the yellows shine. I better go dig in the stash and see what I can find. But who knows, if I don't like it, I might still go with red.

Perhaps a bit later, we can have QuiltCam time for sewing on a binding!

But first – DH wants to go to town and I guess I’m going to have to ride shotgun.

43 comments:

  1. I'm impressed and so is hubby! he was walking by the 'puter and stopped to look, so you know it's good! That Prussian blue for the binding sounds just right.

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  2. Anonymous5:45 PM EDT

    This is a really neat scrap quilt! How long does it take you to quilt this? Do you have have to stand there for hours or do you have one of the "stitchers"? And....does that mean you input some settings and the stitching just takes off? Love your stuff Bonnie and welcome home!
    Maria

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  3. This quilt turned out just gorgeous!! I love the design you chose. Yay for possible quilt cam later!

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    1. Brenda, is that a St Louis Cardinal I see on your thumbnail??? I grew up on Cardinal baseball with Joe Garigiolo and Harry Carey! Bet Missouri is just as hot and sticky as northern Indiana is today! Whew-just bought a dehumidifier for the basement as I have sweat running off me down here!

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  4. Oooh! Pretty! But you know what really made my heart skip a beat? "In the Pink" on the chair to be quilted! That is the quilt that pushed me over the edge and got me collecting my DJ fabrics... Cant wait to see it done. And maybe some quilt Cam later too?! It just don't get no better than this! ;)

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  5. By the looks of things those are some very small pieces in some of the blocks! No wonder it got its name-I nearly went over the hill just cutting pieces for the tulip quilt for the workshop in 2 weeks!!! I usually don't cut anything smaller than a 2"x2" square-so.... But, got it done and ready for class! See ya then!

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  6. So pretty, Bonnie! And I agree that the blue sounds like a great choice. It's a keeper!!!

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  7. I just love this quilt. I think I'll order the pattern, one of these days when we're nor dealing with the after effects of Isaac. This would be a nice diversion.
    kaybabysgran@yahoo.com

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  8. I think the Prussian blue will look superb. Great quilt!

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  9. Anonymous5:59 PM EDT

    I love it Bonnie, its absolutely beautiful. The outer border did bring out all the yellow in the quilt and the blue binding would be unexpected, but I love the idea. Thanks for keeping us up with all your projects. I did some hand work this afternoon sewing a binding on a UFO. Think I got about 4 hours in for the week, will see how it goes.
    Mona in Melbourne, FL

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  10. But will Miss Sadie give up her shotgun post?!?!
    The quilt is incredible.

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  11. Love the swirls! They soften all the small pieces. Nice choice!

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  12. Absolutely Beautiful... am in LOVE with this quilt.

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  13. Beautiful! Your productivity is like...bionic! You come back from bali and wrap up nearly insane! Just makes me smile.

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  14. Nearly Insane...the eternal hexies....how many long, long, long-term projects do you have in the works, Bonnie?

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  15. Wow! When you decide to finish something there is no stopping you! The quilting design you chose is perfect, the blocks really do stand on their own.

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  16. Anonymous6:20 PM EDT

    Love the idea of blue for the binding. Did you piece the backing? Marjorie in California

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  17. Anonymous6:22 PM EDT

    Your quilt is absolutely beautiful!

    Darlis

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  18. WOW! Bonnie, it's really beautiful!

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  19. WOW! Just WOW!. You didn't let the dust settle on that quilt before quilting it! No suspense to your readers as to how you would quilt it. It is beautiful! I like the idea of a blue binding.

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  20. Before I even read your words, I just looked at the photo and thought...wow, that blue really sparkles! Then I thought, oh a red binding it will be (predictable) so your choice to go with blue may just be perfect! I can't decide which is more impressive, the quilt itself, or the fact that you finished it! Way to go Bonnie!

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  21. It turned out lovely!!! Glad you all survived the storm.

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  22. Congratulations on getting it done! What a fabulous quilt. Glad the storm gave you an excuse to sneak in a nap. I am sure the jet lag hasn't gone away completely yet.

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  23. Anonymous7:08 PM EDT

    Suzanne in Maine thinks the blue is a terrific choice. So proud of you for finishing this project. I have 2 quilt tops and one quilt that needs to be domestic machine quilted by this Wed. evening...but I do have hand work ready for quilt cam time. : )

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  24. Just beautiful! So glad the power went on and you could finish. I'm impressed you have the energy to work after your trip!

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  25. Anonymous7:20 PM EDT

    The quilt is beautiful. I just looked at your calendar. I see what you're doing for the next FIVE years. I can't making any plans that far ahead. How do you do it. I am still thinking about yesterday. I have to say you're quite optimistic.

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  26. Anonymous7:31 PM EDT

    Sew crystals to it.....you are a hoot.....hope to watch you sew the binding on...but anyway you look at it the quilt is super....

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  27. Cindy, The Purple Quilter7:38 PM EDT

    LOVE IT!!! I like your drive to get it done! That is usually the way I am too.

    Please tell me the name of your panto??

    I am always looking for basic swirls, but they never look the same on the screen as they do on the quilt!

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  28. This quilt is unbelievable! I love the allover quilting you did. If it looks this good in the pictures, it must be amazing in person. Hope to see you on the webcam later.

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  29. I think that's one of the coolest quilts I've ever seen. It's like a regular (read: sane) person's Dear Jane quilt.

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  30. Lovely quilt! We were driving home from Hillsville VA in that storm and it followed us all the way to Chapel Hill. It was a doozey! And i scored 150 hand quilted blocks in Hillsville. Looks like blocks for 3 different quilts that were never put together. Kind of sad really, but they will get a new start

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  31. Bonnie that is lovely! The power outage was just an enforced break. Wish I had the space to hold a long arm so that I could get them done faster but southern California homes have tiny rooms...unless you are wealthy and live in a mansion but then you could afford to have them quilted ;)

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  32. I cannot believe how quick you are!!! It is looking gorgeous!!

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  33. Anonymous8:40 PM EDT

    So stunning - surely worth the insane effort! Congratulations!

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  34. Looks so good! Love this quilt--and the blue would be a great binding.

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  35. Amazing quilt. Love how you chose to quilt it. It is wonderful. I would have gone with Red for the binding... but I really like your idea of the Blue! I hope you have some in your stash - it would be fan-tab-u-lous!
    Sorry to hear of the storm and power outtage, but I bet you really needed that nap!

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  36. Hey Bonnie,
    I think you chose the perfect quilt pattern for this quilt. I love the combination of colors and when I saw the blue binding being applied tonight on Quilt Cam, all I could think of was "WOW".

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  37. This is so gorgeous! I tend to like that type of quilting on most of my quilts. I'm all about the piecing, so I like quilting that just kind of fades into the background. Thanks so much for sharing!

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  38. WOW! It is beautiful. I think the swirls are the perfect choice for the quilting.
    I did an hour of hand sewing yesterday and plan to get in another hour tonight.

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  39. So beautiful. I think your quilting is perfect, your piecing is the main story and should take center stage. Just lovely!!!

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  40. Bonnie, It is more than "pretty good". I love it! I will be doing one in the future, just not right now. I have the book. I love the yellow border and I "peeked ahead" and see you did go with the blue binding. BEAUTIFUL!!! Those colors bring out the colors in the blocks and pulls it all together. The red would also have been OK, but I am partial to blue and gold myself.

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  41. Bonnie - You need a headlamp for when the power is out. I take mine camping to work on hexies :)

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