A Better Week

Now this is evidence of a week more like I used to put in - every day on the engagement calendar noting what was accomplished in the studio. I can think of many words to describe what got me in there each day: focus, determination, goals in bite-size pieces, discipline. As much as anything, I managed to overcome the little voice saying, "Oh, it's too late in the day, not enough time left to do anything," and just went in and did something whether it was for 15 minutes or an hour. And of course, progress was made without overtaxing myself on any one day. I still can't muster the endurance I once had to work for hours at a time, but I'm making peace with that change and doing what I comfortably can. It really helped that I set my mindset to accomplishing just one thing each day, even if it was that quick 15 minute one. I am pleased.

So it started with piecing the batik for the batting, digging out some batting, giving the top a good press, and layering it all up for pin basting. I'd been mulling how to quilt it for awhile now, knowing there'd be some straight-line quilting done with a walking foot, but I planned to do some kind of free-motion motif in the center and four corners. The last three or so baby quilts I've made I've quilted without marking, or with very little marking. It was freeing and easier than anticipated, but for some reason, I was shying away from the idea for this quilt. And thus I consulted my extensive library of books devoted to quilting designs. That yellow folder, by the way, is stuffed full of designs I've pulled from magazine. I am awash in ideas and I must say, I have some beautiful patterns at my disposal, enough to make me long to use them in some hand quilted beauties. Hand quilted wholecloth quilts still draw my attention but I doubt I'll get back to doing that sort of thing.

I settled on this design from Harriet Hargrave's Heirloom Machine Quilting for the center and decided that tracing it onto Golden Threads Tracing Paper so I can pin it to the quilt, sew through it, and easily remove it afterwards was the best plan. Generally speaking, I'm not much into hearts on quilts but I did use them on the last baby quilt and these are pretty subtle as heart motifs go. The paper is held in place for tracing with a removable scotch tape.

I couldn't find quite what I wanted for the four corners - either too big or too small or not quite the right motif. Then it occurred to me that one from Pat Holly and Sue Nickels' 60 Machine Quilting Patterns that was just a tad too big could be modified to work if I eliminated the large hearts encircling the smaller ones. Perfect! I traced away and plan to transfer the design to the other 3 papers by stacking them with this one and sewing on the lines with an unthreaded needle. But as I auditioned it in the corner space and compared it to the center motif, something bothered me about it. Finally it dawned on me - the hearts were very different shapes, the center one a bit stylized as it cinched in to a point, the other one having quite rounded and fat hearts. Hmmm. Well, I guess I have to pare down those fat ones. After a few strokes, I thought to lay the paper of the other heart design to discover that the hearts on each were about the same size so I could just trace the center motif hearts inside the fat ones and get the eraser out to remove the lines I no longer needed. Problem solved!

Now it's time for the inevitable choosing thread. I do have a lot of thread on hand and there are several of these that are good candidates. I'll do the straight line quilting in the dark areas first, then tackle the freemotion areas while I continue to mull how I will quilt the borders and the light diamond areas. They are about the same width and I'm considering putting the same motif in both.