Here We Go!

 

Layering of the rails quilt has begun. A big enough area of the work table has been cleared to spread out the backing, which to my delight only overlaps the width of the side by side tables by a few inches. Batting proves to be cut to fit edge to edge of table width and matching the side edges of the backing, which by the way I thought I'd have to piece for it to be wide enough. But it is 44 inches wide and the quilt top 42-1/2 so about an inch extra on each side. I usually allow more than that so I can turn the backing over the batting to the front and give myself something to hold on to as I quilt. But not having to piece the backing . . . priceless at this point. I gave the top a good steam press and removed a lot of stray threads from the back before smoothing it over the batting. Everything just fits.

I follow Angela Walters and watch most of her free videos on free motion quilting designs and a recent dot-to-dot series design caught my eye as one I could use on this quilt. I used one of my EQ mockups to play with different directions I could place those arrow-like motifs, finally settling on the one sketched out on the block in the second row. You might be able to see some arrows on the lines if you click for the larger picture. I worked out where to start so that the entire block can be quilted continuously, including along the sashing on all sides.

But I know I can't trust myself to free-motion quilt straight lines with any accuracy so as I started to pin, I started to think of how I might mark the lines and avoid any difficulty in removing markings. I remembered the technique of making creases in the fabric with a hera marker and thought this might be the way to go. I used to have two hera markers that were freebies, but I couldn't locate either one. No worries, any pointed thing will do and the tool I use to help close up pins has a short straight edge on one end not unlike a hera marker. So I gave it a go before too many pins got in my way. I found it surprisingly slow as I made the marks on two blocks, noting that sometimes a line didn't show depending on which way the light was hitting the lines. Add to this, as I moved to the second block, the sashing confused me into placing the starting point of the first line in the wrong place. Not sure I have the patience for this. It occurred to me that laying down masking tape as I go will be quicker and leave no marks. If I did ruler work, this would be the perfect place for it. But since I don't, I think I will abandon the hera marking and opt for masking tape as a guide.

What's your go-to method(s) for marking quilts?

A Sketch Expedition

Remember me showing you the water feature outside my library and saying I'd like to try sketching it? Friday turned out to be the perfect day to take myself on an "artist date" as I had a book ready to return to the library and another one to check out, good weather, and nothing else really pressing to keep me from spending some time sketching. In every respect, it was a relaxing and positive experience, from the mother with her two little kids who stopped to look over my shoulder and ask questions to the finished sketch. Granted, I do tend to get a bit timid with the colored pencils, kept going over the rocks to make them a little darker but I think they still need more definition. And how to show the foamy white water bits? I tried a white Posca paint pen after I got home which barely shows up. But the major parts like fitting the whole scene on the page even though I was sitting quite close to it (I often end up running out of room) and getting most of the perspective right was very gratifying. Am wondering now how I might do using watercolors - now that would be a real challenge for me!

Speaking of challenges, I had stacks of pads of paper that I use for bookmaking to move off the top of the box where my batting reserve resides so I could see if I had enough of that limited edition slightly plusher batting I liked so much in the last baby quilt left for this current one. All that paper is sitting on the work table that still needs more of it cleared so I can layer up this quilt. It has taken me awhile to figure out where I could open out the batting to cut an appropriate piece since the table is not available. Just dawned on me that I could strip my bed down to the mattress (sheets need changing anyway) and do it there. That realization felt like a palm slap to the forehead - I'm not as quick thinking as I used to be I guess.

Ready To Layer

The rails quilt is finally together and ready to layer. Still struggling to get a decently lit photo with true colors for you. All I can say is that I so like how it has come out, that it is so PRETTY and that is partly due to the fact that the pinks are slightly different. I was concerned that not all my pinks were a clear strong pink and I had to use some that were more muted and even with a slight orange cast. Now I see how well they work together and make this a better quilt.

These colors are more true, and I took this to show how I carefully placed the sashings and borders so the raindrops are all falling down. They don't do that in the blocks however; that would have been too much fiddling to figure that out before piecing and decided they could just represent the swirling storm the ark sailed through. It was only upon studying the picture that I realized that border was NOT on the right direction.

Glad I caught it now rather than while I was smoothing the top over batting or even after pinning. I would have been furious. I'm already a bit put out with myself. I was being so careful and double checking before pinning. Don't know how it happened . . . although I may have been looking at strips in a block turned the other way rather than at a sashing. Well, easy to fix although time consuming any time you have to get out the seam ripper!

Back to Rails

I finally got into the studio today to continue work on the rails baby quilt. Finished sewing the block quarters into full blocks and sewed the sashing spacers between blocks to create rows. Took a break at that point to snap this poorly lit and possibly confusing (I just put the blocks up on top of what is already hanging out on my design wall) picture for today's post so you could see how it is coming along. Next step is to sew the long sashing spacers between rows and then the narrow border strips all round. I'll soon be layering for quilting.

Egging me on is this picture my goddaughter shared of her and her six month old baby that this quilt will go to at her graduation at Baylor in Texas. She has been working on this degree for at least 14 years, a lot of the classes taken on line, juggling a job and a growing family. How proud we all are that she graduated Magna Cum Laude with a doctorate of nursing practice (DNP-FNP).  Now if only she lived closer so she could be my NP. . .

What else have I been up to? Well, I did knit those final few shaping rows of the purple sweater's back. While my yarn may be going farther than I originally thought, I still think I will come up short for two full sleeves. Still waiting for the yarn store to get in their next order of these mill ends but it did occur to me that this company also sells regular skeins of yarn and perhaps I can find this color elsewhere, although not the same lot. We shall see as knitting progresses on the front.

And between motorcycle races (and there were THREE different series racing over the weekend), I finally made the final decisions of how to distribute the last of the bedding plants bought nearly a month ago. I've been watching them carefully, placing them tentatively on the pots I think they will go in, rushing out to water when I see them drooping. They have been ever so patient with me. They went much farther than I thought they would, took more time to transfer than one would expect, and I had to pull three pots out of the garage that I didn't use last year. This is a tentative arrangement, and one or two of the pots may go out on the front steps to keep the pot of snapdragons company.

As usual, the star of the show are the geraniums. They never fail to please.

New to my garden are the begonias, which are giving those geraniums a run for their money as top pleaser. Two in this small pot, four in a much larger pot which is a candidate for out front.

The snapdragons and the mystery bloomer went in the long planter per spacing directions. They'd better spread out and fill the space. The matching planter has one of the mystery bloomers and two of the dianthus. The other two are in a separate smaller pot and although growing tall, have no blooms yet while the ones that waited so long for a home are popping a bloom.

The pansies looked so much more robust than they have in previous years so I snatched several up. Yellow ones in a separate pot and two rich colored ones in a bigger pot.

And marigolds. I don't generally add those because I've never liked the smell when you brush up against them. My college campus had them everywhere, no doubt because of ease of growing them and they do add bright color. I decided to succumb this year in order to add some orange to a mix that was heavy on purple and pink. One in a small pot, the other two in a larger pot which may be another candidate for the front steps.

It felt really good to get this done - I didn't realize how much it had been hanging over me for so long. I still need to hose down the deck to remove the spring pollen and the dirt I spilled (too much rain again), and then I will be ready to enjoy the heat wave expected this weekend as I sit on the deck and enjoy my spring flowers.