Winter Stars

The big black-and-white king sized quilt is officially done!  

A recap for those not following along:  my aunt requested a king sized black-and-white quilt.  We picked a pattern called Midnight Garden.  I started prepping it about a year ago, creating my own plexiglass templates, trying out way too many layouts, and finally started piecing the whole thing together.  Over the last year I had several delays, including a change in heart on background fabric (with weeks of dithering), a frozen shoulder and recovering from tick bite.  I had reasonably anticipated finishing this in time to submit it to one of the local county fairs, but alas, they all passed me by.  But I finished before the holidays and I am pleased with the result.

Last week the weather finally turned sunny without much wind, so we headed over to UMass Amherst for photographs (which has a huge accessible wall with good sunlight).  Lots of photos - you can see a larger version if you click on a photo.  

I Like Thursday: Sculptures

I visited the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum a couple of weeks ago.  It's been several years since the last time I visited.  I enjoyed the sculptures, although I struggled not touching some of them.  (The Andres Institute allows touching the sculptures, so I wanted to do that here, too.)

Huff and a Puff is a slanted replica of the one-room home where Henry David Thoreau lived (we passed the real one later that afternoon).  I loved the whimsy.  I was also impressed with how every shingle and brick were cut at an angle.  Even the hardware on the door!  The photos don't capture wonky it felt.

Where to Start?

A friend of mine asked what would I do now that the big quilt is finished.  I laughed.  Are you sure you wanted to ask me that?  I rattled off at least a half dozen projects that have been queuing up over the last several months.  

I was so excited putting my sewing room back in order late last week.  The sewing machine had been up against my cutting table to handle quilting a big quilt.  Now it's back over by the wall.  In addition, when I work on a big project all scraps get chucked in a corner.  Wow - the black and white quilt generated a lot of scrap.  There were quite a few bits from a mystery quilt and Project Quilting, too.  Sorting through that will keep me busy for several evenings this week.  

My sewing machine needed a good cleaning and I have to fiddle with the thread tension again.  As soon as I do that, I have piecing to do!  

Finishing the mystery quilt is top on my list.  It needs borders and then I can quilt it.  The baby-quilt size left me with two extra blocks I didn't want for my wall hanging, so I think I'll make them into mug rugs.  

The Last Few Fixes

While binding the quilt I found a few more spots of uneven quilting.  Can you see the four and a half sunrays I ripped out?  After restitching the quilting, I went over the whole quilt a few times, worried I missed a spot.  It would be so easy to miss a line or two over all that space!

It's so dangerous to do close inspections... if I keep looking I'm sure I'll find a few more places that aren't quite perfect.  So I gotta call it done.  

Friday or Saturday may have good enough weather to photograph.  How exciting!  Fingers crossed.

 

I Like Thursday: Getting Stuff Done

I have some real odds-and-ends to share with LeeAnna and friends for I Like Thursday.  I never know what will catch my eye or tickle my fancy.

I drove by this pumpkin patch a couple of weeks ago and was struck by the color, but didn't get a chance to photograph it.  I was so excited last week when I saw the pumpkins were still there, plus a rainbow in the blue sky!  

I Like Thursday: Fall Finishes

 

October is flying by.  I finished up a few things.  

Our little foster Echo found a forever home!  This little pig obtained some serious chill while she was here.  I hope she's happy with her new friend.  We'll miss her.  Finishing with a foster guinea pig is often bittersweet.

Binding

When I first started writing this post about a week ago, all I had was this big roll of binding.  Therefore the title was "Binding" as a noun.  

Since then I've fixed a few bad spots of quilting, finished burying threads and trimmed the edges.  I got a chance to attach the binding.  I've now moved on to "Binding" as a verb.

Ahh, I do love binding a quilt.

 

Echo Apple Streamers

It's apple season - time to make crisps and pies!   That leaves a lot of apple peelings, which means Echo (our guinea pig foster from Dakin Humane) gets what I call "apple streamers."  I hook pieces of peelings around the cage, then Echo has to find them.  

Not too many - I don't want to give her a tummy ache from eating too much apple.  I tuck a few around the top edges of the cage.  I've done this enough times that she runs right to the usual places I hide them.  Occasionally she needs to follow her nose to locate them.  This last time was tricky - I put one in the corner where it usually goes and hooked another from a binder clip nearby.  Echo quickly found the one in the corner and could still smell the second apple peel.  She kept looking in the corner... but it wasn't there!