In a slump

This year was crazy with quilting projects. So now even thought I still have things to do I’ve hit a slump.

These are the projects I’ve completed this year.

I made a king size quilt for our daughter. I did not quilt it, but I did piece and bind it. That’s her cat on the quilt.

I made a gnome for my sister.

I made a gnome for my girlfriend.

I made my recycle piece and won first place. The piece finally made it back home to me. The person that returned it is a portrait artist and she was still raving over my piece. I take that as quite a compliment.

From the Inner Mind to the Outer Limits

I made my piece for the word challenge at a local art museum. My word was wonder and it sold.

I finished my city collage quilt. It’s 45 by 66.

I made a portrait of my sister’s house for her birthday. 

So mentally I’m pretty shot in terms of motivation to work on the Halloween quilt. I know I will get going on it soon, but I needed a break.

I’ve been playing with some AI images. The one with the Raven is for the recycle show next year. The theme is “on the books.” I will put the either Poe titles on the books or scary story titles like Sleepy Hollow or the Shining. I have several variations of this. Here’s two of them.

I’ve also created a few other AI images for quilt ideas. I like the first one because it’s weird and scary. I like the city scene in the rain in the second one.

Thanks for reading.

Chris

This quilt is going to torture me until I die!

 I thought I was done, but then noticed that there are more places that I need to fill in with quilting. I sewed the top sleeve on and hung it to see how it would hang. It did not hang flat. So I sewed on the bottom sleeve and there was still wiggle along the sides. Next thing to do besides swear was to tack the facing through the backing and some of the batting. I’ve done that along the bottom and the left side. No wobble now. I still have to do the right side, but it’s hard on my hands forcing a needle through all the that thickness….fabric, fusible, batting. I had to take a break. Here’s some photos before I do a bit of analysis to try to understand the wiggles.  The slats of wood are too large because they are from another quilt that was hanging in this location. These photos were taken before I got rid of the wiggles.

Gravity is always going to win this battle. Fabric hanging on a wall is going to be affected by gravity. It can be controlled somewhat, but not 100%. So what did I do wrong? First off this quilt hung on my design wall for more than 2 years. I’m sure gravity caused a lot a sagging and stretching in that time. So there was already distortion which would lead to wiggles. Another issue was the sky fabric. While it is a beautiful fabric it is much thinner than the other fabrics in the quilt especially since they also have a lot of fusible in them. So I’m sure that would lead to wiggles. A mistake that I made was to quilt the sky scrapers and then eventually quilt the sky much later. In order to get the sky between the buildings to be flat with no kinks I had to press and distort it somewhat. That was probably not a good idea. I noticed that the sky wiggled somewhat when the quilt was lying on the floor. Adding the sleeve and the plank of wood forced the top of the quilt and the sky to be flat. Then the wiggles moved further down into the quilt.

Lastly some of the buildings are quilted closer together and contain more layers of fusible than others and that could contribute to the problem. I did soak the quilt and let it dry flat and that usually takes care of that issue, but maybe not here. 

At any rate tacking the facing through the batting has helped a lot and most of the wiggle is gone. It did upset me for a few days, but now I’m over it.

Thanks for reading.

Current photo of the cats….

Chris

Looking ahead

 I’m nearly done finishing the edges of the Boston quilt. I decided to face it instead of binding it after all. I have the 2 long sides done. Still have to face the top and bottom. The right side was really difficult due to all the fusible along the edge, but I got it done. The second photo shows the facing on the back of the quilt. Of course I still have 2 sleeves and a label to sew on the back before I’m really done.

Now that I’m almost done with the Boston quilt I’m beginning to think about what comes next. I have to quilt my Halloween quilt. I also have a secret project that I have to work on. That will actually be what I have to work on next. There’s a deadline for that secret project.

After the secret project and the Halloween quilt are done I’m thinking about doing an ancient stone structure. I’m thinking about photos we took of Innisfallen Abbey when we were in Ireland. Plenty of time to debate about it. 

Thanks for reading. Linking to Nina-Marie. https://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/

Chris

Squared up and ready for binding

Cutting off the edges and squaring up this quilt was a nightmare. I spent 2 days fretting over it and this morning I just finally did it. The diagonals when I measured them were pretty much equal. Normally I would face an art quilt, but this one is just too big for that. Plus maybe it needs a frame??? I just can’t deal with the wrestling match that facing a quilt this size with lots of fusible near the edges is. Although now I’m feeling guilting for not facing it!

I have cut skinny trial fabric strips to see what fabric to use for binding. I have a lot of potential fabrics, but many of them were just too small to cut all of the binding strips. I think I’ve settled on a blue and purple batik. I wanted one that was not too dark against the sky fabric.

Thanks for reading.

Chris

Almost there

The torture is nearly over! I’m basically done quilting. I need look at the quilt and fill anything in that I missed as well as looking for stitches that have come out from all the manhandling of the quilt.

The building I just finished was the row of brownstones. I tried quilting the stair railings, but it just looked stupid. I tried 2 different colors and ended up ripping it out both times. What a pain. I think the problem is that the stitches sink into the quilt. They needed to be on the top. So I should have stitched them in before I even quilted it as in thread painting. I might hand stitch railings in. Or just skip them!

Here’s the back in case you don’t think there’s a lot of quilting in this quilt!  

Thanks for reading.

Chris

Changed my mind….

I decided to quilt the sky wavy and horizontally. I also changed my mind about the thread. The King Tut was too dark for the light parts of the sky. I went with a light peach thread. Too late now since it’s quilted.

Thanks for checking in and reading my blog.

Chris

Bottom right building is done

So now I have to go back to the row of brownstones or do the sky. I’m thinking about doing the sky to get the rest of the safety pins out of the quilt.

Here’s the bottom building.

If I decide to do the sky the question becomes how to quilt it. I’ve tried out several ideas on my iPad. I could quilt in wavy diagonal lines or straight lines. 

I think I’m going to use a King Tut thread that is orange and purple to quilt the sky. Sometimes I wish someone would decide for me!!

Thanks for reading.

Chris

Nearly there….

Even though I only quilt for a short amount of time each day I’m nearly done with the building that I’m working on. I still have some windows, decorative things, and pillars to quilt, but I’m getting there.  I did the top of the building. It’s lot of starting and stopping. I’ve decided I hate pulling up the bobbin thread when starting. I know I’m supposed to do it, but I find it tedious!

Thanks for reading.

Chris

Still working on bottom right building

I feel like I’ll never get it done. I quilt for about an hour or an hour and a half and then can’t take it anymore. I know that it will eventually be done, but it’s so tedious. I still have a long way to go on it. I’ve even simplified things like the windows and even then there’s a lot to quilt. 

I think the biggest thing I’ve learned from making this quilt is not to make one this big again. What sounds like a good idea when I start an idea is not fun in the end!

Thanks for reading.

Chris

If you hate one building move onto another

 And come back to it later. I was quilting the row of brownstones on the right side of the quilt below the skyscrapers. I was getting so bored that I decided to move onto some other buildings. I will have to come back to that row of brownstones. Unfortunately I will have to face them again. At this point I have to quilt the large building in the lower right, those painful brownstones, and the sky. Plus I think I missed quilting some things along the way. 

I think this maybe the worst quilting that I’ve ever done. The bulk and size of the quilt has made it very difficult. Lines are not as straight as I would like them. At any rate it will be done at some point and I can move on. I’ve learned a lot with this quilt. I will share those lessons later.

The cats are doing well. We’ve had them 8 weeks now.

Thanks for reading.

Chris

Back to Boston

After a long hiatus I’m back to quilting my Boston collage quilt. This week I’ve been working on the long purple brownstone on the left side. This quilt is so heavy and stiff from all the fusible web that it’s nearly impossible to turn. I try to quilt in one direction without turning so that means lots of starts and stops. That’s not ideal, but easier than turning. 

You can see what I still have to do based on where the safety pins are. I started designing this quilt almost 4 years ago. I hate when quilts make you feel guilty for that long. Time to get it done. I will never make a building quilt that large again. Someone talked me into the size. I forget who that was! Maybe it was me…..

Thanks for reading.

Chris

Making progress

 I’ve had a little less stress this week and have managed to get back to quilting the Boston monstrosity. I finished the large building and have done 3 1/2 more. I’ve decided to quit fretting when the quilting is not perfect and accept that I’m not as good as I thought I was at this!!!! At least my enthusiasm is back and I want to work on it everyday.

I have one more week of my class to teach. They are doing pretty well considering many of them are really beginner quilters. 

Thanks for reading.

Chris

Can you actually hate a building?

The answer is yes you can. I finally got back to quilting because there is a break in my class. I’ve had some issues and lots of negative stitching. And I really hate negative stitching. Negative stitching is also known as ripping. I changed my mind about the thread color I was using and then the stitching was not going well. I won’t bore you with those details. It seems like it is going OK now.  To top it off this building is very complicated. It is a beautiful building and I picked wonderful fabrics for it. I’m sure I will fall in love with it in the end! I swear this whole process is a love/hate relationship. 

Teaching the architectural quilt class has been fun, but stressful. The students are doing a good job, but it has been challenging. My brain is pretty fried. 

I’m thinking about any future classes that I would or could teach. I think this class was a bit too complicated for my students. It would be better taught over a longer time period. Or I would have to make it much more simple like providing the pattern so it limits how complicated of a subject they can choose. I’ve also thought about doing something complete different like doing my abstract pixel quilts. You can see those quilts on the pixel quilt page. https://chrissquiltinguniverse.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html   

That might be fun and easier for quilters to do. I’m not really sure at this point. I’m thinking ahead as to what’s next after I finish the Boston quilt. Of course there’s the Halloween quilt and then Christmas ornaments. After that I’m thinking I might make another pixel quilt. Well I don’t have to think about that for a while.

Linking to Nina-Marie. https://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/

Thanks for reading.

Chris

Magic fabric

Before I get started talking about what kinds of fabrics I use in my quilts, I have to admit that I struggle with fabric choices. Picking the “right” fabric is never easy for me. I envy people that don’t struggle like I do. My husband calls it over analysis. And I know that I’m guilty of it.  I’m pretty open about what kinds of fabrics I use….batiks, hand dyes, Stonehenge, fossil ferns, Moda marbles, Jennifer Sampou sky fabrics. Generally I don’t use solids. I also use what I call magic fabrics. These are fabrics that work really well in my quilts. These are fabrics that have variation in color and value and both the front and back of the fabric are useful. 

This fabric was used a lot in my Boston quilt. In some places I used the front and other places I used the back. It made a great window fabric in this quilt. I used it in the skyscrapers as well as the brownstones. It is definitely a magic fabric! In fact I initially bought a small piece of this fabric and then went back to the quilt store to buy more. 

Here it is in the quilt. I used both the front and the back of the fabric when the values required it. That alone is magic in my book.

I’ve been getting ready for my class so I did not do much quilting this week. I’ve heard from 4/5 students and figure I probably won’t hear from the last straggler. Hopefully she shows up on Tuesday. We are not allowed to contact the students unless they contact the instructor first. All the students were given contact information and a pre-class assignment to send their photo to me.  Although I’ve learned from the past classes that not everyone gets something done in class. 

The students have picked some fairly complicated and fairly large sizes to work on in this class. The sizes are around 16 by 22 and they all seem to be making quilts of their houses. So it will be a challenge and  they will still be working on it after the class is over. Well at least I will get them started and on their way.

Do you use magic fabrics? Do you use both the front and back of fabrics? Do you struggle with fabric choices?

Thanks for reading.

Linking to Nina-Marie. https://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/

Chris

Not a lot done this week

I only got one building done this week and started into a second building. The finished building is the pretty fairly large purple building that is made from a purple Cherrywood fabric with light purple fossil fern windows. The second building is a very large building with lots of windows and details. There are a few marks in white on it so you can see is where I will be quilting next. I’ve been using the Roxanne white water soluble pencil to mark the darker buildings. I just discovered yesterday that I can use packing tape to remove a lot of the marks. It pulls them right off.

My class was in the OLLI newsletter this week. I got one more student, but one dropped so I am still at 5/6. I’ve heard from 3 students with the photos they are working with. I’m still waiting to hear from the other 2. The class is getting close with only a bit more than a week to go before it starts. I hope they are not waiting until the day the class starts because I have to print their enlarged photo for them.  That would be impossible the day of the class. So I hope I hear from them soon. I hope they are looking forward to taking the class as much as I’m looking forward to teaching it.

Thanks for reading. Linking to Nina-Marie. https://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/

Chris

Two more buildings done

I quilted 2 more buildings this week, had SI joint injections, and found out my class on architectural quilts has enough enrollment! Yeah! I’m looking forward to teaching it. The quilting was fun, but the SI joint injections were not. The day after the injections the pain was way worse than before the injections. Of course they warn you of that. Yesterday and today it’s not as bad. So hopefully the steroid will be kicking in soon.

The 2 buildings done are the purple arch and the blue purple building below it. Notwithstanding I have to sketch out the quilting lines for the darker purple building that you can only see the top of in the photo. Still a long way to go, but I can’t think about that.

Linking to Nina-Marie. https://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/

Thanks for reading.

Chris