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

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

A place of honor

My sister sent a photo of the Pittsburgh in the Snow piece that I sent to her for her birthday. It’s displayed in a place of honor!

My class ended yesterday and I was very pleased about how much my students accomplished. They are at different stages of the process, but you can see how great they are. Some of them are actually novice quilters with very little experience with even traditional quilts. They still have more to do, but I think they did a great job. I’m very pleased. They were also a great group of women. What do you think?

I have done more quilting on the Boston quilt and think that I’m nearing the half way point. Or maybe I’m already there????? No pictures to show, however. 

Today I’m busy packing. I plan on posting great photos from Ireland.

Thanks for reading.

Chris