It's yet another cold and dreary day here and the reality of the seasons changing has set it. The weather is now forecasting our first snow of the season. Yay, says not me. The truth is, I love the look of snow through the windows and it never bothers me to dress in layers and sit by the fire. Like most of us though, the realities of life kicks in and you end up seeing the snow up close and personal. Life happens and kids still need to get to and from school and there are appointments and shopping that needs to occur. I have yet to figure out how to stay inside the whole winter, after moving to the Midwest 6 years ago.
There is a good side of snow though. It means the garden has cleared and the slower pace of life means more time for piecing and quilting. That, my dears, I don't mind at all.
Speaking of quilting. I was able to quilt out this adorable chevron lap quilt with a more modern quilting flare. I did a .75" wavy echo all throughout as an edge to edge. It turned out to be a pretty fun one to stitch out, but when I first started stitching on the back of the machine, following this pantograph, I realized that I was just inching along, being completely anal, instead of just finding the groove and rolling with it. I like to quilt away with music going. I don't mind a good dance a long with my longarm. He's a pretty good partner; let's me lead :) This pattern was not so good of a dance. It was just pull thread, secure, stitch to the left, secure, and pull bobbin and cut, move back to the right, and repeat. Over and over. Sure it could have been less cutting of threads and pulling but the waves screamed to be in sync with the chevron. It just had to be done that way. After all was said and done though, every step of it all was so worth it. The quilt came out so lovely and I just may not hide the pantograph from my customers. I much prefer freehand and custom, but this side to side dance, I will do again.
So here you go and you know what? The odd bobble from the line really isn't all that noticeable. We knew that though. So the lesson to any other quilter out there, just have fun. The eye really sees the whole picture and not the odd 1/8th inch bobble from a line that no one will ever know was meant to be there and not here.
There is a good side of snow though. It means the garden has cleared and the slower pace of life means more time for piecing and quilting. That, my dears, I don't mind at all.
Speaking of quilting. I was able to quilt out this adorable chevron lap quilt with a more modern quilting flare. I did a .75" wavy echo all throughout as an edge to edge. It turned out to be a pretty fun one to stitch out, but when I first started stitching on the back of the machine, following this pantograph, I realized that I was just inching along, being completely anal, instead of just finding the groove and rolling with it. I like to quilt away with music going. I don't mind a good dance a long with my longarm. He's a pretty good partner; let's me lead :) This pattern was not so good of a dance. It was just pull thread, secure, stitch to the left, secure, and pull bobbin and cut, move back to the right, and repeat. Over and over. Sure it could have been less cutting of threads and pulling but the waves screamed to be in sync with the chevron. It just had to be done that way. After all was said and done though, every step of it all was so worth it. The quilt came out so lovely and I just may not hide the pantograph from my customers. I much prefer freehand and custom, but this side to side dance, I will do again.
So here you go and you know what? The odd bobble from the line really isn't all that noticeable. We knew that though. So the lesson to any other quilter out there, just have fun. The eye really sees the whole picture and not the odd 1/8th inch bobble from a line that no one will ever know was meant to be there and not here.
So what do you think other than please give that lady a break in the weather so she can shoot her quilt shots outside :) Really though, a bobble or two doesn't ruin anything and overall, it really is a nice looking quilt.
I used a black batting as the quilt top and back are pretty heavy in the blacks. This is so important as you do not want to have any white bearding occuring as it would stand out like a sore thumb. I normally buy by the roll, but this I had shipped in just for this quilt. It's Hobb's Heirloom Black 80/20 and it was fantastic to work with.
Until next time, Happy Quilting and I'll catch you on the dark side,
XOX Lita
XOX Lita