Tuesday, June 01, 2010

Quilting.


Its been rather a busy and single-minded week this last week or so. Lots more quilting completed on Rosie's Quilt.



Here is a close-up of the blue sashing. Leaves moving out from the centre of each square, with a small flower stitched in the centre.



The reverse of each square looks something like this. The irritating thing is that I just cannot get the tension to let me have just the light coloured thread on this side. (YLI Machine Quilting thread Sand, 16V) I always get some of the darker thread leaching through from the other side. (YLI Machine Quilting Thread Paris Boutique, V74 for the flowers, and Danube Blues, V80 for the sashing.)



Coco just loved lying on top of this pile of completed squares. Yes, for all the world she looked like the Princess in The Princess and the Pea.

Then the worst happened...........I started quilting the blue sashing strips on the nineteenth block when I ran out of thread! Disaster! I won't be able to get back to Jaycotts for some more thread until later this week. It is just too far to go for a few sewing items. Yes, I could phone and get them to send me some, but I am trying really hard to be good. I have rather a lot of other things I should be getting on with.

The Traveling Pages for May still needs completing and I need to make a start on June.

There is a longstanding UFO I really need to look at and baste - there is something not quite right with the piecing which will drive me mad if I don't get it sorted out before finally quilting the thing.

These photos show the top of the quilt.


And this is the back. The design was the Mystery Quilt for the Quilters Guild some years back. As you can see my photos date from 2007! I really should get this one completed.

Then there is the mending............ as usual, this has become rather a large pile. Also the altering and completing of dressmaking projects - three skirts in there............

Then the two bags which need a rebuild.


This is a photo of one of the bags in healthier days - the corners are now getting rather large holes in them and the whole bag is being kept together by the lining. So they really do need some work. The handles are still good.

Yes, there is rather more than a weeks worth of work there, so I shall not phone Jaycotts.
That apart, my whole workroom is a muddle and needs sorting out before anything else gets started. I wish I could work and keep things tidy at the same time, but that is something I find impossible. I am such a messy worker.
A well, off to work - I think I shall get some handstitching done on my Traveling Page for May ready to post it later on.

8 comments:

janet said...

I love the design of the quilting!
I have never quilted blocks before joining them, that looks really intriguing.

Mandy said...

Thanks so much Janet. You will find that it all seems so much more manageable quilting the blocks before joining them. I know it saves my wrists - a whole quilt is rather large all in one go and rather too heavy for me to manage easily.

janet said...

A whole quilt is really large all at once, I need to try this method. Thanks so much for sharing it!

Mandy said...

Yes I agree, the whole idea is quite daunting - a whole quilt at once. Especially since I use a domestic sewing machine.
The technique I use is generally called "quilt-as-you-go".
There will probably be loads of information out there on the internet showing how to do it. Do give it a try.

Toni said...

It's looking great!

And if you ever find a way to keep things neat and tidy while sewing, you must share. I've been sewing a lot lately, and my sewing room looks like it was attacked by fabric terrorists. The cats live in fear.....

Mandy said...

Thanks so much.
I do tend to get in a real mess in my workroom. The cats wander in and out. If there is anything they consider comfortable on the floor it can become a bed. However, anything that could be considered a toy tends to become involved in a game of paw-ball. I have temporarily lost machine bobbins that way..........

Anonymous said...

Is it Jaycotts in Chester?? If so I could pop in for you, and bring it on Tuesday. You'd have to tell me exactly what it was you wanted though.

Mandy said...

Thanks so much for the offer, Donna. I managed to get to Jaycotts myself yesterday. I went via Frodsham after going to a quilting group there.
They no longer have the little shop in the city centre, but have a much larger place off Bumpers Lane, near the football stadium.
I took a list with me .............