Sunday, January 03, 2010

Wisteria Stars - Part Two

October 13
The rows were together. I auditioned borders.



Unpieced, as in the EQ draft?



With a set square?



With a set square and triangle to carry the design?



With a strip of white? This made the quilt too big

Once I decided on the border, I went shopping for more purple and began piecing the borders.

October 28
With all 42 blocks done I was pretty stoked about how far I was. I *just* had the borders to do. That felt pretty good.



Pieces for one border



But then I ran into problems. My computerized sewing machine couldn't... that is wouldn't sew across the seam where the Flying Geese unit was. It always *jogged* right around the 'x'.



Click to enlarge

It was maddening. I'd pin before and after each unit, slow down at the critical moment, even tried turning the hand wheel one stitch at a time and *still* it wouldn't sew straight across the 'x'.



So I picked them all out...



... and switched to Adella, my Featherweight. She hummed right over those 'x's' without a hiccup. And I could go full speed so I made up for lost time. It occurred to me that the blocks had flown together, so I was due to run into a snag.





Sometimes the mechanical really is better than the computerized.
While I was piecing borders I started sewing red and cream Bowtie blocks as leader-enders. I'd been immersed in purple and green for several months and they added interest to piecing the border.

November 1



Attaching the last border

So here I am sewing yards and yards of border on this mammoth quilt on my Featherweight, she sewed it like a dream. Thanks GF!

November 5
The top was done and I arranged to have Marian quilt it. We talked about the designs I had in mind and the way I wanted to feature the two-block, all-over pattern so that the elements flowed across the quilt. I was so excited she was willing to work with me on how to quilt it. I usually quilt my own work and was hesitant to give up this part of the process, because quilting makes the quilt. For Marian, she was excited I had ideas and suggestions so when she quilted my quilt I would be happy with it, it wouldn't be a shot in the dark.





She suggested I test the designs I had in mind by laying vinyl over the top, then drawing with wipe-off markers. That was a blast, if I didn't like it, I just wiped it off!

To be continued...

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