Redux

Have you ever made a quilt top that you liked and then absolutely hated it after you finished quilting it? Well, I just had that happen with a quilt that I designed. I'm not quite sure what went wrong. It could have been the quilting designs I chose--or the thread--or I just didn't hold my mouth right. But I was pretty well disgusted with myself. After a few days of thinking about it . . .Do I put it in the Silent Auction? Do I give it to someone I don't really care about? What? . . .I came up with the idea to go back over the blanket stitching with black thread. A loud sigh of relief went up as the applique colors I had THOUGHT were bright lost the dull look that had bothered me so much. It's not a show quality quilt by any means but now at least I can give it to someone who I think would appreciate it. Its name is Redux and most people who know me will not be surprised that I went to the effort to "redo" a finished quilt (As a matter of fact, I have my eye on another finished quilt that could use a little redux).
I've also been working on another original design basket wallhanging. I haven't started the blanket stitching yet but I'm a little more optimistic about this one. Time will tell, I'm sure.
And finally, as we were heading towards Charleston this past Saturday, we had a lot of stormy-looking skies, but very little rain. However, what we DID have was a double rainbow. I only got a picture of the single rainbow but that was pretty wonderful, also. For me, rainbows are just pure magic. I know that there's plenty of scientific explanations for them but I don't care--they're magic as far as I'm concerned. And a good reminder that even in the midst of a storm in our lives, there can be a blessing if only we will look for it.

Four Years Seems Long Enough

I have FINALLY finished a quilt top that I have been working on for four years (and maybe longer). I always try to have something to work on in the car and in front of the t.v. and this was a project that I started. It came from Red And Green: The Applique Tradition by Jeana Kimball. And I did start out with good intentions. The problem was that I didn't figure out how much fabric I would need ahead of time and--like so many others--I didn't have enough. I spent at least a year trying to find the matching fabric-- so I had to put it aside and work on something else. I finally faced the fact that that fabric was not going to be in my future and started looking for a compatible one. And that took several more months but I did find one I liked and decided that it would work if I made the center and corners the same. But wouldn't you know? I had already appliqued the upper right block onto the other fabric. (fortunately it wasn't a block with LOTS of pieces. So off it came and on it went to the other block. And, of course, there were other mishaps joining the blocks, but I am happy with the result--and hope to get it pinned tomorrow. After waiting four years, the quilt DESERVES to be quilted in less time than that!

Change of Plans

My nephew and his wife are expecting a new addition to their family--a baby boy (it still seems weird to me to know ahead of time what you're having!). I have been planning to make them a baby quilt--and there's a baby shower next Saturday--so it seemed like I should get on with it. I had bought a conversation print at Tennessee Quilts last month that I thought would work with a pattern I had seen in a magazine. However, when I measured the size of the designs, they were bigger than the ones called for in the pattern. So, I just made up a pattern as I went along. Instead of having the prints as the center of stars, I used a half log cabin type of motif, finishing off the block with a blue checkerboard. Some sashings, borders and corner 9 patches and I was done. A quick quilting job and totally machined binding and it was a wrap--in more ways than one. It was a fun little project and, hopefully, will receive a lot of use.

Events and a Finished Top

Palmetto Hands is a Fine Craft Event that is held each year in North Charleston. In fact, there is an entire week or so of cultural events there that are local in nature and mostly free in cost. I think that it's a fine thing for a community. Part of the festival is an art exhibit by school children in the area--all ages. And some of the work is really incredible. If you have the opportunity this week, get to the North Charleston Convention Center and have a look.
This is one of the quilts that I entered in the show, Say It With Flowers. I was fortunate to have won an Honorable Mention prize. They do the awards a little different for this show. There is one Best of Show, one First Place, two Second Place and 12 Honorable Mention prizes. I haven't really figured it out, but was very happy to have won. This quilt was a part a guild challenge--almost. I made the quilt the way it told me it wanted to be; however, the silly quilt forgot to READ the rules of the challenge and ended up the wrong size. Oh well, whatcha gonna do with a "thread head"? I love the quilt the way it turned out so I didn't care what size it was!
Yesterday, five of the TTT Gang went to Beaufort for the Quilt Show there. It was a pretty nice show for the size and there were a surprising number of vendors. After that, we went to a quilt shop in Ridgeland, SC--Granny's Quilt, Fabrics & More. It's in a really out of the way area but was worth the search. The shop looked so nice, had a great selection of fabric and books and--best of all--everyone was nice. The address is:1108-B Argent Blvd, Ridgeland, SC and the Telephone # is: 843-208-3111. If you're in the area, give it a try. The TTTer's brought me home so they could get a tour of my house before it sells. What a great time to have people drop in--it was clean and neat!
And last night I finished a quilt top that I've been working on for a while. I'm pretty pleased with it and had fun figuring out how to make the various parts work together. I was going to make it into a pattern for sale, but right now I'm thinking that it might not be a good idea. I'll have to think on it.