#van gato

[quiltails]

When we last saw “Vincent”, I had just basted my quilt sandwich just ahead of Hurricane Irma. To keep it safe, I ever-so-carefully rolled my quilt around a pool noodle and wrapped it in a heavy shower curtain. It has been stashed away in my studio until I could start quilting it.

Today I started taking out all my basting stitches. As much as I didn’t want to use netting, I’ve had several months to change my mind. While hand dyed fabrics and batiks don’t fray badly, most prints do; particularly when you punch through them with a longarm needle (I use a #14, the smallest my machine will take). The part that really sold me was the eyes. I used the Hoffman Crystalia butterflies print, which I know reacts badly to needles. But if I use a netting overlay, I won’t have to do nearly as much stitching to stabilize all the little pieces.

Having been stored for so long, and being such a stiff collage, the entire quilt sandwich is very badly wrinkled. Once I take out all my stitches, I’ll need to press the heck out of it!

[quiltails]

"Vincent" Day 23. It was a beautiful Florida day, and my friends and coworkers were all sending status updates from the beach. I am sorely overdue for some beach time, but I spent my weekend in my studio with Thumper and "Vincent." I'm happier with my third swirl (not as pretty as my first one, but it doesn't take the attention away from my cat), and I reworked part of the sky as well. I'll let it sit for the next few work days before I glue any of the newer sections, but my goal is still to get all the pieces glued and peel it off my wall before the first storm of the season.

[quiltails]

I am really happy with the new binding I made for "Iris"! Despite knowing how easily metallic thread shreds (and it did, a lot), I used YLI Silk Sparkle in pale silver to edge my wavy, raw applique quilt binding -- and it was absolutely the right choice. The little bit of sparkle is a nice compliment to the crystal embellished lace swirls in the sky, and made the binding stand out, without taking too much attention. Most importantly, "Iris" is now 20 x 20, and I'll be uploading pictures to the Cherrywood Challenge on Tuesday.

[quiltails]

It's been a busy weekend. Between laundry and vacuuming, I made the backing for "Vincent" (I used a very stiff quilting fabric with a lot of metallic, to help it glide under the needle - it's the same one I used in "Picatso"), pieced my wool felt batting (which you can only buy locally 36" wide), and got them rolled onto planks. So it's all ready to be basted. Too bad I go back to work tomorrow.

[quiltails]

I actually didn’t spend much time on “Vincent” today, but I got to do something important. I pulled all of the pins and tacks out and took my glued quilt top off the wall, and it went like a dream. I hadn’t used so much glue that it was stuck to the foam board (and I did worry that I had), none of my collage pieces fell off, and I apparently managed to not accidentally glue any pins in between all those layers!

Of course, there’s much more to do before it’ll be ready to quilt. I still need to make the border and figure out my edge treatment. Still, now I have a nearly complete top loosely pinned to my design wall.

After that, I pulled out “Bobbin, the Bold” and made a quilt sandwich to get it ready to quilt.

[quiltails]

Cut, pin, glue. Cut, pin, glue. Cut, pin, glue. My collage continues to grow (this will be Day 21 for "Vincent") as I get into the rythym. Of course, this is a pretty large collage, so I'm having to go from the top of my cabinet to step stool to the arm of the couch to reach the sky parts. Under the watchful eye of my muse and critic, Thumper, I glue formerly pinned sections (that I've observed in passing for days until I decide they're right) so I can use those pins in new sections. While it's true I could've just bought a lot more pins, it's much easier for me to control small sections and keep tabs on what's already been glued. It's a good thing we've already we've already decided to order pizza for dinner. More studio time for me!

[quiltails]

Vincent's garden has grown. With five hours to play after I got home from work I added the other two sunflowers to my quilt. The darker one I like a lot, but the top one needs more definition. Perhaps I could add some shading with ink, or even change the center so the petals stand out more.

[quiltails]

Busy morning, and I haven't even gone to work yet! I finished basting "Vincent" with my assorted leather thimbles, hemostat, and harpoon of a needle. Needless to say, my fingers are very sore. Still, "Vincent" is basted and ready to quilt. It's clear at this stage that "Vincent" won't make it to QuiltFest Jacksonville this year. With just over one month until the time is have to turn it in, the only way I'd finish would be to rush, and I'm not going to do that. I'll take my time, finish it right, and I should have it ready for World Quilt Show Florida in January. It's a little bit of a bummer, as all of my quilts have debuted at QuiltFest since I started competing. But it'll still find its way there next year. I finally took "Iris" down to photograph it for the Cherrywood Challenge, and discovered to my dismay that I had apparently measured wrong. My quilt (which by the competition rules, must be exactly 20 x 20) is 20.25. So, I am now taking off the binding so I can lop a smidge off two of the sides to fix it. With luck, I can get the binding back on tomorrow and have my photo shoot. The Cherrywood deadline is August 1st. Meanwhile, I am now definitely planning a road trip to Houston in November (luckily, I already got the time off work approved). "Moonswept" is officially a finalist in the IQA's "World of Beauty" show! Talk about your heavy hitters; some of the competition in the category I entered are Ricky Tims and Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry. I can't wait to see my quilt hanging next to theirs!