Aug 8, 2016
Well I finally finished the special project that I have been working on and writing about. It went to it’s new home yesterday. Giving a quilt to a person who truly appreciates the love and hard work that is spent in creating something special is why I love to do what I do.
I would like to take this time to send a special shout out to two special friends, Liane Gustafson and Glenda Craven. Thanks to both of you for your encouragement and support when I was struggling with ideas or dealing with thread issues. I really appreciated the feedback and support you both gave in the creating of this quilt.
Making quilts is my way of giving back to others and the last two projects I have created “The Light Within” and this one which I called The Raven Star were both very personal and special. These two quilts were the first two quilts I designed specifically for individuals. The quilts are so different however they reflect the receivers personalities and the designs themselves flowed.
I have to say that even with all of the frustration that I felt quilting The Raven Star it turned out to be one of the best quilts I have made to date. I am so happy it turned out so well. Here is the finished quilt. The centre applique was a design by Tommy Joseph that I purchased awhile back. I figured I would use it in a small wallhanging. When I decided that I was going to make a quilt for one of my ministers at my church, I knew I needed to incorporate that applique in the centre.
Here is the complete quilt, I really need to find a better way of photographing these quilts but for now I am placing them on the floor while I climb up on a chair. Not perfect by any means.
The quilting on the black and white fabrics was done using black thread. If I had to do it over I would use white thread instead of the black. As mentioned in an earlier post this was my first time attempting formal feathers. The first ones on the gray fabric are OK but by the time I was doing them on the borders I had got into the rhythm of them and by the last border was even able to relax and enjoy the process.
I think the quilt went to a good home. Now on to the next project and I have a customer quilt awaiting me.
Quilting is sharing yourself with others! How true is that!
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Aug 3, 2016
So, in my last post I mentioned the special project I am working on quilting. I spent a good part of the weekend on this project although did take Monday off as it was a holiday here in BC. My partner and I took his Mom back up to Nanaimo where she lives. My partners sister had brought Mom Finley down to stay with her here in Victoria for the weekend so we drove her back home on the Monday. The traffic driving up the island to Nanaimo was unreal!! I have never seen it so busy and I have lived here all my life. I did the driving as my partner drives the highway almost every day so I figured I would let him be the passenger for a change. Good thing too as I don’t get as stressed as he does. Although sitting at the Spencer Road bottleneck for over 25 minutes just trying to leave Victoria was not fun! The picture below is actually the McKenzie Road bottleneck but you get the idea.
I had left the quilt 75% quilted and thought that I would spend a couple of hours on it on Tuesday and it would be done!! Not so. The last two borders to quilt were black and I had been using So Fine 50 black thread on the black areas however what I noticed is you really can’t see it, so I decided that I would use Superior Threads King Tut Black thread which is thicker to quilt the feathers in the last two black border areas. What a nightmare that turned out to be!.
The first black border to be quilted I had sectioned so that it was in quarters. The first two quarters were done without too many problems. I did notice some tension issues with the black King Tut thread and I remembered I had these same issues when quilting with this spool on another quilt but things seemed to be working so that was fine. Then I got to the third section and that is when things went horribly wrong. The tension issues I had experienced with the last quilt I had done with this thread resurfaced. The tension simply changes in midsection and not just a little!! A lot!! On the back no less so you have finished completely before you realize there is a huge problem. So much so that you can’t leave it. I tried everything, re-threading the machine. Rewinding a new bobbin. New needle, making sure there was no lint in the machine. Everything! Nope I had to rip that whole section out. Now what! I have already finished two sections, there is a deadline on this quilt and the only way to get Superior thread in Victoria is by mail order. I decided that the only way was to soldier on and just keep checking the quilting every couple of inches. It took hours and some more ripping but I finally finished that border at 10:00 pm last night. Even with using the thicker thread you can barely see the quilting on the black. I had left a channel in the feather stem to quilt some pearls in as I like that look but with the fact you really can’t see it and the time factor this will have to stay as is.
So I have one more border to go and I am NOT using that spool of thread. It is now in the garbage I used black thread on the black and white fabrics as well and if I had this to do over again I would use white thread.Something to file away in the back of my mind for next time. Black of course recedes and with that you can’t see the quilting at all.
So something that should have been fairly straight forward and finished by now is still on the frame and I was NOT a happy camper yesterday. Oh well today is a new day and I will need to come up with plan B for the last black border.
We are responsible for what we do, no matter how we feel!
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