On Tuesday I was diligently finishing up my “Glorious” challenge quilt. Tuesday was kind of a crazy day for me, so I never got around to giving you a progress report.
We had to turn in our challenge quilts on Tuesday night. (They will all be shown at the next quilt guild meeting.) Not wanting to get done too quickly (wink!) I started trimming my quilt about 6:30 Tuesday morning.
We did our morning walk and other routines. By lunch I had the binding and label on. I decided to sew my label into the corner of the quilt, attaching it along with the binding. I think this could be an easy, extra security measure. If nothing else, it means less hand sewing. I don’t really mind blind stitching, but I know others do.
By now it was not even 1 o’clock and I had five hours to burn. I sat there looking around my studio thinking about what else I could use up. My eyes fell on the cubbyhole that houses my stash of fusible rhinestones. Ah-ha! What better way to spend the afternoon than mindlessly watching a movie and fusing on rhinestones? (Actually, I used metal nail heads and “rhinestuds”, not glass rhinestones, but they basically are applied the same and add a similar decorative element without being overly sparkly.) So I pulled them out and went to work.
But nothing is so easy, right?
- I didn’t count on the time spent on my unexpected surprise phone call, nor the recovery time that was required afterwards while my head was spinning and my heart was pounding!
- I also didn’t realize that I had some rhinestones that were not fusible, so that wasted a good 15 minutes or more! (Note to self: be sure to check to make sure things are actually sticking.)
- Lastly, silly me, I didn’t stop to count out how many I would need and compare that with how many I actually had. A gross sounds like a lot, but 144 little rhinestuds sure get used up fast. Let’s just say that I should probably check that first next time 🙂
- Then I had to problem-solve on how to remove some and replace them with others. Good thing I love problem-solving. Needless to say, I didn’t quite finish reworking it before I had to leave, so the blue ones aren’t quite right yet. Oh well! I’ll have to fix it later, if I remember.
One other thing I didn’t tell you about was the quilting. I decided that if I wanted to challenge myself, I needed to avoid using freemotion quilting. I also thought I’d try to do it without an even feed foot. I decided to only use straight stitching and one of the preprogrammed, wavy stitch patterns. You can see a little of it in the last picture. (I forgot to take an overall picture when I was done!) It quilted up fairly quickly except I had to keep picking up my presser foot and pivoting around the points. And, I had an awful time with my machine because it is in such desperate need of a tune up. Threads breaking… Bad tension… Knots in the back… I ended up covering up the worst knot with the label, which is why it’s on the left hand side instead of on the right. I’m telling you, freemotion quilting is SO MUCH easier!!! But, I wanted a challenge, right?
And now, for the winner of 2011 Quilting Arts Gifts magazine! The winner is number 25, Heidi Zielinski! She wrote, “Congrats on getting published! I made beaded/quilted fabric ornaments last year and sold most of them, so I’ll probably see if I can get some turned out again this year. Tiny little art quilts! Fun to do the small things once in a while! Would love a copy…” So, Heidi, email me your snail mail address and I’ll pop this in the mail to you.