Tuesday, August 25, 2009

At a standstill....

This is going to be Lorelei's new quilt. I have worked on it it fits and starts. I don't remember who I have heard use that term, I was thinking my mom, but not real sure. But it sure describes the process for this quilt. It should have been done long ago, but here it is unfinished. I did decide to get serious about it a bit back. I had 8 or 10 squares left to make, got those made. I got the blocks sewn together without mishap...I figured I would get at least one turned wrong.

I have enough fabric in my basement to start a small quilt shop, but did not have anything I wanted to use for the backing of the quilt. So there was a pause to search for fabric for it. I looked at some of my favorite quilt shops on line with no luck. Ended up stopping at Joann Fabrics on the way home from a doctors appointment and found something I liked.

Actually, I chose three fabrics and got the backing sewn together this past weekend, got the batting cut down to size, got everything stretched and it all pin-basted together. Now to decide how to quilt it. I am going to free-motion machine quilt it. At least that is the plans so far. When you free-motion quilt, the feed-dogs are lowered, the pressure on the pressure foot lowered to zero as well as the stitch length is set to zero.

The ball is in your court then, or the quilting in this case. You can stitch forwards, backwards, sideways, any direction you want...everything is controlled by you, the quilter. I am not horrible at it, but I do have a lot room for improvement. It takes lots and lots of practice to get your stitches somewhat even.

I have been thinking and thinking on what design to attempt. The few times I have machine quilted, I have winged it....you can click here to see other quilts I have posted that are machine quilted. Be sure to enlarge the pictures to see the actual quilting. Though maybe I shouldn't suggest it. My favorite I have done so far is the one posted on December 10, 2007.

I would really like to plan this quilting, and have looked and looked at other's photos of quilts trying to get inspiration and nothing really strikes my fancy. So, I may have to just wing-it again and hope for the best.

12 comments:

  1. It is beautiful so far. I am sure which ever way you dicide to quilt it Lorelei is going to treasure it her whole life. Her grandchildren will fight over it. :)

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  2. Hi Rose, I admire anyone who can quilt. I have a friend who loves to make quilts. However, she would go the top --and then pay someone to put it together. Sometimes she'd to the quilting from there, but many times, she'd get it machine-quilted. Whatever she did--I always loved it!!!!

    Yours is so gorgeous. Love all of your colors... Be sure and show it to us when you finish. Lorelei will cherish it FOREVER.

    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  3. I am thinking the exact same thing. Lorelei will not see any fault in it whatsoever! As I read your post, I kept glancing over at the photo of her and thinking what a joy she will continue to be and how wonderful grandchildren are. No indeed, she will not see any fault in it. It will be a work of perfect art to her.

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  4. Oh my goodness Rose that is beautiful!!1

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  5. I have a feeling that if you do 'wing-it', the result will be beautiful. I really like what you've done so far.

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  6. The colors in the quilt are just vibrant...Lorelei will cherish it forever! You can't go wrong with your quilting...it is always nicely done! I do suspect their will be more quilts in the future for Lorelei...and she quite possibly will be helping you sew them together, I can tell you that is very special indeed ☺!!

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  7. I love it! How colorful and wonderul for a little baby! She will cherish it always. I think your past machine quilting looks great. I have yet to learn to do it with the machine I have now and hope to take a class to get some confidence. I did a couple on my old Singer....badly...but at least I tried. I can't afford to always have someone else quilt my stuff for me, so I must learn this some time.

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  8. I love it. You could tie it will dental floss and Lorelei wouldn't care. I have no doubt she will treasure always. I look forward to seeing it finished.

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  9. I like the rainbow colours. Lorelei is sure to LOVE it. You've done a careful job piecing it together. (I clicked on the photo to check. LOL) Nice work!

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  10. Very colorful - Bright & Beaming! Perfect for a lil girl!

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  11. Rose, your quilts are all so pretty and colorful. You've sure made a lot of them.

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