Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Showing earlier than I planned....

Isn't this wild? It is going to be a new quilt for Lorelei...it is Olivia, the TV cartoon pig. I saw her before Lorelei had arrived and thought well who in the world would like that cartoon. The answer is Lorelei. She loves her...along with a bunch of others. I have had the top made for a week or two. I had the 'blocks' made for a few days before finding that wild fabric to use as sashing and border.

I use the term block loosely here...the pictures of Olivia are just printed on the fabric. Not applique or anything hard. They came framed in pink and red, but I cut that off to cut them all the same size, then used a black and white print to frame each picture. They sat for a while...I went through my material and could not find anything I liked to use between the blocks.

I happened to go for a drive one day...one of those rambling drives with no destination in mind. I ended up north of Paris, Illinois, on Route 1 a couple miles north of Lori's Pins & Needles, one of the best quilt shops around. She always has the best selection of fabric around. So, I thought since I was over there I would stop and look for sashing material. I had something entirely different in mind, but she had everything but what I wanted. She had fabrics from the line of fabrics I wanted, but not the particular fabric I had had in mind.

Then I saw the red/chartreuse fabric and it called my name...no, it shouted my name...saying 'Here I am! Here I am!' I could not resist it. I thought I might get home and not like it, but when I laid the blocks on top of it leaving 3 or 4 inches between, I still liked it. I hollered for Roger to come look and see what he thought. He loved it as much as me. So, I stuck with it.

I made the backing the other day...I am using bleached muslin for the first time ever in my life. Well, the bleached part...I have used plain muslin before. Anyway, yesterday I got it all stretched and layered and pin basted, my machine is set up to free motion quilt...yet I have not totally made up my mind about how I am going to quilt it nor the thread I want to use. About the time I think I have decided, I have second thoughts.

I am hoping to get it quilted in the next day or so...since we will be headed over there this weekend sometime.