Yesterday after church and a short nap on the couch, I went down to the sewing room. Having spent Saturday morning with the Quilty Ladies at church, I was inspired to do some actual work, plus I had a bag that contained three backs that need to be pieced to make them larger.
I didn't do that, but I did pull out two things from the pile of UFOs that threatens to topple over when a strong breeze is created.
I had a small quilt layered and ready for quilting. I have said I do not enjoy the quilting process enough that everyone's probably tired of hearing it. My friend Suzi quilts so much and so well, and I admire her talent so much... and I know I will never in a gazillion years be half as good as she is at it. But I do want to get over the aversion enough to do my own small projects.
Suzi suggested thinking in terms of small zones - that is, quilting a block at a time, or a column or area. I seem to be better at swirls than at stippling, and there's only so much you can do with stitching straight lines. So I decided that this little quilt was just the thing to start on.
Thinking in terms of small areas made it less intimidating. I quilted each block with swirls, with white thread in the top and blue in the bottom. I tried to fill each block before going into the next block, but I did let the swirls overlap the seams.
Some areas are better than others. One thing I could not do was find a pair of quilting gloves. I improvised with rubber fingers but it's just not the same. My elbow hurts a little today from not gripping right. I'm sure I'll find the two pair I have just as soon as I buy a new pair.
My swirls are not even or smooth. Sometimes I just made waves to get back to where I wanted to be. It was a learning experience. I am improving. Practice, practice, practice!
After I had done all the blocks I switched over to blue thread in the top to quilt the border. I had a spool of King Tut from Superior Threads. It's supposed to be relatively lintless, and I did not find a ball of fuzz on the shank like I had with the white spool. I think the white was Gutterman. The spool was empty and I tossed it, and the trash is already gone today. (Yes, he IS that OCD...)
So one more finish! I made aqua binding and finished it after dinner.
The other finish was a top that had been waiting for its outside border for a while. That one will go to the church quilt group next month to be added to their pile.
Now that I've reestablished my sense of accomplishment, I'll go back to piecing quilt backs.
Sew on!!
