Happy New Year

Hard to believe so much time has gone by since my last post.  I think of posting, but something always seems to get in the way. I won't begin to suggest that anything will change, but one never knows.

One of my recent quilt finishes was an antique quilt that I repaired for a friend.  It was in my possession for quite some time... I almost forgot about it.  When I would come across it in the closet, I would look in the bag and shudder to think what it might take to get it done.  Well a few weeks ago I determined it was time to take the bull by the horns and tackle the task at hand.  I was not close to being knowledgeable about the best way to go about repairing an old quilt, but I gave it my best shot. This quilt was originally all done by hand.  I had to remove all the quilting to dispose of all the wadded batting.  The edge of the backing was pretty much threadbare, as well as many of the pieces on the front.  I replaced the pieces on the front that had big holes. I tried to find fabric scraps from my stash that would not stand out too much, and reinforced the back of some other pieces with a fusible stabilizer to try to retain as much of the original as possible.   I could not use any of the original border, but I was able to use the good spots of the backing to make the new border for the front.  The quilt has a new backing to make it possible to display this quilt instead of wasting away hidden in a bag.

My new longarm has a much bigger quilting space than my previous machine did, but my old side clamps that I had made worked fine, so I decided it was fine to continue using them.  Main thing I did not like about these clamps is it required pinning the fabric to the backing... that is 7 big hat pins on each end that often left me with a pricked finger. In a forum for my Innova there was talk about side clamps with a couple suggestions.  I took the info and came up with my version.  The main item I needed to purchase was this Quilt 'n Go lap frame that I bought at JoAnn's. This kit would not make a clamp that was long enough, so I bought a longer CPVC pipe to cut into two - 21" pieces. 

The key part is the snap-on clamp that holds the fabric to the pipe. These snap-on clamps are only 9.5" long, so two on each pipe works great.  I ran bungee cord through the pipe and attached it to the side of the frame.  The picture shows elbows on the end of the pipe, but I'm thinking they really are not necessary.  They can easily be removed.  Also, once I have some experience with these, I may determine that the pipe does not need to be quite as long.  Easier to make something shorter than longer.  I have not actually loaded a quilt to try these out, but the backing appears to be nice and snug.  You can see my previous fabric side clamp with the pins on the table.  I will hold onto them... for a little while anyhow.

Windy March is half gone

It sure has been windy lately, but then I guess it is not uncommon to have windy days in March.  Spring is really here... I have blue bonnets in my back yard.  They started popping up about 10 days ago.  I'm thinking it's early, but I'm still pretty new in these parts... so what do I know.  I haven't taken any pictures of the blue bonnets yet because I'm expecting them to grow bigger and there was a whole lot more of them last year.  They are very dependent on the weather.  It is very dry and has been for quite some time, so I don't think that is good for the spring wild flowers. This year I guess I won't be finding any photos to compare with last year's blue bonnets.
I have been very busy, but that is not uncommon lately.  I have been trying to get some projects done, so that requires work time not time on the computer.

I had a request for feathers on a quilt for a friend.  Not just feathers, but kind of swirled in opposite directions.  I'm getting better at feathers, but I still have a long way to go to be good at it.  I completed this quilt and she was very happy.









I finished another project that is actually in a totally different category.  The quilt was an antique quilt that had been pieced and quilted by hand and was in pretty poor shape.  I had the task of repairing the quilt.  It seems the lady's Dad was the one who did most of the work on the quilt... but he was given the original quilt to finish and after putting the pieces together, he put a backing on the quilt and hand quilted it.  She wants to be able to have the quilt out to show others in her father's memory, but it was falling apart.  I do not typically repair old quilts, but I agreed to give it a shot.  I used a soft fusible backing to stabilize some of the worst areas and it helped to be able to keep some of the original fabric that had really deteriorated.  Overall the quilt repair turned out pretty nice.

On the home front I got my new cupboards put in my laundry room/entry way.  I have had open shelves in there for a while, and I have been wanting cupboards.  When we decide to do something... we can get it done.  We bought unfinished cabinets yesterday.  One is a tall one and the other is counter height with a formica top.  Well today is Wednesday and they are installed, stained and already filled up.  I'm a happy camper.  The wooden shelf unit that we took out of the entryway has found a new home in our bedroom.  Another task I got done on Monday was repotting some of my house plants.  That isn't such a big thing, but I haven't done it for about 5 years.  My plants are very happy.

Back to one more quilt.  In January when we went to visit our son and his wife, I showed my DIL how to make a really cool block that is made from 5 pieces of a layer cake.  It has three seams and ends up a 20" block.  You can have a good size quilt real quick.  She has a hectic schedule so I told her I would take it home and finish the quilt for her.  I found some really great fabric for the borders in my stash.  I got another chance to practice my feathers.

I have lots of quilts waiting to be quilted, but I also have lots of other projects waiting, so it may be a while before I get back here again.  I just got several friends interested in doing a hand applique quilt.  Not one quilt, but each will make their own.  I will have to be their mentor on this one I think... after all I did talk them into giving it a try.  I have no one to blame but myself.