Monday, April 8, 2013

Dogwood Quilting

Hey look! I'm actually quilting something! :) I finally dove in and got started on quilting my brother and sister-in-law's Christmas (2012--heh) quilt. I'm doing dogwood quilting in the squares and a simple loopy design in the large aqua borders (evocation of snow, you see.) I love, love, love the dogwood design, but it may be a bit beyond my skill level at the moment. I did a few practices, but it's so much harder when you've got a giant quilt to try to move around. Oh well.

Now that is has been sunny for like four days in a row (definitely an anomaly here), it feels really weird to work on this quilt.

I'll be sure to show you the good, the bad, and the very, very ugly when I'm done! I've learned that I excuse pretty much any quilting mistake I make with the "oh well, you won't notice it when it's washed and done" line. I'm very lazy and would rather use the seam ripper on my eye than on quilting. One of the more interesting things for us all to find out will be just how bad something has to be for me to rip out quilting. We haven't found it yet, and believe me, you'll be aghast when you see some of these dogwoods. ;)

I also missed my quilt guild meeting yesterday, which is too bad because they had a great guest speaker (talking about reverse applique) and put together a cool challenge quilt (everyone was assigned a portion of Van Gogh's "Starry Night.") You can see what I missed here--it's pretty cool! I had my aforementioned Skype writing group though. When the five members live from California to New York, and one has a regular 8-5 job, you take whatever meeting time works when you can find it!

Anyone else watch Mad Men? With every passing season and episode, I fail to see how anyone on the show will have even a reasonably happy ending. Yipes. But hey, peach martinis.


Check out what people more productive than me accomplished this week at Plum and June!

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11 comments:

  1. I know it is so much harder to FMQ on a large quilt. But it looks nice so far! Best of luck!

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  2. The fabrics are great and I love the quilting! Yay for you for machine quilting it yourself :-)

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  3. I love your attitude, wish more people had it. The only quilting you should rip out is the stuff you could catch your toe on. Great quilting. Hope to see you next month at the IMQG.

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  4. I think it looks great! I love those fabrics too. I feel the same way about ripping out stitches. It has to be pretty bad for me to use the seam ripper on quilting (thread nests!). I'd still be on my first quilt otherwise! The washing machine is the best mistake eraser ever! :D

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  5. I love those Christmas fabrics.I'm sure you brother and sister in law won't notice any pieces of dodgy quilting, we're always critical of ourselves.

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  6. I've done orange peel quilting on two quilts now and love it, it's a simple pattern but turns out so pretty! And it is very forgiving, so I'm sure your quilt will look fine when it's finished.

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  7. It will be fine and is a great quilt pattern to use! I have to admit to using the "well when it is washed it won't matter" myself - lol!

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  8. Looking forward to some close ups of the dogwoods ;)

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  9. You crack me up, I can't wait to see the state of your Dogwood quilting now! Did you enjoy the Peach Martinis before, after or during and another good use for the seam ripper might be to hold the fruit in your drink?! ;)

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  10. It looks very good! Not us about using a seam ripper on your eyes though... Thanks for sharing your experience with dogwood on let's get acquainted.

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  11. I think it looks great! I love the dogwood pattern, though I haven't been brave enough to try it myself. I've been wimping out on the FMQ thing, and I need to start practicing!

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