Today has been a very good day. I got treated to a nice dinner out and a box of Dove ice cream bars too. Seriously yummy stuff! I wanted to link up to
Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching today because hand quilting has often been the key to helping me sort through the jungle of mothering teenage kids.
 |
| Vintage Reproduction in the hoop |
So many times I sit with my hoop in my lap and try to stitch away all my worries and frustrations! I'm a thinking person and it really helps to be stitching while I sift through life's happenings and try to put things into proper perspective. I'm not 15 anymore. I'm 43 and a long way from the impulsive, often illogical ways of young men and women!
While my mind has been busy doing it's thing, look at what's been accomplished in my hoop! Don't you just love all that texture that appears one little stitch at a time? There's nothing quite like it.
 |
Working around the corner on the solid purple
and also the red/black hst border |
I was also able to spend
a lot of time at my sewing machine this weekend, which is
good because the closer I get to the end of the month, the less time there will be for that. This quilt top measures out at approx. 55 inches--quite a bit smaller than what I generally do, but so very sweet.
This is the quilt that really inspired me to dig into my orphaned 9-patch blocks. I saw the chrome yellow with the scrappy blocks and just melted.
 |
| My weekend sewing frenzy |
Of course I'm not using chrome yellow because I couldn't find enough in my stash! I did find a buttery yellow print that looked like it would work though and off I went sewing up my quilt top like there was no tomorrow. Once I got to the borders I was completely stumped, but my mom totally saved the day for me. Let me just say that her stash is WAAAAY bigger than mine. Now we need to work out something for trade, which I suspect will be something along the lines of sewing on the binding to all her future quilts. lol She's getting good about making the trades work to her advantage!
 |
| Learning to use the walking foot |
This is the first quilt that I was able to use my new walking foot with and I gotta say, I have a very lot to learn! I sewed in a simple grid using the 9-patches as my guide so I didn't have to mark the quilt at all. Love that I didn't have to worry so much about puckers on the back of my quilt, but I am sad that the texture is so different from the hand quilting. I always am! The benefits of having the quilt come together so quickly is what I know is going to keep me trying to improve my skills. I suspect that some quilts don't need to be hand quilted in order to be fully loved and appreciated.*wink
 |
| Not so very much left... |
So that's my crazy Mother's Day weekend. I only have a tiny little pile of 9-patch scraps left from all those orphan blocks and now a super sweet quilt top well on it's way to a finish. Yay me!
Yah you! There is a big difference in the texture of machine and hand quilting, but there is a purpose for each :)
ReplyDeleteGlad you had time for hand stitching today...I can relate to the teen worries!
Thanks for linking up to Slow Sunday Stitching!
You accomplished a lot again! And you are right, you do not need to hand quilt every quilt. I have come to that conclusion, certain projects are just as fine machine quilted, some are so special they 'deserve' handquilting. And it is nice to get quilts finished, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteBeautiful hand quilting - and great to hear it is so therapeutic as well! You've done a great job with the walking foot too.
ReplyDeleteHilda
Do a mother ever stop worrying about her children?
ReplyDeleteHappy that you find time in your day to sort out some of those worries.
Your quilting is looking good, both by hand and machine.
The nine patch is very sweet, and once you wash and dry it, it will pucker up nicely which will improve the texture greatly! The hand quilting on the hoop is coming along beautifully! Glad you had a lovely mother's day, you totally deserve it!!
ReplyDeleteI am finding such a difference in the two ways of quilting also now that I have started to quilt a few here and there with straight lines on the machine - I well be having two going at once shortly using the two methods
ReplyDeleteoh and Dove Bars sound divine!
ReplyDeleteI really like the hand quilted X boxes in the purple border... beautiful work Audrey! I'm more of a machine quilter than hand, mostly because of time issues. So happy to hear your Mothers Day was enjoyable!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like the perfect Mother's Day weekend to me. All kinds of sewing , some beautiful projects to hold while you were working on them and down time to contemplate the vagaries of teens.
ReplyDeleteThat yellow is perfect ...I think its worth two quilt bindings !
Wow - you got a lot done. Love the hand quilting on your purple and hst borders. Machine quilting does help get to the finish and they will be loved as well. The hand quilted ones are extra special though.
ReplyDeleteThanks for telling us about Kathysquilts.blogspot and Slow Sunday. I visited her blog and will now get her blog feeds, like I get yours, each day. I hand applique and hand quilt (also machine patchwork), so I particularly like your hand work posts. Your hand quilting inspires me to pick up my own work. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteYour making great progress with your hand quilting. Your new quilt is so lovely and sunny, and the style suits your machine quilting. Thanks to your mum for saving the day with the border fabric, it'll be worth a trade off.
ReplyDeleteFantastic quilt. You are amazingly clever, you have a blog too beautiful works:-)
ReplyDeleteAjka