Saturday, October 19, 2013

Hand Quilting Soothes the Soul

My quilting as been very sporadic for the last several days. As always, when I have company in from out of town (this time for over a week) I end up doing more hand work than anything else. It's very soothing and helps me quite a bit to enjoy the visiting times without going stir crazy.
All Grayed Down--binding on
and ready for the hand work
I finished up the hand quilting on All Grayed Down which is really sweet. And would you believe that I managed to find a long remnant of a binding that I still had the fabric floating around in one of my totes? Very easy to add to and make the proper length. It's a soft blue plaid that seems to pull out all the lovely blue colors in the quilt and make it look even lighter. Hmm, do I have a blue thing going on now? There are certain colors I tend to gravitate toward over and over again, just mixing them up into different combinations and trying to figure them out having fun playing with them. There is so very much to learn about color.
Little Fall Mini
This little Fall Mini was just begging for attention, easily sandwiched in like 20 minutes. Then I proceeded to have great fun with my Perle Cotton! Seriously grin-on-my-face-fun the whole time. I know, scary look for me... The whole thing was hand quilted in less than 2 hours and then once again, I happened to have a leftover piece of binding that worked perfectly. Almost makes me want to make more small quilts just because of that box of binding bits! It's a pretty rustic looking mini, but I think it suits the quilt just fine. The more I look at it, the less I think my gift recipient will appreciate the style though.  I suppose it would be good to quit second guessing myself. A gift is a gift is a gift. Right? And just FYI, this entire mini was made out of the scrap bin except for the orange acorn fabric and the backing fabric. Gotta feel good about that at least.*wink

14 comments:

  1. thumbs up for using your scraps - I need to get started soon on the scraps and get another top made with them. I will never use them all but it isn't for lack of trying :)

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  2. Handquilting is lovely, a wonderful thing to do and a wonderful thing to see in quilts! Great you can start binding a quilt again, I love that phase.... almost all done!

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  3. You are in finishing mode! All Grayed Down is great, love the plaid binding too.
    The Little Fall Mini I'd very cute and I'm sure will be a fantastic gift.
    Enjoy your company!

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  4. All Grayed Down looks so good, I hope we get to see a full picture of it soon. Quilting with perle can be addictive. I love the colour it adds and those big stitches make the quilting go so much faster. I love the stars on your acorn quilt.

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  5. Yea! Congratulations. All Grayed Down looks like a fun sampler. Love it!

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  6. Oh Audrey, both finishes are fabulous!! Love the colors in both. I'm with you on little quilts and using up scrap/leftover binding!! Way to go!!

    Blessings

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  7. I love your hand quilting! All grayed down is beautiful, love the colors, and those churn blocks. Amazing you could get that all done with a weeks worth of company! Susan in Troutdale

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  8. Wow, two finishes! Love the colors in all grayed down and your fall mini is so cute. I need to get a hand quilting project going for the cooler weather. I love plaids and stripes for binding - they just seem like the perfect finish on most quilts.

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  9. Oh, yes, your All Grayed Down does look sweet. It looks very inviting. Your binding looks like a perfect color, too.

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  10. Looks like you've had fun. And if you're right about the hand quilting part, I have a very soothed soul!! Great job.

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  11. I love that mini, Audrey. I have worked out that it is the combination of the strawberry (I have a BIG thing for strawberries) and the wonky setting that I like so much. I'm not surprised you were grinning -- there's nothing serious going on there!

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  12. You absolutely should feel good about that Little Fall Mini . . . and I love those black stars! Take care, Byrd

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  13. A lot of beautiful things in your last posts ! I do'nt post comments often but I read all your messages XXX

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  14. Looks like you're making great progress on your quilts! Congrats on the finish of All Greyed Down. I'm looking forward to the "whole Monty" shot of it! And your little mini is so sweet. I think anyone would love it - it's just perfect for fall.

    Yes, I think you should keep going on the minis! They're so fun, and such quick little projects (mostly) that they are very satisfying to make.

    So glad you can do the hand work while you have company. Some folks seem to need ALL of your attention and feel that if you're stitching, you're not paying attention to them. I seem to listen better when I have something in my hands.

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