My Creative Journal

March 2

Keep calm and quilt on

I'm in the last stages of quilting this quilt. I've been refering to it as the Birds quilt because the shapes remind me of birds. It is a little tedious to quilt all these straight lines over and over but I love the visual effect they create and the texture is wonderful. There's a few times that I stop to just pet my quilt There are times when I'm bored of sewing line after line after line... but I try to focus on the finished product, put on a podcast, get a cup of coffee and keep going.

March 6 - 12 Return to top

On Vacation

My family and I planned a vacation to Spain this week but due to problems with the airline, we had to cancel our plans We spent time in NYC, Atlantic City and Philly instead. Here are some photos.

I have realized that I am drawn to patterns, especially patterns on wallpaper. In the two hotels I stayed at, I took pictures of the wallpaper. I have done this in the past. We went to the MET in NYC and I bought a book of Islamic patterns. In my mind I always hear "can I make this in fabric?" I took the photo of the gray wallpaper because that is what I'm thinking with my thread sketching, lines over a pattern.

March 13 Return to top

Practice makes progress

On my quest to get better at thread sketching, I tried to copy this sticker I got from the DCMQG Spring Retreat goodie bag. It is an illustraton by Justine Gilbuena. I think it came out pretty good. These thread sketches are pretty quick and easy to make. They may be good gifts to make.

March 14 Return to top

Squaring up

Finally finished with the quilting. Today was spent squaring up the quilt and starting to bind the edges. When a quilt is at this stage you are so close to being done yet there are still so many other details you need to do before you are officially done and ready to start the next quilt that is brewing in your head.

Here's what I do:

1. Block and square the quilt.
2. Sew twill tape around all the edges to keep it from stretching.
3. Make and apply binding strips all around the quilt.
4. Make and apply a label.
5. Make an apply a hanging sleeve.
6. Take final pictures for entering exhibitions.
7. Make an entry in my quilt database of the finished quilt details.
8. Add it to my website.
9. Post it on social media.

There is a lot left to do...

March 17 Return to top

Fly High

Yeah! Love finishing a quilt. It is 32" x 24". I realized that it looks good horizontally as well as vertically. It is like two quilts in one. I made hanging strips to hang it either way.