CA-bound #5: Card Trick

Quilt #5 sent to Robert Kaufman for the #quiltsforCA drive:

44" x 58"

This top has been sitting quietly in one of my project drawers for over 20 years. Twenty years! I have proof of this, thanks to my defunct Geocities page:

I made both this top and its twin at the same time; the quilted twin was donated to a woman active on the RCTQ newsgroup at the time, for a charity called "Sisters".

These were made in a class given by a bee-mate and member of the local quilt guild. She was adamant that her version of this pattern not be shared! It was one of a very few classes I ever attended--having made clothes for nearly 40 years by then, figuring out a quilt pattern was child's play in comparison. (Actually, literal child's play for me was making 'Barbiedoll' clothes, from commercial patterns.)

In the bag holding the finished top I found the backing fabric, bias strips cut for the binding, and a note saying all that was needed was batting.

Not quite true.

The backing was exactly the same size as the top--was I that naive back then? I still had some of that chosen backing fabric in my stash and could've easily extended a couple of edges, but decided to do something a little more interesting:

It's obvious I bought both fabrics at the same time, as they're coordinating. The small checked strip in the blue is part of its pattern, not something I added from a 3rd piece of fabric (but I did cut the blue so that strip would be a dominant feature).

With a mostly medium and dark top, I decided to go with chalk and a stencil as the light-colored chalk would show up on most of the fabrics (all my stencil pens are currently in their death throes). I don't have many Full Line Stencils (I'll have to remedy that at the next quilt show I attend), so I pulled out the #30466 "Sweetheart Meander" once again.

After a few passes I noticed that, for some unexplained reason, there were bigger gaps in my placement (than on quilt #2), so I decided to edit the stencil. I haven't figured out how to make additional "clear" areas, where the chalk can go through (I haven't tried anything yet either, so maybe there's my problem), but a Sharpie does a good job of reminding me where I want to add a shape.

Once I've rubbed the chalk powder over the top, I go back with a stick of chalk (pink, in this case, to catch my attention when I get to those spots) and mark the add-ins.

Don't forget the heart ^^^

A couple of things I've learned about working with these stencils:

1) Pin down the corners (tuck the points under the stencil so they don't get caught in the pouncing pad), and maybe midway along the long edges, before using the chalk. Not only does it keep the stencil from creeping around during the rubbing, but you can unpin and peek under each quadrant to be sure the markings are clear enough before removing the stencil. It's a real PITA to try to line everything up again once the stencil is off.
       1a) The edges are usually the spots that get under-chalked.

2) The pouncing chalk that is normally used/coupled with these stencils contains the recommendation to spray the newly-chalked area (after the stencil is removed) with hairspray to keep the lines in place while stitching. That technique works best if you stitch while the hairspray is still slightly damp. If you let it dry completely, the chalk bounces off just as rapidly as though you hadn't done anything to secure it.

You can see the label in the backing picture. Back when I had the embroidery machine set up to make a label (for the 4th CA quilt), I made a strip of them (using up an odd strip of muslin in the process). Midway through, I changed the date for my quilts next year. If I sew it, will they come?