Last month the CF!Quilters were asked that we not wash our quilts before donating them, as it created some question as to whether they were new or used.
I like to wash everything before it leaves my house, because not only does it get rid of markings, chalk dust, cat dander, and general griminess (that looks like it should really be spelled "grimyness", but the red squiggles under the second spelling suggest otherwise), but it also sends the message that 'Yes! This can be washed just like your sheets and towels.'
Apparently, that message wasn't being received.
So, when I put the last stitch into this . . .
So the ...ish refers to the fact that the quilt is technically done, but I don't consider it finished because it never got its final, scalding wash and high-heat dry before leaving my house. Still and all, I'm not mad at the alternative treatment of air drying with tennis balls.
I deliberately placed the blocks in the lightning setting because it was so busy that one couldn't tell where any wonkiness might have been introduced in the making of the blocks. I soon discovered that it made it very difficult to tell, up close while trying to quilt the darn thing, where the light and dark zigs and zags began and ended. Iffy contrast choices by the original block maker didn't help matters either.
After two unsuccessful attempts to get this design underway in one of the dark pathways . . .
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| Leah Day's 365 Challenge, Day 34 "Mud Flaps" |
. . . I finally took the time to follow the corners of the dark paths with my chosen dark thread (AURIfil 5004), then did another undulating line along the light corners (AURIfil 5011). Once the parameters were defined, I could fill the paths with whatever design I wished.
Turns out, it wasn't Mud Flaps. Instead I chose something I've labelled as "Feather Hooks" which gives a darn good illusion of feathers but without doubling over previous stitching or worrying about thin shafts.
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| Photo origin lost in the mists of Time. |
In my version, I drew a chalk line through the middle of, say, a dark path. Then starting at the bottom of the quilt, I filled one side of that line with the feather hooks until I got to the top of the quilt, then stitched along the chalk line back to the bottom, then filled the other side with feather hooks back up to the top. (That might be this picture's version too. Hard to say.) It's an easy and fast-moving design.
For the borders I used AURIfil 2250 in my favorite shell/wave design, one of the few I can successfully eyeball.
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| Unable to find source! |
All the threads.
I really like how putting in the extra lines along the corners of the logs helps accentuate the zigzag pattern on the back.
That green check was the focus of my fabric choices for this back. It has a little gold rocking horse in the light squares and had been languishing/buried in the bins of donated fabrics.
In The Great Reorganizing, I'd moved it from the Christmas bin and included it in the newly-created category "Homespun". With custody of those fabrics this month, this was the first one I wanted to use up. In the process of going through every single bin last month, I'd also uncovered a baggie with the brown binding, cut and ironed and neatly folded, ready to go. Another perfect addition to this project: there were 27" left after the quilt was bound.
Epilogue . . . ish:
After the photo-op this morning, while folding the quilt I noticed an odd blank spot:
Wha' happened?
As an illustration of how confusing this pattern was for me to follow, I'd been tricked into thinking I'd come to the end of a light section two entire segments before it really ended!
Maybe I was tired or distracted--I don't know.
I used up all my Gütermann 9938 and an additional 3 bobbins-worth of YLI "Dusk" for the back,
Got that spaced filled pronto and the (finally done but not finished-finished) quilt stored away safely for this coming Saturday's delivery. I also noticed (as you may have too) not all the peach-colored chalk was knocked out of the quilt during its air-tumble. I briefly thought about throwing it back into the dryer with a damp sheet and the tennis balls for a couple more hours of air drying, but then thought, "This is what they asked for: an unwashed quilt. That's what I'll deliver."
If you washed the CF! quilts and gave them a good ironing might they not look washed? Since you have cats and since these are donations it seems to me that the cleaner, the better.
ReplyDeleteYou'd think, wouldn't you? I use W&N batting, which crinkles up so delightfully after a wash and dry, so even if I was tempted to make the quilt look new again (which I'm not), it never would.
DeleteI and others argued the cat hair point, but that's what the organizers think they want, so we'll play by these rules.
C
I used to wash my quilts for Linus but now only do it when I need to get markings out. I dry them on the living room floor so it was easy when there was just me in the house but now there's a second pair of feet here I feel bad about taking up so much floor space. I'm glad you had enough of the red for the border because it does set it so well.
ReplyDeleteI've considered a cold-water rinse with either an air dry for several hours in the machine, or finding someplace to hang the damp quilt until it's dry. I wanted to try the dry-quilt-with-tennis-balls idea first, as it was the fastest and easiest.
DeletePerhaps others will have more suggestions at the meeting this weekend. I think I'm the only one who's ever washed her quilt before donating, so maybe they'll have some additional ideas I can try.
C
lovely log cabin! I like that you use more than one color of quilting thread. Just - cool!
ReplyDelete