Shattered

Another project took "cuts" in line and demanded my attention before I could get back to the Arkansas Cross Road borders. I've been reading the blog of hand quilter Gretchen, and while that will never be my sandbox, I really appreciate the beautiful work she does. The more I'd read, however, the more I wanted to get back to quilting the vintage top I'd been working on while visiting my mother (waiting for her to wake from her naps). I was hand quilting using a large but portable hoop, but had discovered another fabric that had shattered. I'd auditioned some fabrics and thought I had a plan for replacing at least one of the squares.

Well, in the ensuing ten months, I managed to use most of both fabrics in other projects, leaving just enough of the yellow/green check to create two squares. Also in that passage of time, I'd made peace with the idea of replacing the shattered fabric that I'd already quilted in. So I started there--snipping and pulling out the lines of quilting in the shattered square along one side of the quilt. I'm keeping the clipped threads long for now so I can easily see where the requilted lines need to connect up.

Next I had to unbind that square. My hand stitching was so fine it was difficult to tell which side was sewn down by hand, and which was the attachment seam done by machine! Once the first couple of stitches were dug out and clipped, the rest came out a bit quicker.

The other side of the binding seam was just as tedious, but at least it was easier to see.

Once unbound, the square's seams were carefully picked out.

That's going to make things interesting:

Finally, a removed and sadly shattered square. The black dye was the culprit, to nobody's surprise I'm sure.

I noted the measurements of the space it left behind, then proceeded to the second square made from this fabric, only to discover I'd been there already!

That space was also cleared out, its dimensions noted, and I retired to the studio to mark and stay-stitch the replacement fabric. That was enough for the day, but I kept my project on the dining room table instead of moving everything to the studio. I was wise enough to cover it all with a towel, however, because I knew this would happen as soon as my back was turned.

 

Under the strong morning light the next day, I began the process of replacing those shattered squares, starting with the "easy" one closer to the center of the top.

I used a thin piece of cutting mat from one of The Loud's projects to keep the pins from going through the batting and the backing.

 

With all four sides pinned, it was time to stitch the new square in!

I hated that fabric within one inch of stitching. It didn't match any other weave or weight on the top, and it would've been too thick to quilt easily or successfully. And would you believe it? I stopped then and there, unstitched that inch, then found and prepped and sewed in a more suitable piece of fabric! I'm not always irredeemably stubborn!

It's the dark/med blue plaid, row 5 (from top of picture), column 6 (from left).

 

The edge square was really the easier one to sew in as I didn't have to deal with all 4 sides, and could maneuver the cutting mat piece under all the seams that needed pinning. And here it is sewn, bound, and ready to have those quilting lines redone. I'm just going to tie/knot off the existing threads and take up the lines again with fresh thread.

The challenge from this point forward is to find make the time to quilt on this regularly so I can make some headway again.

Coming soon: a new episode of "Why Can't Carolyn Count?"!!! 

For those reading between the lines--yes, my mom was released from Alzheimer's Disease a week before Thanksgiving last year. I'm still working on an obituary for her, along the same lines--speaking for herself--as my dad's.