Another finish . . . ish

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 . . .

. . . I threw it into my new dryer and put it on Air Dry. Remembering my research into dealing with a down comforter (2021, helping out my parents), I threw in 4 tennis balls to keep things agitated (and, I hoped, knock some of the chalk markings out of the top). It also gave me an opportunity to learn what the dryer thought was long enough for Air Dry (30 minutes--now written on the control panel with a black marker). After an hour there was a satisfactory amount of lint in the trap, and no discernible chalk lines.

The End(s)

Even while I was beating myself up about 'my inability' to FMQ, I wanted to try something new on the Sister top, so I decided it would be this: burying my quilting thread ends.

I had read mention of this in Mary's blog, but it always sounded tedious and dangerously in the Final 5% Zone: that last part of any project that seems to take 10 times longer than anything else, and keeps the job from being 100% done for far too long.

But, seeing this

brought home how clunky my current method of starting/finishing/continuing quilting lines really is right now. There's nothing smooth, pretty, nor elegant about them, and I've been quilting long enough to be better than this!

Kind-sight

Pillow made for a dear friend. Also a good lesson in second-guessing alignment in a 2-part embroidery project.

Sister is done and in the dryer, a glass of wine is within reach, and The Loud is at work for another hour--a perfect time for quiet contemplation.

While marking Sister this afternoon--filling 100s of square inches with teal and purple dots and lines gives one time for introspection--it occurred to me that I had been very ugly to myself. I basically eliminated all landmarks from a "terrain", telling myself to navigate it without any clues: I set myself up to fail, then called myself a failure for even attempting it.

I never let anyone do that to my children when they were growing up. Why, then, do I allow myself the 'privilege' of doing it to myself?

A Finish

48"x71"

The Indian Spiderweb is complete! The back is constructed from two reds, white, and light blue flannel pieces.

Under the Needles

Got the first border on the Triple Chain:

 

This flimsy can rest for a bit on the rack while I think about what the 2nd border might be. Something solid, probably, followed by the final border made from the 1.5"x2.5" bricks that have collected.

"Coach" is quilted

Today was the first time in a couple of weeks that I didn't spend most of my waking hours trying to avoid clawing the skin off my bones. I think I'm on the healing side of this hellish encounter with urushiol, although the carnage wrought on my forearms is still pretty awful looking.

Because I finally had the energy and focus to do something other than feel sorry for myself, I was able to finish the quilting on "Coach is Calling for the Heat" today. As I suspected, trying to stipple a mostly-black fabric with black thread turned into a nightmare in very short order. The tension was off too, so I wasn't sorry to pull out the first line of stippling (it wasn't hard!)

I've been wanting to work through Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting Project (one quilt pattern a day for a year), and her 2nd day's pattern is "Etch n' Sketch". That seemed perfect--a new technique for me, but one that marches evenly and methodically across the fabric. It would be easy to keep track of where I'd been and where I was going. Because of black-on-black, I'm showing the stitching on the back: