I wrote to Hancock's and there was a glitch putting together the order because of the backlogging of some fabrics. They will make up the shipping cost on the other part of my order that was backlogged. But, unfortunately, I am still not able to work on the Blue Marquee. Instead I am doing more half square triangles for the Single Wedding Ring Quilt. Since my piecing is not always accurate, I have cut the strips a bit bigger than required and have been cutting the finished HSTs down to correct size. I do love the quilt, but the extra trimming step is getting quite old! I have taken to leaving a pile of pieced but not trimmed fabrics on the kitchen table with my cutting mat. Every time I pass by I trim one or two. My poor family. I am sure that DH thought that giving me the dining room table for my sewing table would mean the rest of the apartment was free of quilting gear.
On a happy note, my family is now using my quilts! I love to see them curled up under the quilts. When I first started quilting, I basically made wall hangings. Then I took a long break from quilting while DS was young (about7 years!), and about 1 1/2 years ago was bitten by the quilt bug again. Since then I have been making lap quilts and throws. The first few turned out too small. Even DS wanted more quilt to cover himself up with!
The last 3 have been just about twin size, but I faced a new problem. My quilts were a bit on the stiff side, so DS preferred his store-bought comforter. :((. I finally figured out that the stiffness was partially because of a stiff fabric I had used, partially because of the combination of the batting and the quilting itself, but mainly because I had never gotten around to washing the quilts! You can tell laundry is high on my priority list, LOL. Now that they have been washed with fabric softener, they are getting full use. Yesterday, DS and DH both brought them to bed to sleep under after using them while watching tv. Unfortunately, I have no pictures. They are probably both grateful.
I also recently got another picture of a quilt in use. I made a pair of wall hanging for my mom and one of her friends, and mom sent a picture of it in its new home. I have only recently begun giving quilts away because I didn't think they were ready for 'prime time' as it were. They still aren't but I am now giving them away anyway. It is fun to see others enjoying the quilts. I made the pattern for this one myself based on pictures I had seen in Hancock's catalog and one the web. Here it is hanging up:
And some details of the quilting from the back and from the front before binding:
2 comments:
That's how I make my half-square triangles, too. Large, then trim. And yes, I get tired of it, too, but it's the only way I've been able to get them to turn out nicely. I've never been happy with using paper (like Thangles). I'm pretty sure it is actually a cutting problem on my part (not being careful enough when cutting the original pieces), but it's probably also a pressing problem -- being too aggressive with the iron. Whatever the problem -- I keep making them big and cutting them down!
Love the quilt--It's gorgeous!
My DH likes to buy all kinds of comforters at the stores (they're so cheap) I could just gag. But it doesn't bother me that much anymore, as long as I can find places to put them all away. It just means I am free to spend more time working on art quilts! My two raggy quilts (lap size) backed with polar fleece get used a lot in front of the tv, they're super soft.
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