Sunshine Pics

As promised, the finished quilt my kid claimed for his own collection:



I darkened up the next shot on my photo shop -- disposable cameras are not great for close-up shots -- and this is very close to the actual color of the quilt:

Freebies

Northcott Silk Inc. has free quilt patterns online for download here. I'm going to download and try out Ro Gregg's Wild Iris pattern (bottom of the page.)

I Want Candy

Now that Sunshine is finished, I'm moving on to the next project -- turning a visual firecracker of a top into a quilt:



I've named this one Candy, because while Quilter on Acid might have been more appropriate, I want to imbue it with a sense of fun. It is a fun quilt, vibrant and sizzling, and such an audacious combination of colors that is virtually never done in a double wedding ring pattern.

The top is not that old, probably dating back to the late sixties/early seventies. The fabrics are mainly cotton, with a couple of oddball wovens and a canvas print that might be upholstery fabric from the Age of Aquarius. I remember my mom having clothes in these patterns when I was a little kid. The maker both hand- and machine-stitched the pieces together. There were a number of popped seams among the patchwork, mild fraying here and there, and outer scalloped sashing that needed correcting as it wouldn't lay flat.

I hand-washed the top, matched it to a sturdy cotton batting, and basted it to a plain muslin backing. Usually I make repairs before I put the piece together for quilting, but I decided to hand quilt this one, so I'd make them as I went along.

Got Tip?

Quilter's Newsletter Magazine will pay $25.00 for an original quilting tip, to be published in their monthly magazine. Send your tip to toptips@qnm.com, or QNM, 741 Corporate Circle, Suite A, Golden, CO. 80401

Linkage

As I update the quilt blog, I'm going to start adding links for my favorite quilt-related sites and suppliers over on the sidebar.

One new site I've discovered is Quilt Pro, which I came across after purchasing Carol Doak's 300 Paper-Pieced Quilt Blocks, which comes with a Foundation Factory CD. This CD sets up a computer program to enable you to resize, reposition and print 300 different foundation piecing templates off your printer. You get an extra 10 block patterns by registering, which led me to the Quilt Pro site.

I really like Carol's book, btw. It is very easy to follow, beautifully illustrated and full of great ideas. I'm just starting to get into paper piecing now, so I need simple. The software is terrific; I made seven blocks the first day I tried it. Definitely worth the $29.95 cover price (bought at JoAnn's) because it comes with the software CD, which will save me a ton of copying, and I can flip and mirror and resize the templates on the computer however I like.

Sunshine

The Grey Lady Down quilt is finished, and as soon as I have the photos processed, I'll put them up so you can see the results.

Restoring this quilt was a labor of love and misgivings. I'm not in the habit of repairing something simply because it's rare and potentially valuable, but when I put 200 hours into a project, I like to see some return on my investment. If I'm not going to sell the quilt, I need to find a home for it (I have over 200 quilts in my personal collection, and my current, no-exceptions rule is that if I keep something, something else has to go.)

I started out not liking the Grey Lady much, but when I put the last stitch in the new binding, I was in love with her. I couldn't even hate the yellow, because it felt as if the fabric was so determined to be there, right in my face. As if it were saying I don't care if you like me or think I'm appropriate. I'm here. I'm bright. Deal with it.

I also gained a lot of respect for Grey Lady's maker, who you remember I named Gloria. Gloria may not have been a precision quilter, but her imagination and love went into this quilt. I could feel it every time I put hands on it.

I finished repairs about the same time a work deadline descended on me, and so I hand-washed her a second time and hung her to dry on the porch. I got so caught up in work that I forgot about her for a couple of days. Then one night I went in to say good night to my son and found him wrapped up in her.

"You stealing my quilts now?" I asked him.

"I like this one, Mom," he told me, snuggling under it. It was the perfect size for his bed, which is a full, not a twin. "Can I have it?"

I eyed his favorite quilt, a Mariner's Compass pattern a friend of mine made for him when he was two. He loves the mariner quilt so much it goes on vacation with us, and yet he'd tossed it over in a heap on his computer chair. "What about your old quilt?"

"You have lots of quilts," he said, very reasonably. "Why can't I?"

I thought about it. I don't have any rules about the kids have quilt collections, and Mike only has four of his own besides the much-loved mariner's quilt. "Okay, but I need to sign it, and it needs a new name. What do we call a quilt with all this yellow in it?"

His answer: Sunshine