MARKED TO SOON

Well I marked some of the quilt as I was working on it not realizing that I would be getting it so wrinkled while I did the embroidery.  That is leaving it where it needs to be ironed.  Soooo  I sprayed out all the blue I could find but I still didn't feel good about it so I put the top in the washing machine on Gentle and rinsed it out.  So far so good.  It is on the table drying because I wasn't sure about putting it in the dryer.  I pray all the blue marker is out because after I embroider a few more names I will need to iron the top.  THEN I can mark it.  I just jumped the gun.  But I have to admit I'm very afraid to iron where I had the blue marker.  I have tested it on some of the cream clothe that I had left over and all went fine so I'm hoping all is well.  Oh I dare not mess this up or I will be so upset.  Oh why didn't I realize I would need to iron before I started marking!  UGH!

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE LET IT GO WELL.

TIME TO MARK

Well it is time to start marking my patterns on the quilt.  I must say I am nervous to start the process.  It is always a fear of what if I mess up?  How will I get that design out of there? There is an eraser pen you can use but I don't have one.  But today is the day to jump right on in there.

I am also still having trouble with my thumb and to make matters worse the hearts  are full of seams to stitch through.  I'm thinking of trying a bigger needle and putting more slack in the hoop.  After this quilt I'm going to try to learn to quilt with a little thing called Aunt Becky and a method that is better for the thumb.  Here is a video about the method http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeSSyueipPw&feature=player_embedded
Since I am so new at quilting I should be able to learn this method which should be easier on my thumb.  But for now I will do my best to do the best job I can with the least amount of pain to my thumb.  :-)

ONE STEP FORWARD THREE STEPS BACK

Oh how frustrating today has been but I am happy to say I have kept my cool.  Over and over I kept telling myself "it's all a learning process"   I was preparing to sew my last row of hearts on the quilt when I realized I had put two hearts in the wrong place on that row because I ended up with a purple lining up with a purple just above it and that shouldn't be.  So I thought "that's O.K.  We will just leave it that way."  Then a light bulb went off in my head.  I shouldn't have any purples in the bottom row.  Those are my extra hearts and none of my extra hearts were purple.  OH NO!  That means something is terrible wrong some place.  So on the hunt I went.  I found it in the second row.  I had listed Tammy's favorite color as pink when it is purple.  I wanted to cry.    But I held my cool.  I had to get out the seam ripper and disconnect half of the second row from the first and third row.  Then I had to take apart 2 blocks.  From there I had to take apart 2 blocks on the bottom row so that I could move the purple into the spot the pink now occupied.  Everything was going slow but fine when suddenly I hear RIP!!! 

 

There!  Right there!  Do you see it?  It ripped right into the seam.  There was no way I could trust that not to go into the heart.  Sooo  off to to the store to get some fabric to remake the heart. UGH!  Fast forward time at the store, wash and dry and iron the fabric, cut out the fabric and sew the heart.  Now we get to put it all back together with the NEW purple (yes that picture is really purple not blue) in the right spot.  Now Tammy has the right favorite color and I am RIGHT BACK WHERE I STARTED THIS MORNING.  Oh but my problem is fixed.

LEARNING AND GROWING

Today I can truly look back on my quilting and say that each quilt has been a learning and growing experience.  This quilt has taught me to

• Slow down the process and not rush ahead. 
• Be sure to measure and remeasure.  What's that saying?  Measure twice and cut once.
• How to square up the blocks
• To trust my instinct and my creativity
• And to be willing to step out of what I'm used to and do something new.  Who knows, I may even try applique some time or teach myself to machine quilt.  Of course I will only do that in a pinch because I have the hand quilting process.

This has been a row making day.  I've made 3 rows and connected them.  I'm starting to see the quilt come together and it is exciting.  I'm still my hardest critic but I think I LOVE this quilt.

I don't know how much more I will work on the quilt tonight but if I don't finish the rows then tomorrow I plan to finish the rows and start marking it for quilting.  I think it may be best to mark it before I put the borders on.  What do you think?  Mark first or borders first?

I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!

Not a soul made any suggestions on the borders.  Does no one have an opinion?!?!?!  (Dramatic Sigh here) Oh well.  :-)

CUT CUT CUT SEW SEW SEW

Today has been a very productive day.  I cut the sashings for the blocks.  I worried that it would be hard with the rulers I have.  But I am so grateful that it was easy to cut the sashings for these heart blocks.  I was worried about that.  I did misjudge the sizes for the bottom sashings but hey they are too big so I can cut them before I even sew them on!  Yea!  Always better too big than too small.  The sashings will all be on by the time I go to bed.  Yes it is moving well.  Tomorrow will be connecting the blocks together and possible putting the borders on.  Friday will probably be picture time then the marking and Saturday should be the pinning it all together and Sunday well we will see how it all goes.  Lord willing no later than Monday I will be quilting.

I've ordered all my stencils that I plan to use for this project and all but one are here.  I had problems with the heart stencil fitting into my heart pattern so I'm going to have to change it up a little bit but I'm pleased to say I will be able to work it out.  So here is the stitching idea's

The hearts are being stitched with http://quiltingstencils.com/featherheart11.aspx
The sashing (small borders in the quilt) will be quilted with this
http://quiltingstencils.com/cableandflowerborder45.aspx
And the borders will either be a bigger version of the sashings or it will be http://quiltingstencils.com/heartborderandcorner9.aspx

Now is your chance to voice your thoughts.  Should the sashings and the border be the same or should I use the heart border?  What do you think?

Until tomorrow  God bless you and thank you for reading.

YEA! THE FABRIC IS HERE!

I'm so happy.  The bolt of fabric I needed for the borders and sashing's is in.  I'm so happy.  And I forgot to take a picture of the bolt.  Sorry.  It has already been cut into the 3 lengths I needed and washed as well as Ironed.  I've talked Jim into cutting my long border pieces.  I am always so afraid to cut those for fear I may mess up and not cut it straight enough.  I don't mind the smaller pieces but I'm just not sure how to do the larger ones.  He is so kind and at this point has always cut my longer pieces for me.

The last two days have been very long for me not knowing what to do with myself since I usually quilt.  Oh there were things I could have and should have done but I didn't.  Yesterday I vegged with a puzzle book.  Oh well.

So where do we go from here?  Well tomorrow I'll start putting on the sashings.  I would like to go ahead and embroider the names on but I'm trying to learn that even though this is for my Aunt, I shouldn't put the names on a memory quilt until it is completely paid for just in case something should happen and I have to sell it to someone else.  I honestly doubt that would happen but it is just a good policy to get in the habit of.  I try not to start a quilt until enough money has been paid to cover the cost of the fabrics.  From there I will go ahead including the quilting but not the names (if it is a memory quilt like this one) until it is paid for.  I'm sure it will work fine waiting on that part for a month or two  after all the hand quilting will take plenty of time in its self.

After the sashing I will start marking the quilt for quilting and by this time next week at the latest I should be quilting it.  This is going to be one nice quilt and well worth every penny and more.  I've enjoyed the learning processes I've already experienced with this quilt. 

Until the next update...