Stay-cation Days 4, 5 and the Weekend before I returned to work.
I realize I've been absent for a stretch--I had this post written at the end of my stay-cation but put off publishing it because I wanted better photos of what I accomplished. Then I got busy sewing and quilting and forgot all about it, until one of my girlfriends asked me when I was going to put up another post! So, without further ado...the rest of my stay-cation:
Day 4, Thursday, was not very productive--I am a SLOW quilter and I took most of the day making the backing for the Barn Chicks quilt. I am not fond of anything related to cutting fabric and squaring up is one of the worst chores for me (I know, I know--cutting is essential to quilting!)--but I'm short and my cutting table is tall. I finally got everything loaded and completed the top border Thursday.
Thursday night Katrina and I took LeiLani out for sushi for her birthday--and we decided we would only take hand work with us on our annual Labor Day quilting retreat. I'm hoping to have at least a couple of quilts ready for binding!
Friday morning, Day 5, our oldest son, Jack, came over to help brainstorm over the idea I have for the fabrics I bought at the quilt show last month. We made some decisions and he will draw the pattern. Katrina will enlarge the pattern for me and hopefully we'll have it traced onto the background fabric before Jack goes on tour in October. I can't tell you anymore about it because it's for a very special someone, and I want it to be a surprise!
Friday afternoon I was able to quilt the first of four rows of the Barn Chicks quilt. I'm quilting a different design inside each chicken and quilting chicken feathers in the rest of the area. The quilting of the eggs in the borders is not going as smoothly as I would like, but I consider every quilt a learning experience and will just keep plowing.
I'm using a different pattern inside each chicken, and quilting chicken feathers around each chicken.
Saturday I finished quilting the Barn Chicks! Lordy--that one was difficult for me because I just couldn't get inspired by it. I appliqued eggs throughout the border and placed an egg basket in the lower right corner. It was a good idea in concept, but I couldn't come up with a decent design to quilt in the border--so I treated the eggs as if they were the yolk in the center of a fried egg. Like I said, uninspired. The egg basket is heavily stitched because it was fused and not previously anchored down by stitching before going on the longarm. I scribbled around each egg in the basket. I used Signature Golden Harvest on top and Fil-Tec in the bobbin.
Day 4, Thursday, was not very productive--I am a SLOW quilter and I took most of the day making the backing for the Barn Chicks quilt. I am not fond of anything related to cutting fabric and squaring up is one of the worst chores for me (I know, I know--cutting is essential to quilting!)--but I'm short and my cutting table is tall. I finally got everything loaded and completed the top border Thursday.
Thursday night Katrina and I took LeiLani out for sushi for her birthday--and we decided we would only take hand work with us on our annual Labor Day quilting retreat. I'm hoping to have at least a couple of quilts ready for binding!
Friday morning, Day 5, our oldest son, Jack, came over to help brainstorm over the idea I have for the fabrics I bought at the quilt show last month. We made some decisions and he will draw the pattern. Katrina will enlarge the pattern for me and hopefully we'll have it traced onto the background fabric before Jack goes on tour in October. I can't tell you anymore about it because it's for a very special someone, and I want it to be a surprise!
Friday afternoon I was able to quilt the first of four rows of the Barn Chicks quilt. I'm quilting a different design inside each chicken and quilting chicken feathers in the rest of the area. The quilting of the eggs in the borders is not going as smoothly as I would like, but I consider every quilt a learning experience and will just keep plowing.
I'll get the binding attached and ready for hand stitching for our Labor Day retreat. Next in the longarm is a charity quilt Katrina designed and pieced. I'm treating it like another practice quilt and I'm taking my time with it, but I have to have it done before we leave for our retreat!
On Sunday our youngest, David, came over and he and I worked on a special project which, of course, cannot be shown just yet.
And Monday I returned to work ready to slay dragons again. That was almost 2 weeks ago--and I had such a great time during my stay-cation that I have sewed or quilted each night since to keep up the good vibes.
I'll have an update next week on some of the things I've been working on since stay-cation. Until then, quilt every day!
Happy quilting,
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