Time flies when you're having fun! Apparently, I am having a blast! LOL. We have turned the calendar page to the final month of 2024. December is a month that is filled with preparation for festive celebrations and, for me, a time of reflection.
I'll share thoughts of my reflections over the past year later in the month. For now... I'm celebrating the finish of my Sticks & Stones II. One week ago, I had it ready for quilting. GREAT! Except that then I was stuck with how to quilt it. I had considered feathered wreaths (like my first one), but it just didn't seem to want that. I liked the diagonal "chains" in the stones I had done in #1, so I started there.
And then it just sat. I searched my quilting books for ideas... the feathered wreaths continued to nag at me. I sat down at my machine and did a practice. I looked at the quilt and it defiantly spoke NO to me.
I set it aside until it decided to tell me how it wanted to be quilted. I prepared the story and newsletter for the final blocks of the Pieces of My Life quilt and headed to the kitchen in preparation for Thursday's Thanksgiving meal. The final blocks are 6" in size. The final assembly instructions will be coming soon.
It was an enjoyable day with all of our children, their spouses, my Mom and a neighboring family. We numbered 14 in all. There are no pictures to prove of the fun had by all. Rebecca had some simple craft projects for the kiddos and kept them entertained while I cleaned up the kitchen. Football was on in the background as conversations took place. By sunset, it was only me and Dave again. Ahhhh... the sweet sound of silence.
On Friday, Sticks & Stones finally spoke to me... though only in small spurts. I added chains to shrink the open spaces, but the open spaces were still too large for the batting "recommended" spacing. It then shared that it wanted to have a larger chain (encompassing three smaller chains). It resulted in a sort of an orange peel design. This was good!
I needed to quilt the border... the quilt was reluctant to share what it wanted. As I played with ideas reflecting the arcs in the body of the quilt. I finally got a small nod and smile as I placed a large arc that connected to the intersections of the orange peel designs and overflowed into the border. Ahhhh, yes! The final stitches of quilting were the same large arcs, but off-set in the opposite direction.
The binding is a two-color, flanged binding using a red (leftover from a commissioned quilt earlier in the year) and the same powdered blue as the stones/border. I snuck in a small label that was included in the Advent calendar I purchased myself last year. XO
Here she is in her full glory. 💗💙💚
Since we are on the cusp of Advent and the Christmas season (and I don't have any deadlines or projects on the cutting table or design wall) I am planning on doing some organizing and cleaning. Part of the organizing will be listing the final items I held onto after the down-sizing sale at Mom's in July. There were items that were bigger ticket items and were just too nice to let go to a thrift store, but it is time to get them out of the basement and garage. I just have to find the right person to be Christmas Shopping!
It's time for the randomly selected Sew & Tell feature... Nann at With Strings Attached showed off placemats she made with assorted 9-patch blocks. She had stated... "I had no plan for them. Well, they had plans for me."
I love that I am not the only one that has quilting projects and fabrics talk to me. ;)
What's happening in your studio?
Leave a comment... I'd love to hear for you.
Keep Piecing,
Melva
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