A trip back in time

When I began my quilt diary, the pages of a plain paper book were filled one by one with photographs of completed quilts. That was before the days of digital cameras and for most of my quilts those are the only pictures I have. Some of them left home without a picture and I have no record at all.

When the theme for this week's Quilting Gallery contest was given as two-color quilts I thought it a good opportunity to drag this relic to the park and get a picture. Other than the challenge of submitting a picture I have few expectations. Having looked at previous "winners" I suspect the contest has more to do with the number of friends one can rally to vote than either skill or creativity of the quilter.

If you are wondering about this quilt, it is made of Japanese yukata fabrics. (Except for center and sashings) I drafted the 12" blocks for a quilt-as-you-g0 class. The blocks are made and quilted one-by-one and joined at the sashing. Then the sashing is quilted. This is a good take-along project and ideal for someone without much space as it never has to be laid out for basting in this size. (227cm. square). For the backing it works best to use a non-directional busy print that will hide the seams. This quilt has had a lot of wear and held up quite well.

If you click on the Quilting Gallery logo, you can visit the site and see a lot of very nice two-color quilts. Some are really worth checking out.

Last of the crests

The last three crests are done. My stubborn determination has paid off. These three are fuji or wisteria, fuji cho or a wisteria butterfly, and tomoe or a triple swirl. The swirl was quite easy to quilt. It is part of the Fukuda crest and I appliqued it twice on quilts in 1992 but found it a whole lot more friendly to quilt.

The wisteria was easier than I thought it would be. I had some issue with the butterfly. As a person who tends to straighten pictures on the wall or bulletin board, I was about to make the butterfly straighten up and fly right. When I went back to the source material, I found the tip was intended. It took more than a little strength to leave it that way. Now I am wondering how many people will complain that it is crooked.

Tomorrow I can take the work to school so the hands can get an early start on Tuesday. My next task will be all those triangles around the outer edge. I think we put bamboo leaves the last time we had triangles to fill. I am sure I did not save any pattern so that may end up as my Monday evening work drafting some patterns to choose from.

Certainly I have discovered that setting goals for myself works better than alowing others to set them for me. I have noticed that when I fall short, the most likely reason is that I didn't want it badly enough. Outside pressure and expectations are more likely to turn me off. My stubborn and contrary side is peaking through.

six more done - three to go!

Some of these were easy to do but some were just plain fussy. Here are spatter dock with leaves and tendrils, Pines with snow ring,

wave - coin, waves,

Chinese bellflower, and cherry
Of the three left to do, one is quite easy, three whirls. The other two will have to be completely re-drawn. I think one is a wisteria and the other a wisteria butterfly.

I am beginning to hit my stride. Though I usually quilt about 8 to 9 stitches to the inch, that is not only impossible with this batting but would make the rest of the work to be done by our team look out of sinc. About 5 stitches to the inch is probably a better size and that is what I have been trying to attain although it is a bit harder in the fussy areas. Luckily the group will not use a hoop and will be stitching in-the-ditch for the most part. By the time we reach the border, everyone should be in stride.

I am hoping to finish the remaining blocks by Sunday night so I can take the quilt to school on Monday when I go to teach. That way, I can rest my fingers for Tuesday's meeting and can take a later (meaning less crowded) train.

There is a bit of a joke in finishing because everyone knows what a stubborn hard-headed type I am. When someone says I can't do something I work to prove them wrong. I had not thought about that until the end came in sight but one of the group said,"I'll bet you can never get those blocks quilted in a week", and laughed saying I just might get it done to prove her wrong.

Four more done

Plum, cherry, crane, and palonia are quilted in.
nine more blocks left to go!

This seems to be taking forever...

My fingers want to stop but I keep thinking how good it will feel to have this part completed.

Quilting begun

So, here is what is going into the rest of those blue squares. Each will have a different crest design. Some are fairly easy and a few are quite detailed making the quilting a bit difficult to do

These crests are intersecting cloves, maple leaf, rabbit in the moon, chrysanthemum , cloves of Japanese ginger, and ginkgo leaves. I am still fumbling a bit with stitch length because it is difficult to quilt through the rather thick batting and catch enough of the backing.

Some of the remaining crests are pretty fussy and a few will have to be redrawn.

My hope is to meet the expectations of the group and move the project to a point where we will not face panic at the eleventh hour.

Japanese Sampler Quilt 2003

Quilt for Baba 1992