Procrastinating no more......

Well, I say that tongue in cheek because I know I will procrastinate again, but for this quilt I just figured now was the time.  So I just loaded it onto my Millie.

(I am going to treat this post a bit like a tutorial for a friend)

This quilt has been sitting in the wings for a very long time.  The backing and batting were cut and ready to go, but I guess there was just that fear knowing I wanted to do custom quilting on this one and I felt so unsure.  I might say that this is MY quilt.  Of course my reservations don't make any sense since I have done custom on customer quilts, but with their quilts there is always a time limited so you usually just jump in.  

OK....now is the time.  I should say, too,  that I have quilted this quilt several times in my head, so I probably know what I am going to quilt in each area.....pretty much.  Now to put it down in stitches. 

The first thing I did was do square flowers in my half square triangles.  I have been wanting to try these flowers for some time.  

Once they were done, I advanced the quilt to the next section. This section is mostly stitch in the ditch with some loopy/feathery designs in the red flowers; and some straight line quilting in the background of the large flowers.

Next advance brings me to the baskets.

I am stitching in the ditch around all the features of the baskets and the outside of each block.  Then in the basket itself, I did the "C's" in the colored blocks only.  I am still trying to decide what to do in the larger parts of the background of each basket, but it probably won't be much.  I am putting a feather variation in the basket itself.

In the area outside of the basket, I decided to do a swirly design.

There are 12 basket blocks, so this will take some time.

I have completed  the first of three rows of baskets.  Things are going well.

Here is my final row of baskets.  I finally have this quilting design down pat.  I can outline the basket and do all the "c's" in the colored portion of the basket all in one fell swoop.

  I do this after doing all the stitch in the ditch of the block, the sashing and working on some of the half square triangles as I go.

If you can see, I haven't touched the top border.  It is a large piece (although pieced).  It just isn't done in "blocks".  So, when I get to the end of this quilt, my intention is to take this quilt off the rails, turn it and then reload it.  At that point everything will be stabilized and then I will be able to see the whole border.  I will then take measurements, divide it and treat it as though it were made up of half square triangles and  then quilt it as the other borders.   This is the same as I have done for the last side border.

These pictures show how I divided the border in sections (thank goodness this one worked out to 9" like the bottom border).  I drew  a diagonal line and then did  my square flowers again.

Once I turn the quilt on the long arm, I will do it once again with that plain border.   These faux  blocks will be 7" square.

Then this quilt is done and ready for binding.

Here's the pretty toile' I had in the stash to use for the backing.

I think I have had this binding made since the top was made, but I will have to go on a hunt for it first.  Once found, I plan on sitting and getting this binding on promptly.

Ended up doing some "whacking"......

This is where I ended my last post with three borders attached. 

As I mentioned earlier, the designer said the last border of half square triangles would NOT fit, so to just "whack them off".  Sorry, but that made me cringe.  

I would have to figure out a way to get around that.  

But first I have to say that I had to remove the left, pieced black border as my quilt measurements were not coming up quite square.  The bottom measurement was  a good 2" larger than the top.  Ugh!!  I hate ripping out, but  I think the culprit for this was the  homespuns/brushed cottons that were thrown in here and there.  So, I removed it, cut out some of the stretchiest fabric and sewed it back on.  Darn if it still wasn't about 1/2" too large, but I think it stretched again, so I am going to work with that.  

Now, I don't know if you can tell in the above photo, that my border wasn't quite long enough for the quilt.  Although the designer said THIS border fit perfectly.  NOT!!  So I put it on with the thought that I could just trim the upper black border if need be and no one would be the wiser....so don't tell anyone.

Now to avoid "whacking" off any of the hst, I added a strip of fabric (all scrappy here) at this point and made the rest of the border hst.  The original pattern had a plain block at the other end and then both "end" hst were "whacked" off to fit.  

If I had thought this out a lot earlier, I could have added another narrow strip to the top of that plain square and then I wouldn't have had to "whack" off an inch on the upper black border, but I just wasn't about to take off another border.  I hate ripping out.  Besides, this is a folk art quilt, so I am thinking this one little strip is far less noticeable than what two "whacked" up hst would look and who is going to go and measure my top and side borders to find out that they are not exactly the same?  Remember, I said,  "don't tell".  It now measures 81 x 88.  

I made it fit and it looks good to me.  

As for that 1/2" excess that I have, I am going to baste that and pull it up.  I don't want anymore stretch to those homespuns that are on the outside edges.  

I now have a completed top.  This quilt has been waiting to be finished for a couple of years, so I am excited to get it to this point.  

I have a great toile for the back and the binding will be a scrappy black.  I hope to get this one on the long arm very soon.  

Now to find the next UFO...or maybe I should just get to my "to be quilted" pile now. 

We will see.  

Getting close to a finish.....

Recently pulled this UFO out to get it done. I was so close to finishing this and wondered why it became a UFO. On looking back in my blog, I found the reason.  My youngest grandson was on the way and my daughter wanted me to knit a christening gown.  That then lead to a couple of baby quilts (#1 and  #2) to be made.  Thus a UFO is born.  Oh and let's throw in a wedding and a wedding quilt, too!

I did think I was a little further along.  I thought I only had applique and two borders to attach, but actually had all four borders to do. 

Here you will see the two black borders attached.  The scrappy cream area is for the applique. 

Here's a close up of the black border.  It's scrappy, too.  

Added one half square triangle border here. 

Prepping the applique. 

Applique is done.

All that is left is the bottom border which is the half square triangles, too; but according to the pattern, she says it doesn't fit, so just whack it off.  Yeah...that's exactly how she puts it. But, I am just not the "whack it off" type.  So, I have made my border and I need to find a spot that I can lay out the whole quilt to get some good measurements before I attach the bottom border.  Then I will make my own adjustments WITHOUT whacking it off.  

Stay tuned for a finished quilt top in the next day or two.  

Seriously....did I need this much fabric?

I decided to pull another UFO out of the pile. This is my Gathering Baskets.

I felt I could look towards the next project because I only have the four mitered corners of my thimble quilt to hand stitch.  Here you will see I have the miters taped and ready to be stitched on that quilt.

I even have the backing cut, stitched  and folded up waiting to be quilted.  

So back to the basket quilt. 

I looked for my stash of fabrics that I had put away for this quilt.  Found them in my hand made bag and thought....what was I thinking when I bought all this fabric for this one quilt. 

Thankfully, when I pulled all the fabric out of there, I found the backing that I had pulled for this quilt, too.  So, there wasn't as much fabric in there as I thought.  

Thank goodness I stashed that away or I might have used it for my thimbles or something else.  

Then I had to go hunting for the pattern.  Sometimes it just doesn't pay to clean up your room.  Why I didn't keep the pattern with the fabric, I will never know. 

So, as I see it, my next step is to do the applique and then  there are two sides of half square triangles and then this quilt top will be done.  I am thinking it will be easy peasy.  

I do think I will re-configure the half square triangles from what the pattern shows.  This pattern doesn't have them fitting perfectly.  There are a couple that are just cut off and made to fit.  I am going to see if I can size them so that they will fit perfectly.  We'll see.  I will have to be in the mathematical mood when the time comes.  

I am actually looking forward to getting this one done now.  

First things first though.  I need to stitch those mitered corners, press the thimbles really well and then it is on the pile to be quilted.  

Ok....time to start doing some figuring.  

Step 3 and almost step 4.....

Been working slowly on the basket quilt (Gathering Baskets).

 

 

 

All the handles got stitched down this week (step 3)  and I have laid out all the setting triangles

(step 4 started) and will be stitching them down this weekend.

 

 

 

Here it is as it stands for the time being.

 

 

and this is only a portion of the quilt. 

 

More to come soon.