Rita's quilt is done

I just took Rita's quilt off the long arm, but first I had to stitch the two areas that I missed and I had a pleat in the back that needed some attention; but I am glad to say that for a very first "truly" custom quilt, this doesn't look too bad if you take 20 paces back and squint your eyes.  ;D

 

 

 

Close up of ruler work and feathers.

 

 

Here's the backing with a close up picture. 

 

 

 

 

I personally love quilts that have that crinkly look, so I am thinking this quilt is going to look really good once it is washed and dried.  I sure hope Rita is happy with it. 

 

 

 

 



Almost done......

I was about to take this quilt off the long arm but as I was unrolling it, I noticed I missed a couple spots, so I am done for the day and will finish this up tomorrow or Saturday.

 

 

I do have a pleat that needs to be fixed in one of the setting triangles.  I had a couple suggestions on how to deal with this.  One was steam it with an iron, but I couldn't figure out how to do it with an iron upside down.  I don't want hot water running down my arm.

 

Another suggestion was spritzing the affected area with water and then using a very hot hair dryer on it.  I tried that, but it didn't work.  That might be due to the fact that the owner of this quilt pre-washed her backing before giving it to me and there is just no shrinkage left. 

 

So, I am going to stitch the two areas I missed and I may just take the quilt off the long arm and see if I can do something with it manually.  I even thought of sewing a couple running stitches and doing something of a "gathering" so that I can spread out the fullness.   I have more time to think about it. 

 

Anyways, I am thinking my classes with Karen McTavish are paying off. 



Halfway done.....kinda.....

I got through the pale gray thread on all the teal areas. 

 

As I was re-rolling the quilt, I thought the back looked kinda good at this point.

 

 

 

 

hmmm....don't look too close

 

I do have a little problem area that I need to fix and then I am on to the white areas.

 

Feathers, here I come. 

 

 



Putting into practice.....

 

ok...here I was at Karen McTavish's classes last week. 

 

I learned ruler work and feathers and now I am going to put that all to practice on Rita's quilt.

 

 

I got home Saturday and put Rita's quilt on the long arm right away, but had to catch up on laundry, family, etc. before getting back to work on Monday. 

 

So today was the day, I spent 8 hours doing the ruler work on her quilt. 

 

 

Here's a fan type design on the teal logs; and I did piano keys on the borders using a very pale gray thread that seems to pick up the color of the fabric that it lies on. 

 

 

I petered out with one more row of blocks and one final "short" border.  Once I get back to the quilt I will rewind/reload (backtrack) the quilt and do all the feather work that I have planned in the white areas with white thread.  I did use a purple air erasable pen to mark some of the feathers, but I think those pictures are on my phone.  I will have to see if I can figure out how to get those off the phone and on here.  I just want to make sure that my feathers are flowing in the right direction before I start stitching. 

 

Getting excited to see this one completed.