It is about 40 inches square. Some of you may remember it from a post on APQ last spring. I referred to it as the "kicking and screaming" quilt because it gave me so much trouble. There are still some problems with the top that bug me, but I declared it good enough and put it in the queue to be quilted.
Well, I'm finally quilting it, and it is still giving me trouble. Quilting started smoothly, with outline quilting in the star, a thin rope cable in the yellow inner border, a nice motif to fill the large white corners. I was making quick progress and was looking forward to finally getting it on the wall. That checkerboard border had other ideas. I didn't try a crosshatch pattern through the squares right away because I thought that would accentuate the problem of some of the squares near the corners not being actually square (one of those things that still bother me). I tried stitching in the ditch but it didn't look right with the rest of the quilting. I tried quilting a quarter inch from each side of the border but that didn't look good either. I tried the crosshatching finally, and was quite thrilled as I stitched that it looked really rich. Perfect!
Well, perfect until I took the quilt out of the lap frame to move on to the next bit of border and looked at the whole quilt. Because of the on-point orientation of the checkerboard, my lovely crosshatching turned into a side to side grid, and only the vertical lines really stood out. It really looked odd. If I turned the whole quilt on point it the quilting looked OK again. Back to the drawing board.
As I munched on some Pringles potato chips in frustration, I toyed with the lid of the Pringles can. It was just about the right size... I traced it to make a curve template to draw a loose chain and I think I finally have something that works! My husband has given the first little bit his thumbs up (though of course he is probably tired of hearing me grind my teeth so maybe he's just trying to hurry the process along).
Stay tuned! Hopefully the final outer border will give in more peacefully. I think I know how I want to quilt that part...
What I see looks very good to me!
ReplyDeleteIt reminded me of that label I had so much trouble with about a year ago! I finally decided it was good enough for who it was for, remember? ---"Love"
It just looks fabulous! Honestly, we are far too critical of our own work. Being the huge fan of potato chips that I am, I can recommend a handful when trying to resolve such issues. That or chocolate. Happy Stitching, Ann :-)
ReplyDeleteSome projects just don't go down without a fight! I love your quilting- especially that cable work. I can't wait to see how the pringles lid works for you! :) Christine
ReplyDeleteI don't remember this one from APQ, so either I was out of it or it's older than my blog was. Either way, it's very pretty and your quilting is beautiful. I often find myself searching through the kitchen for something just the right size for one quilty project or another...whoever decided to make plates, tupperware, bowls and purchased food containers round is my hero on those days!
ReplyDeleteSo far, it looks great to me. I love the blues in the fabric. Hope you can finally get it tamed and to your liking! ! !
ReplyDeleteMarsha
I wish that my quilting experience was more than it is. Some quilts are sitting, because my skills are not enough (in my opinion), to do the quilt justice. And... I know... the only way to get there is to practice, and I really should.
ReplyDeleteYour quilting is wonderful. Sometimes we have to let the quilt talk to us, and it all works out! I am curious to see how your pringles lid works out!
-Alice
Love, love, love this one! We are partial to blue in my family and I am in awe of those who hand quilt. I will do cross-stitch 'til the wee hours of the morning, but hand quilt? Not yet! Don't ever give up on using something "on hand" to get just the right shape. Can't wait to see this finished...Mary
ReplyDelete