Picasion

I noticed on Oops-Lah that she was showing her finished quilt as a slideshow.  The link pointed to a website called Picasion.com.  I just had to try it so I would remember to do this in the future.

Celebrate 9/11

I quilted flowers around the Celebrate quilt as I showed you in a previous post, both in the body of the quilt and the border. Then the only thing that was left was the top. I attempted to stitch in the ditch around the letters using the free motion foot, which turned out probably as well as it would have with the walking foot. Then I stippled around the background to make the letters stand out. I did one letter at a time - stitch in the ditch, background, onto the next letter.

That left an inner border between the body of the quilt and the words. I wanted to quilt a quote on it, like I did the flag quilt. I found three quotes I liked:

1. The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.
   Oprah Winfrey

2. While we are living in the present, we must celebrate life every day, knowing that we are becoming history with every word, every action, every deed.
   Mattie Spepanek

3. We're all here at the same time and we should celebrate that.
   George Weinberg

I actually liked quote #2 the best, since it fits the genealogist in me, but it was way too long. I liked both the other two for different reasons, but decided to go with quote #3, because I thought it was more fitting for a family gathering quilt. Also the first one seemed to be more like advice - something you should do, and the third one seemed more like being happy just as you are. I think it was the word "you" in the first quote, which somehow overrode the "should" in the third quote. Anyway, I went with #3 and quilted that one. I really worked on getting the spacing right. I typed the words and used a large font and taped the words underneath the inner border, so I could follow the spacing, but the paper got in the way and kept me from making the spacing as far apart as I would have liked. It looks like I didn't try.  It's all right though and I am not redoing it.

The wonky letters aren't as wonky as a casual quilt would indicate, and the setting is very formal, but I did try to keep this a casual quilt with the raw edge applique and the casual free hand quilting, and the quote.

I have also decided to ask my family members to sign this quilt. I have been reading a book about heritage quilts - I will be posting a review soon on my reader blog, and have been wanting to make a heritage quilt for a while. When I was at the quilt show, I saw a quilt that had been signed, but it didn't use the signature quilt format - with signature blocks. This quilt does have blocks that could be signed, but they are dark, so the signatures will be on the sashing of the blocks instead of the squares.

I tried to finish the quilt on 9/10/11, because I thought that would be a fun date, but with my carpel tunnel I cannot bind the quilt all at once.  I took breaks, but some of them must have been too long, and when it was past my bedtime and I wasn't even halfway finished, I decided to call it a day.  So the quilt was finished on 9/11/11.  While it is somewhat strange to have a quilt called Celebrate to commemorate the 10th anniversary of 9/11, it is fitting because that day reminded many of us to celebrate being with our loved ones.

This quilt was made as part of a challenge.  The dot background fabric was part of the challenge, and we were to represent a poem, as well as use applique. I can't remember if the wonky letters were a requirement or not.  I missed the deadline (by more than a year!), but I did finish on a holiday, sort of, so it kinda counts.It is a wall quilt. The pattern was published in a book, but I changed it by including a center, and the applique were not part of the original pattern, nor was the wonky word border. This quilt stayed a UFO as I tried to decide on the applique - I was trying to make it fit all celebrations, and I couldn't make it go that way when thinking Christmas, graduation, birthdays throughout the year, etc.  But with my quote, I think I managed to do so without even trying.    We're all here at the same time and we should celebrate that.

I hope to have a photo taken after the signatures are on it, hopefully in better lighting for the end of the year recap!

Quilting Celebrate

How should I quilt the wonky letters?

Quilting to secure the fusible applique.

I added a few birds and butterflies for interest.

Quilting on the open spaces. I had some difficulty getting the free motion quilting set up, until I realized that one of my free motion / darning foot works and the other one didn't. I wonder if this has been the problem all along. I'm so glad I figured it out though!


P.S. I am adding this to the 15 minute challenge,because I do work in 15 minute increments. A lot of times 15 minutes is all I do, but sometimes I surprise myself and add another session or two.

Progress - Celebrate!

There is an upcoming birthday party that is going to be held in my home.  The cleaning and organizing is continuing, but as I said before, the WIPs/UFOs are haunting me.  I have one quilt that is especially made for celebrations, so I decided to try to finish it in time for the party.  It has been languishing long enough.  The top was made, and it languished because of some problems I had in executing the center.  Then I had a hard time figuring out what applique I wanted to add to it. I just knew that I wanted applique for the wide border.

I was hoping for applique that would work year around - for all the birthday celebrations and graduations and holidays, etc. whenever they occurred. I thought balloons would be nice, but they require pretty specific shapes, and I wasn't sure they would look like balloons when I was done with them. And balloons might be boring.

I finally realized that the flower theme that was in my mind the first time I saw the quilt was the theme I really wanted. No matter how much I tried to think of something else, this quilt needed flowers. So what if it feels more like summer than the rest of the year. I had already cut out the flower and leaf shapes so it was just a matter of pressing them down, and then moving on to quilting.  The photo was taken before pressing - some of the shapes have been rearranged.

After all, if I bring out this same quilt for every celebration, some of my family members would never see another quilt besides this one, and this one wouldn't seem so special to them.

And those flowers on the quilt go really well with my garden this year. This is the first year I have really bought annuals, and I think I need to invest in them in future years as well.

First Medals Awarded!

2010 Quilting Games

I also started the competition for the 2010 Quilting Games. I am competing in all of the categories:

• Go back and Label a Quilt
• Work on a UFO
• Organize your Sewing Space
• Expand your Knowledge
• Try a New Technique
• Reach Out and Perform An Act of Quilty Kindness - comment on a blog or mail a postcard

Yesterday, I expanded my knowledge by trying to catch up on my blog reading. I have a huge list, and there are so many wonderful ideas out there. I did the short program for the Reach Out and Perform An Act of Quilty Kindness by trying to comment on the blogs I read - have to do more of that to win an medal.

I also participated in the Try a New Technique by trying to hand quilt my Moldy Crackers doll quilt, formerly known as Cheddar Cheese and Crackers. I have done some hand quilting on a muslin square that I made in a class (I made a pillow out of it), but I haven't ever done a real quilt. I kept debating between machine and hand quilting. I didn't do a good job of making it, so machine quilting would make it go away faster. Plus there are lots of seams and batik. But it is an old fashioned design, and I used my cheddar fabric. I finally decided it was something I could do while watching the Olympics. Only it isn't going so well, because my quilt top doesn't lay flat before the quilting, and I'm not sure that I'm going to be able to quilt out the problems. I think the problem is the border, so I am going to take it out, and hopefully will be able to continue the hand quilting.

I've also started cutting out some applique shapes - I'll be using a new technique of sewing down the edges using a straight stitch instead of a zig zag.



I have started competing in the Winter 2010 GeneaBloggers Games.

I will be competing in all of the competition categories:

• Go Back and Cite Your Sources
• Back Up Your Data
• Organize Your Research
• Expand Your Knowledge
• Write, Write, Write
• Reach Out & Perform Genealogical Acts of Kindness

Yesterday, I performed Genealogical Acts of Kindness by indexing 100 names in the 1910 Military Census. I think that's enough for a Medal in these games. I practiced a lot for this, as I have more than 3,000 names indexed now. I also expanded my knowledge by doing that, because I didn't even know there was a separate military census. I also watched a couple of history shows on television about African American History and Moroccan cooking. I am going to award myself a Medal for that one as well. I will probably do more of both events, and maybe get a different Medal, but I don't have to if I don't have time.

Both of these Games are great motivation to do something! I also spent a lot of time outside shoveling snow off my steps and driveway. I am giving myself a Gold Medal for that. Whether it is a brand new category or the Organize category in both games, I think I've definitely earned it.