Wednesday, September 21, 2011

WIP Wednesday #12: Progress! Real Progress!

No linkup party, but I do have a finished object to show this week.  At least, it's finished for me!  This is my MIL's Japanese Lanterns quilt which I've been working on quilting on the Megaquilter, finished and ready to be bound.  It's a QUEEN sized quilt.  I worked on it several hours on Saturday and finally got it done.  I'm pleased with my work on it overall, but at the time I was working it was frustrating because I simply COULD NOT stay on the marked lines.
A closeup of the squiggles I quilted (in variegated colored thread, no less) on those massive white blocks.
Here's a process shot: I used water-soluble marking pen and a homemade template (inspired by the store-bought one) to mark the corner designs, I eyeballed the little squiggles in the bands of the lanterns, and I quilted through the designs marked on tracing paper for the center medallions.  Removing the tracing paper afterwards was a little harder than removing the marking pen, but I saved a bunch of time in the marking process, which I hate.  It will be a long time before I do any quilting that requires special marking again.
This is Grandma's next quilt, loaded onto the frame now.  It needs to be done for a charity event this fall... fortunately, it's only lap-sized and the quilting should be simple.
I'm (almost) finished with block 4 of the Happy Quilting STARS quilt-along.  I have blocks 5 and 6 still to go, four of each block, and then assembling the finished top.  I seriously begin to doubt I will have the top finished by the 29th of September which is the deadline for the drawing for free fabric, but I hardly need more fabric.  But you never know... nothing inspires me like a deadline.
Farmer's Wife Quilt block #43: Garden Path.  I played with the purple and green color combination, which I like but would probably never make an entire quilt of.  This is primarily a 6x6 grid, so all the squares and triangles are based off of a 1" or 2" finished size - except the strips, which were cut 1 1/4" wide and unfortunately, I had to miter those corners with the Y-seams.
Block #44: Gentleman's Fancy.  I happened to be piecing this one on Sept. 19, which as you no doubt know is International Talk Like a Pirate Day.  And what could be more to a gentleman's fancy than piracy?  So I used scraps from previous boxer shorts projects to piece it, and I hope it blends in with all the sweet and nostalgic blocks I've made when the quilt is all done.
Block #45: Grape Basket. Back to the sweet and nostalgic with scraps from my grandmother's vintage apron.  Based on a 5x5 grid, the basic finished measurement is 1 1/4" (scant).

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