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Sunday, July 9, 2006

Good progress on the wedding quilt


Believe it or not, I did go upstairs to work on the customer quilt. It's a beautiful quilt - done from Robyn Pandolph's Folk Art Wedding pattern. My friend's quilt has only 9 blocks arranged 3 by 3, and four of the hearts have pictures of the wedding printed inside the heart instead of the applique. I'd already loaded the back, but still had to cut the batting to size and load it and the quilt top onto the machine. I got all the edges based down and the stitching in the ditch done around all the blocks and the sashing. The curved feather border is marked on one long side - and was stitched for awhile. That's when I discovered the tension was off and the underside was loopy. By the time I got that taken out it was time to fix dinner. It's still really hot - 88.7 was the high for today - so we just had bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches, fruit and milk. When I went back upstairs to work again I discovered it is now unbearably hot up there even with the fan going. I feel OK with my progress so I'm going to call it quits for tonight. Cooler weather is supposed to be coming, including possible rain on Wednesday. Much better weather for quilting upstairs.

Several of you commented on the size and organization of my stash. I think the gene for "organization" is one of the strongest genes I have. I've always been very organized - and I can't stand to work in a place that's unorganized. Organization just comes naturally to me - I don't have to work at it. If I'm pulling fabrics for a quilt or have a lot of stuff out in the sewing room I can stand it just so long - then I have to stop working long enough to straighten up. As far as the size of my stash goes - I've been quilting for over 20 years and sewing for over 50, so I've had a lot of time to collect fabric and other stuff. For a long time good fabric was very hard to find, so we tended to buy it when we found it. Eventually it became clear that good quilting fabric was here to stay - about the time I decided I should start buying for retirement because at the price of fabric I'd never be able to afford it after we retired. Then the fashion in colors shifted. Cool colors - which were all we could find for years - were out and warm colors were in. The large pieces in my baskets are primarily from the cool color era. Once I started to collect some warm colors I discovered the cool colors didn't work that well with them, so I kept buying more warm colors. Then I started using plaids. Then I discovered folk art quilts. Then all the fabulous reproduction fabrics started coming out - and I could finally make quilts that looked similar to the 19th century quilts that had made me fall in love with quilts to begin with - 20 years before I made my first one. And that, dear readers, is how an obscene stash is built - one piece at a time. Until one day one looks at the shelves and realizes one would have to live to be 500 years old to use it all. I'm certainly going to try - but I've put myself on a strict limited fabric buying diet! No more fabrics bought on speculation - only things I need to finish a current project.

19 comments:

  1. I wish I lived close enough to come to your yard sale!

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  2. On a long arm quilter, Does the bottom tension need to be adjusted for every quilt?
    Melanie

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  3. your story of how you got your stash leaves me concerned for my future... :-)

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  4. The story of your growing stash is so true! It made me laugh - because that is same way my stash grew.

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  5. Nice diet plan... I have himmed and hawed over that folk art wedding more than once. Ya know, I think I would be happy with just doing the double wedding ring block...

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  6. You know, you could have a new career just helping other quilters organize their stashes(sp?). lol
    Good luck at your yard sale.

    Just a side question-how many customer quilts do you book for yourself each month?

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  7. Patti you are my hero! Your neatly stacked and organized fabric is a wonder to behold. I wish you luck on your quilt diet. Like that other diet, it is one I plan to start any day now.

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  8. Good job on the organizing. I also hate to work in a messy environment!

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  9. Looks like cooler weather today so maybe you can get that quilting done! I am so inspired to attach my stash - I think we have all been doing the same thing, buying for the "future" only to find that there is something different we want when the future comes. Thanks goodness for scrap quilts
    juliann

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  10. I purchased the Folk Art Wedding quilt patterns quite a few years ago. It is still on my to do list. I still love it! You are soooo organized! Wow.

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  11. Hi, Patti !

    I wish I were living next to your door : I would buy EVERYTHING you propose from your stash !!!
    Oh, my God, THAT is a stash !!! I regularly clean and organize mine (much smaller than yours : only four shelves.... up to now !), but after one or two weeks (and numerous searches in it), it has to be done again. Anyway, I like visiting and "caressing" my fabrics...like all of us, I suppose !
    You and Finn are giving the "scrap fever" : I'm beginning a "Roman Stripes" quilt with lots of amish solids : half square with colour strips, and the other half square in solid black. I think I'm gonna like it !
    I also plan to begin another scrap quilt with the Depression block you mentioned recently, but that will be, at least, after the summer holidays !
    Aaah, projects !!!!!

    Hugs and from a Primfolkapplique2 friend of yours,

    Keep inspiring us !

    Friendship threads from Belgium !
    NADINE.

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  12. Well you answered my question and I should have read before I asked!! The applique quilt looks wonderful! I guess for 3.5 years my stash is about right!!

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  13. Me too - I've stopped buying fabric unless it is for a specific project. Problem is now I keep coming up with lots of projects so I can feed the stash need.

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  14. Isn't that the pits when the bottom tension is loopy! Sorry to hear that, but you know, it sounds like it is just too hot to quilt anyway! I"ve been playing with Chloe - what fun! But I was goofy on Saturday and in almost 90 degree weather roasted a turkey and stuffing for dinner. Oh it was so good - but what was I thinking!

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  15. That certainly is impressive.

    I am on holiday in Calgary now -- I wonder if I should have held off a couple of weeks and headed to Washington state instead!!! I think your garage sale would be more fun than the Calgary Stampede!
    Pam

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  16. wow! you sure did an awesome job on cleaning and organizing...hats off to you! I will get around to it more at a later date myself..cooler today, but not much.
    hope you get that quilt finished up without any more tension problems.

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  17. Have fun dieting your fabric collection. It can be good fun too :-)

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  18. you have the most incredibly organized stash - everytime I see pictures of your sewing room(s) I'm in awe. Can I come play???? :-)

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  19. The wedding quilt sounds gorgeous. And I loved reading about the "history" of your stash!

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