When reverse sewing the quilt top, I photographed some of the less than perfect seams. There just isn’t any way the blocks will stitch together and make an even quilt.Being off 1/4 inch on one seam doesn’t seem like much, but multiply that by the number of pieces and blocks and that 1/4 inch is more like 3-4 inches off.
As my readers know, I frequent thrift shops for textile treasures. I spied this colorful batik Boston Commons quilt top across the aisle. A quick look at it didn’t show any rips, stains or bad odors so I decided it was purchase worthy.
Well, hello! After getting it home I noticed the corners. Yi-yi-yi-yi! The quilter/piecer tried a shortcut to stitch the sides to the common. Obviously it didn’t work and it didn’t fit. There will be a lot of reverse sewing going on. I am thankful that the quilter who made this did not cut off the ends at the corners. I think I may have some of the cream tone-on-tone in my stash if I need to add another border and I am sure I can find a good batik for a solid border.
There will be a lot of hours involved to get this ready to quilt. I am on a self imposed hiatus from art quilting and this project is just right for relaxing on the the deck, pick a little, sip a little tea, pick a little, sip a little tea.
It has been a crazy year with lots of things demanding my focus away from fiber arts. Finally today I had a chance to check on my neglected indigo vat. As I suspected, deep, dark, murky blue. Geesh, Why do I do this to myself? I know when it isn’t attended that this will happen. The indigo was totally out of reduction.
Balancing a neglected vat is like starting over. Here are the things I need to coax this back into a healthy vat. Yes, I do a bastard vat, or in other words, what ever works. The most important part of the formula are test strips. The pH has to be right for the vat to be happy and if that vat ain’t happy, mama ain’t happy!
Because my vat is in an opaque container, it is hard to see the color. So the first thing I did was scoop out a gallon of liquid into a jar. I added some magic but nothing was happening. Even though the pH was right, there was no reduction of indigo so no color was going onto the fabric. I heated the gallon of liquid, then added more Rit color remover. Finally, a bit of color change from dark indigo blue to green. There is a little coppery scum on top but no flower yet. It may take a little more tweaking. I know there is plenty of indigo left in the vat so no need to add any more indigo powder.
The big vat is staring to get some copper, no flower, but it is dyeing a healthy green on the first dip. More tweaking but it is starting to sprinkle and Arkansas needs the rain. I will check on my flowers later today to see if there is any change.
I thought it would be fun for you to see a closeup of my very first full sized pieced and hand quilted quilt. I knew NOTHING! But that little tidbit has never stopped me once my mind is made up.
I had decided I wanted a bed quilt. I went to the new fabric store in town and was blown away with all the colors and patterns of fabric. I stacked bolts up in what I thought were pleasing colors. I bought my first rotary cutter set. I went home ready to just Do It!
I had no pattern so I just cut strips and started sewing. I had no idea how this was going to make blocks or what it would look like. I call this my Tootsie roll quilt.
I did not know the rules of quilting either. Can’t you tell by the stitches right up to the seam lines? I had no frame or hoop so this was entirely stitched on my lap without a hoop. It actually turned out that a few years later I taught classes on quilting without a hoop.
Knowing all the rules now I am sure I would have done things differently. And if I knew all the rules, this quilt would have never been created.
