Sewing on Mother's Day

It was an all sewing all the time kind of day for Mother's Day. We'd already celebrated with our dinner the night before, and so I had no obligations. It was all the time I needed to finish up the Adirondack chairs.

If you recall the story I told about this quilt, it was cropped to the two right chairs from this original image taken during our weekend at the beach when we celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary last year.

In considering names for the quilt. "Adirondack Anniversary" was my first thought, but that would imply we were in the actual Adirondacks. Instead, I decided on "Seating for Two" which brought to mind the dinner out for our actual anniversary at EVOO restaurant and cooking school in Cannon Beach, a memorable evening indeed. I've given you a link to my blog post from last year, if you're interested in reading more about the restaurant.

So focused was I on finishing this quilt that I took no pictures of the process, although I did make a few changes on the fly. Since I've worked on nothing else since April 28th, it was a relief to have it finished. At various times during the day, my two kitty helpers came in for moral support. While my back was to the quilt, a cat or two would hop up on it, and when I turned back, I'd see their smiling faces. Yes, cats can smile if you know how to look. They've discovered that the afternoon sun shining through the glass doors is an excellent napping place.

While I was sewing, Mike was getting my new quilt sandwiching station set up in the garage. Today is a day for sandwiching five quilts, although two of them still need backs. I'll sandwich the three that are ready to go since they are the largest of the bunch. At the very least, I'll be sandwiching Yard Art, Cats of a Different Color, and Stars and Stripes. If I can get those finished, I'll make the backs for Mumm's the Word and Seating for Two and then sandwich those as well.

Now you know how much I hate sandwiching quilts, which I've whined about through many a blog post. Today I'm trying something different. A few of you have mentioned this set-up using sawhorses and plywood. Spray basting is my favorite method, and this will allow me to open the garage doors for plenty of ventilation and then spray baste directly on the plywood table. 

We've moved all cars and other precious belongings (we keep all of our precious belongings in the garage) out of the way to avoid the overspray. The one drawback I see to this method is that it will mean I'll have sticky spray baste at the exposed edges of the quilts. I've always sprayed the back of the batting and the back of the quilt top so that all the sticky spray baste is safely sandwiched inside. With this method, I'll be spraying the wrong side of the quilt back, and then the top of the batting. If you can envision this, then you'll be able to imagine how the sticky portion of the spray baste will be showing at the edges. The solution I've considered for this is to leave the backs large enough to fold over the exposed edges of the batting. I like doing that anyway because it gives me a place to practice free motion quilting on the actual fabric and batting for the quilt. 

So that's a quick and dirty run-down on the latest method to make this as easy as possible. You can check back tomorrow for the latest whining and complaining as I discover the shortcomings of this new-to-me method.

This morning I stepped out into the garden to see what new bloomers were appearing. The largest of the rhododendrons is nearly in full bloom now. I believe this was the first shrub we planted when we moved into our new home in 2002.

Here is a close-up of the flower clusters.

This dark purple one is beginning to open as well.

The raspberries are beginning to bloom, and we should have a large crop of raspberries this year. Mike can't eat them, and so I generally just eat them straight from the vine. 

Some more different colors of iris are showing themselves.

This is another of the blue and white variegated iris, but this one is more white than blue.

Today I'm tackling Mt. Laundry, and I'll need to get out and water the annuals and feed the birds. Then I'll get busy with my quilt sandwiches. For now, I have some more quilts to show you from the quilt show. Please remember to give attribution to the quiltmaker if you pin any of these images. 

I'm very interested in this thread-painting technique. I've only done one small quilt myself, but I'd like to take a class from someone who knows more.

This next one definitely had me enchanted.

Just posting this, I realized it was made by Kathie Kerler, who sat next to me in the wool felting class I took about a year ago.

If you can't read the words at the top of each quilt, it says, "Anne, Jerri, & Kathie...from Serenity...to Insanity." Very clever work here.

I love her detailed stitching.

This was one of my favorite quilts from the whole show. The face on the cow is so realistic.

The challenge quilts are always some of my favorite. Here's an explanation of the challenge.

And here are some of my favorites. 

I just love quilts within quilts. The two cats in front of the fireplace reminded me of George and Gracie. (Sniff.)

This next one was made by the show's "featured quilter".

There are still quite a few quilts to show, so keep checking back. And now it's time for me to get on with my day.