2025 OneThing #13 - FINISH Teresa's Brother's Quilt and set a date to get it back to her

This one has been a long time coming! I won't put all the info here, but my friend Teresa's mom died in September 2023. (Here's the obit.) When I was subbing at NPMS that fall, she asked for my advice about a quilt her mother had started for her brother Gregory. Their mother, Patty Nelsen, had hand traced, cut out, and pieced the top in two pieces. She had layered each piece with batting and backing.

She had basted with thick green thread. She had started the laborious process of hand quilting it by stitching in the ditch.

Teresa wasn't sure what to do with it. I offered to help her and initially planned to finish the quilting by hand, as her mother had started it. Quickly, I realized that was not feasible. It would take more hours than I was willing to spend. In December of 2024, I met with Teresa to talk about a plan to machine quilt it. We talked about the thread color, the binding, the label, etc.

I went to my friend Rose Allen's house to machine quilt it in January (before the Florida trip). It took two days to quilt the two pieces, then another day to finish the quilting after I sewed the two pieces together. As I warned my friend, there are some wrinkles sewn in; it couldn't be helped without removing some of the existing stitching.

 

I added the binding and the label. (I've taken "final" pics, but am not adding them here now.)

I wrote a letter for Gregory and am ready to deliver it to Teresa! We have set a coffee date for March 25, so everything I mentioned for my "One Thing" is done. That feels so good.

 

 

 

 

 

2025 One Thing #2 - Quilt Teresa's Brother's Quilt

My friend Teresa's mom died in August 2023 right as the school year was starting. When I talked to her later in the fall, she said her mom had started a quilt for her brother but it was unfinished. I said I'd take a look at it and see how to move forward with completing it. (I had posted this with "2024" as the date, but it's been a year and a half.)

Their mom had cut, pieced, and started quilting by hand. I'm not sure when she started it, but it looks as though it's a 1980s or 90s vintage quilt. She made a Drunkard's Path pattern and the quilt was in two pieces. 

I started hand quilting where her mom had left off, but quickly realized that would take more hours than I wanted to spend! It sat for almost a year in my sewing room. Then I tried machine quilting it on my domestic machine and quickly realized that that wasn't ideal either. 

My sister Ann recommended I consult with our friend Rose Allen. Initially, I rejected that because it was already partially quilted. When I use Rose's longarm machine, I typically pin on the backing, lay out the batting, and put on the top. Rose said we could do this, though, and I scheduled January 8-10, 2025 with her. (I knew it wasn't likely to get done in November / December with all the hosting we did.)

I did have a coffee date with Teresa in December and I talked about my plan (an overall meander that would allow her brother to still see his mother's quilting stitches) and thread color (she liked the medium brown instead of the off white her mom had started with). I asked her about her mom so I could make a label for the quilt.

This past week, my "One Thing" was to quilt this quilt. I spent time at Rose's on Wednesday and Thursday and got the quilting "done," but here's what's left:

• connecting the two pieces (done on 1/11/25)
• trim and connect the batting (done on 1/11/25)
• trim and stitch the backing over that center seam
• add a leader to the bottom 
• get back to Rose's to finish long-arming the upside down "T" (the center where I connected the two pieces and the bottom where I didn't have the leader)
• I also need to repair a section that had serious bobbin issues (LOTS of thread loops on the back side)
• Trim all to size
• make the binding
• sew the binding on
• hand stitch the binding onto the back
• make a label and stitch it on

I also started composing a letter to her brother Greg in my mind while I was quilting. I want him to know how much time and energy his mother spent on making this quilt for him! I couldn't help sewing some wrinkles in to it because of how she had done the hand quilting in random places. She had used thick green thread to baste the three layers, but it didn't keep from creating some "off" spots. 

 

It looks better than I had expected, and I look forward to finishing it!

(This is before I sewed the two pieces together. I put them on the guest bed so I could pin the center line.)

I have more photos, but this is a good accomplishment for this week. I don't know if I'll be able to get it 100% done this next week, but I definitely want to finish up the quilting at Rose's house.

2024 Studio Post #17 - longarm quilting and misc small projects

It's ironic to me that I'm blogging about my studio, but I spent almost no time in there this week!

 

I went to my friend Rose's house for most of two days to longarm my FLW quilt. I'm not posting a picture here because I've already posted some and I still need to bind it. It feels so good to have the quilting done! I should have been better about planning the quilting, though. I started getting bored and doing whatever random thing occurred to me. Ah well, I get better at some things the more I do them. I hope to plan better next quilt and take the time to do it well. This is for our bed at home and it's already a wild quilt in terms of the colors and design - why not the quilting, too?

 

I also did some sewing yesterday during our MQ Committee Zoom meeting. I stitched up a little pillow I like to use in the car for my grandson's carseat (to fill in some of the car's contours). I also sewed Louie's green jacket lining that was a bit shredded. It's not the neatest, but it's much better! I had more meeting than repair projects, so I sewed on some of my hexies. (Note to self: prep more hand sewing before another Zoom meeting!)

 

No pictures this week. Oh! One picture of Rose's cat, Fearless. He's huge!

I have size 10 1/2 feet. Trust me, this guy is a very big cat!

Studio Post #16 - Queen Size Quilt Top for Our Bed

Nothing momentous this week, but I (and my sister Louise) both pressed fabric yesterday. (The pieces I had laundered last week, mostly from the "Free" table at Minnesota Quilters.)

I pieced together enough fabric for a backing.

I'll finish basting together the batting either tonight or tomorrow evening. (I thought about buying a big enough piece, but decided to make do with what I have here at home.)

Tuesday, I'll head to my friend Rose's house to start quilting it! I hope to come up with a quilting plan before then.

I wasn't going to bother with a photo, but then I decided it would be helpful for me to have one to plan out my quilting.

 

This is the Go With the FLW (Frank Lloyd Wright) challenge that I started in 2017. It has turned out to be a bit bizarre - both in the color scheme and in the design I ended up making. Ah, well. It's for our bed at home and I'll like cuddling under it. Louie humors me.

 

It's bigger than the open space in our house and I didn't want to lay it outside on the grass. It measures 98" wide x 106" long. I took the photo on the side but them rotated it to how it will lay on the bed. This perspective distorted the overall look.

Also, in writing this, I realize I need to come up with a name for this quilt. I'll add that to the To-Do list. This is the design Mike created. At some point, I decided I didn't care for it . . . and went off on my own crazy-train!

Focus on the Positive #12

Honestly, I'm just too lazy to take a photo of my white board and add it to this entry . . .

For March 18-24: "Bday gift to Angela!"
I took her to lunch on March 22 (her birthday was the next day, but Louie and I went up to the lake for a long weekend). It was very nice to visit with her and she liked her gift, even though Louie said it needed something "fun" instead of just pragmatic stuff.

For March 25-31: "Wash fabric for Morgan and Angela wedding quilt."
Even though they got married a year and a half ago, I do not spend enough time in my studio! (It's all the puppy's fault.) I was hesitant to do this, because I dislike ironing and there are several yards of fabric! Yesterday (April 3) I finally washed, dried, and carefully folded it all! I may have a One Thing goal of ironing it sometime soon. . . . I know I got this thing done later than planned, but I did spend time last week working on the basement bathroom ceiling.

It is much easier to focus on positives these days. Quitting my job has been tremendous for reducing my stress level and helping me keep a smile on my face. I am so blessed!