The Beast is done!

Well finally!
After (at least) 2 weeks of battling with this quilt it is finished.
I'm happy with the result and what I've learned is that I will not use stretchy stuff as backing!

After unpicking stitches so many times because it was stretched too much on the back I am so happy this one is done!

Size: 60" x 60"
Made of fragments of men's shirts (blues), an old dress (red) and an old curtain (white), all cut in 1.5" strips.
Backing is a fleece blanket from IKEA.
Red border and binding is from IKEA too.

And this is what my machine looked like:

That's when cleaning is FUN!

I did not allow myself to start of continue anything else, for I was so afraid I would abandon this project. So no I CAN!

Have fun sewing and quilting or whatever you're going to do!

Battling & winning!

I was struggling to get this one quilted.
The top is made of sleeves of old shirts: I had 5 or 6 usable 1.5" strips from 1 sleeve. And some (red) strips came from a dress, all from the thrift shop. The white is from a curtain I wasn't ever going to hang up anywhere.
The back (read: problem!) is a fleece blanket from IKEA: nice and soft for a play blanket for a friend.
Here is my result after 4 times unpicking the stitches because the d*** thing kept making waves on the back. If I won't get anymore 'waves' I'll be glad.

The front is beginning to look nice (also).

You can see the circle I drew as a starting point for the initial idea of quilting the bugger, but that was impossible for me: turning the quilt without making waves at the back ...
I'm sure it'll be gone after I've washed it.
The only problem I've had, once I had the first few lines in (the quilt), was my thread.
I was waiting for a bobbin to be filled with thread, when my machine stopped. Look at this:

A knot in my Aurifil spool?

Yes, definitely! (and I didn't make it)

Well, it's all done by people and people make mistakes ...

OK All my guns reloaded: I have to get back to the battlefield now!

Big Fat Jack twice!

This morning I finished the two Big Fat Jacks as a present for two former colleages. And I'm glad to say they both loved it!

We were at another friend/former colleague's house where we had lunch together to celebrate the start of the summer holiday. Two of these girls had turned 60 in May and June. I'd already pieced the Big Fat Jacks and shown them off in June when we had a littel get together.

Tutorial to Lynne's Double Fat Jacks is here.
Here they both are:

And the quilting in close up:

You might think it's not that much, but to me it means a lot:
My first quilties really quilted, not just with straight lines, but real free motion quilting.
My first attempt!
My first succes!!

The Map

Glad to be back!
I have been working feverishly on the project I conjured up for my father in law.
He really loves maps, especially old ones.
 A few months ago the BBC featured a series on maps, which I taped (Old School word) for him and he loved it. I loved it too, and I'm not even into maps!

He turned 80 at the end of May and yesterday we had a big family do to celebrate this!
So I made him a map of the village where he was born (Ameide, NL) and the immediate surroundings.
He was born in 1931, the map is of 1934: few roads, many ditches and small villages.

the river Lek (with flash)

Here you can really see all the quilting (without flash)

A lot of man made ditches that drain the water away from the land

detail

It was difficult at first, I didn't know how to tackle this.
So pondering about this, during the early hours mainly, it came to me and then I knew how to do it:
From the blue fabric I first cut out the river shape, a broad wavy line.
On the back of the green fabric I lay my map, which I had copied onto special fabric, that can easily be torn away once it's sewn. That sounds strange, but this paper fabric is especially made for this purpose.
So, the map on top, then the green fabric and last the wavy river shape: now I could trace the exact river onto the green fabric by sewing all the lines on the back. I then cut away the rest of the blue fabric.
Then I made the embankments but cutting out the exact shape and sewing this to the front with a zigzag stich.
The rest speaks for itself, I think.

red = all the roads
blue = river Lek, and all the ditches
green = meadows
brown/grey = river bank
black spots on green = churches
black lines on blue  =longitudinal embankment dike (levee), this is to slow the water in the river down


Now, what shall I do this week?
Cutting more bottle shapes to make the quilt for my eldest daughter!

Have a wonderful week!