"Need to finish" box, part 2

I decided to really tackle the "need to finish" box this year. Michael, in the comments yesterday, wondered how I could forget a wonderful quilt top like the one I showed yesterday. Did I mention, the box is LARGE and you can get a lot of quilt tops in it? Also the one from yesterday........well I had made it for consideration as the raffle quilt for a local organization. When I realized it was getting pretty late and they hadn't contacted me, I asked and found out that another lady presented hers for consideration, and without looking at mine OR asking my price, they decided hers would be cheaper than mine and bought hers. I put the top away not wanting to remember the circumstances around it. Now....this is a new year....the old is gone, everything is new, so it is a beautiful forgotten quilt top that I will finish this year.

The next one I pulled out to finish is a Strips That Sizzle quilt top. It had the periwinkle blue borders already sewn on it, the backing was chosen and was with it. The problem?? The borders must have been stretched slightly as they were sewn on and they had shrunk back to their original size and were distorting the quilt top. It only took a half hour while watching a movie to tear them off. I have more of the fabric so I will use the 2 long borders for the first strips sewn on, and cut 2 new ones for the longer pieces.
,Below is a close up picture of the fabrics in this one, which is probably 12 years old or older.

"Need to finish" box, part 1

I was going through the "Need to Finish" box and found this top that I made last year. It is just waiting for its corner triangles and then it can be quilted. This picture is dark at one end because I didn't turn on the rest of the lights near my design wall. Here is a shot that lets you see the fabrics. The pattern is Blooming 9-Patch. The directions to make one of these is in "Tradition With a Twist" by Young and Stone.
It is time to start working on these partially finished quilts. I am really motivated in January, and I taper down as the year goes on. Maybe what I am saying is that in January I am willing to finish things and as the year goes on I only want to start things.

More basting info

I was asked for a little more info on my hand basting. I use very long needles, John James long darner size 7. The bigger the number the smaller the needle. I have tried 9's but they kept snapping in half. I have found the 7's to be thin enough and sturdy enough to do the job. They will get a bend in them after you have basted awhile but I keep using them until it is bent too far.

The thread I use is the finest quality 2 ply that I can find. I like the Mettler, fine embroidery, size 60/2. That number means size 60, 2 ply. This is a silk finish thread that pulls through the quilt like a dream. I have tried the cheap, hairy basting threads on the market and they take forever to pull through the layers. I want to baste fast and easily.

My basting rows are approximately 6-7" apart, about the length from my thumb to little finger, so that is my measuring stick. If the pattern is 6" blocks, then it is along the edge of every block, so sometimes I am able to just use the quilt pattern to gauge the distance. I never baste over the top of a seam where 2 blocks join, always to one side of it when I do a row of basting.

You always baste from the center out so find the center of the quilt and do one row to the top, one to the bottom, and one to each side. These are your center lines which all other basting will start from. When I am finished I have rows going both directions all over the quilt, in other words it looks like squares, or a plaid. Your basting rows are your guide when quilting to see whether the top is moving. If, as you approach a basting row, the top starts humping up, you know you have to ease it in before you reach the basting row.

This little quilt is another old one, made from Debby Caffrey's "Noodle Soup" book. All of the blocks are on the bias so it is tricky keeping it square to sew on the border.

Basting, cutting, and thanks

I'll start out with thanking everyone for their votes on beads or no beads, and whether to make the other quilt bigger. It really helps to have the input from other people. I have seen both quilts from a lot of views now. I am going to wait on the beading issue until after my art quilters' group meets at my house on Jan. 21. On the other one, I am going to add a row to the side and one to the bottom to get a little better mix of the colors as well as getting it to a better lap size.

I thought I would tell you about my basting. I have been basting quilt for 50 years now and a few things have changed but one stays the same. I tried basting with straight pins and saw them roll their way out of the quilt as I worked. Then I tried T pins. They stayed in place much better but because I ran into them all the time I would get blood on the quilt. Then I tried thread basting with a running stitch. I found that the layers still moved back and forth on the thread. Added later: I also tried safety pins which I hated opening and closing.

Then I tried the padding stitch that I had used in tailoring. If you look closely at this picture you will see a dark thread in a diagonal pattern. The needle is inserted in a horizontal stitch and the thread between the stitches is the diagonal. I found that with this stitch the quilt layers were very secure. Since this works the best it is the only way I baste now.
I just finished basting the one below. You can see I tape the backing down, then layer the 3 pieces and baste. For over 30 years I basted on my hands and knees on the floor. For the first 25 of those years I didn't tape the backing, and had to continually go around the quilt and pull on the edges of the backing to be sure it wasn't working its way into a wrinkle under the quilt.
Almost 14 years ago I purchased three 30" x 96" tables which I can push together for a 90" x 96" basting area or a 60" x 96" area, depending on the size of the quilt. Finally (in my mid-50's) I could stand up to baste. There is a lot of stretching to reach the middle of the 3 tables, but I need the exercise. Below is the third quilt to be on the basting tables since the first of January. It is a piece for an exhibit at the IL Artisans Gallery at Rend Lake for Feb. 8-Apr. 8 for heart disease awareness. I will show all of it after it has the binding on it. I have to ship it before Jan. 22 so I work on it a little every day.
I use drafting tape and I know a lot of people use painters tape. They are similar in their stickiness.
Here are 2 more fabrics that have been sliced. Aren't the squares above just yummy?
I really like the strip of this one.

Use it or lose it

I have been cutting yellow strips from my scraps and yardage for awhile in hopes of making an all yellow log cabin type quilt. Last week one night I had a dream, in full technicolor as usual. In this dream I was aware of (but didn't see) several people in my studio with their sewing machines. One person seemed to be in charge, all I could see of her was arms, and she reached over and picked up these yellow strips and started handing them out to the people in the room and said "Here are some strips already cut, we can use them". As I am the observer in this dream, I am in shock. They can't have my strips! So......to interpret this dream......does that mean use them or lose them?

By the way, I am enjoying the votes on my last post. I will not work on it until at least Monday evening so if anyone else has an opinion, please comment.

OK, third post today~indecision strikes

To continue I MUST make a decision. This one is all quilted and bound and now do I or don't I want to add the bead trim. First here it is without And here the trim is just laying on top of it to help make the decision. This one is 19" x 20".
This is a closeup of the trim. I like it both ways.
And then on to this one. I finished sewing blocks 2 nights ago and just plopped them up on a design wall. Right now it would measure 50" x 63" if I don't make any more blocks. I guess the decision here is do I want a small quilt or make it into a bigger one. I don't think it would be a good wallhanging. I think it is more of a couch throw or bed quilt style.
Any votes on either one?

Contrast

Contrast comes many different ways. This one is obviously HIGH contrast. It is sometimes called graphic. When you start adding prints instead of solids it softens the contrast.
If you like to stay with all solids, adding a value that is halfway between the dark one and the light one will give each fabric an almost equal amount of presence.
In these 4 blocks I was playing with LOW contrast. Only the bottom right one really shows the block pattern well; with the others you really have to look for it. Decorators will use low contrast prints in a variety of floral, stripe and geometric so that there is a blend and not one fabric taking over the room. When I make a quilt with lower contrast, I am usually just trying to introduce color into the room but not make the quilt the focal point.
Here are 2 blocks of Night and Noon, one in pastels and one in bolder colors. In the one on the left the fabrics are more "solid color" looking prints whereas the ones on the right are mostly quite busy. You only have to identify the look you like to figure out what kinds of fabrics to buy.
I like the very busy look, so very few of my quilts have tiny prints that almost look solid. I would be more likely to have a light print like the block on the right. I like the way the leaf print star points almost disappear into the background print in places.

Amy said in her comment the other day that she would like to see a post about contrast. I hope this explains my view on it.