Next project!

Late yesterday we got the APQS put back together and today I quilted this customer's Valentine quilt. Perfect! Also, replacing the wheels and axels seems to have fixed the drag problem. I will load a quilt of mine to give the free motion quilting a try.

My customer is demonstrating this technique at guild next week. It looks paper pieced, but it isn't.

Panto: Locket

I like the backing, too.

Its time to turn the page with repairs, and do one that's beautiful, easier and fun! Take a look at this wonderful late 1920s Dresden plate quilt.

The binding was 1 1/2 inches wide!! Here, I've flattened it out to show the 80 plus years of fading. The original color was the dark green.

The border was also the dark green, now faded to light mint.

Someone did a really bad repair!

The thread used in the repair is really thick and quite strong.

The front of the repaired place looked like this.

I took out the bad stitching and this is the tear. This will be an easy fix and will look great when done.

Here's the fading of the pink inner border.

The quilt is in pretty good shape for its age, the repairs will be simple. I marked the blades with holes with safety pins.

I love the blades where they used two fabrics to make a blade.

Isn't this a great quilt? I bet when it was new it was colorful and snazzy. Now, it has that shabby chic look. What the new quilters call "low volume".

The hand quilting is lovely, too.

Giving the washer a workout

Mr W and I had a long discussion about whether or not to wash the Big Bertha quilt in the domestic washer. Both of us have fears of the machine taking off, or exploding during the spin cycle! After draining off the water in the tub, we let the quilt sit for the day to get as much water out as possible before washing it. My biggest disappointment was the Oxyclean did nothing to get the mold out. It is as black and awful as ever. I know bleach might work, but you don't bleach quilts!! Especially polyester ones...
Anyway, the quilt is in the washer, and so far so good. Let's look at where I started, and where we are today.

Everywhere you see a pink 'frame' of fabric around a square, I had to replace a block of fabric. Next to the dark blue, you can see some of the first row that have been sewn.

Its in there!! Tumbling and spinning without incident, so far.

Once I get it in the dryer, I will relax a bit.I'm supposed to be at a sew in at the fabric store in twenty minutes, but can see I'll be late because of the washing marathon. Oh well, the parts came for the APQS and Mr W is chomping at the bit to get the machine off the carriage and begin taking off the wheels and putting on the new ones. I need to help him with this, so I had better get on the stick and get going, too!! I will post later today with the washing results. Fingers crossed that nothing comes apart!!

 

Postscript!: The washing went well and the washer is still intact. The quilt itself looks so clean and smells fresh and clean. I am so happy, and I hope the customer will be, too!

The black moldy areas are much cleaner now. (the quilt underneath is on the bed, not the front of the repaired quilt)

Still a bit of black spots, but waaaaay better!

Huzzah!! Hoorah!!

Today is a great day!! I have finished the double knit polyester quilt repair. 92 blocks replaced, the binding re-sewn and 4 blocks repaired. I will give it an Oxyclean soak, hoping to remove some of the mold from the back, and then a good wash and the triumphant return to the customer's family. I hope I never have another quilt made of double knit again!

It doesn't look half bad...but it still weighs 40 pounds!!

Mr Wazoo took advantage of the rainy cold weather to dash off the quilting on this twister wreath. The customer is really getting a jump on Christmas!

I have made these before. It is a really fun technique!

Panto: Holly berries

The quilting really shows on the back

I spent my 'day off' lolly-gagging while watching highlights from the Olympics and eating French toast. I started in the studio at noon, and managed to finish one of the baby quilts for the soon-to-be twin girls for a friend of our own twins! The blocks are ready to be sewn on the second quilt, and I should be able to fit that in tomorrow after my Block of the month class. Mr Wazoo says if the weather is bad, he will get the first one quilted for me. How sweet...(pray for rain!)

The first of the two quilts has the aqua alternate blocks.

I used a Moda Jelly Roll, I think it is called something Lullabye, but I can't remember. I will check the label tomorrow and put the collection title here.

Here is the second quilt, waiting to be sewn.

The peach color isn't right in this picture. It is much lighter than it looks here.

Cute animals in the focus fabric of the collection.

The taupe fabric with the little ducks will be the back of both quilts.

Beautiful quilt finished!!

I think this is one of the most beautiful quilts I have ever worked on. I hope the customer puts it in a show...surely, its a winner! It was all done free motion on the Gammill, some marking and some ruler work, but mostly just fun, in the zone quilting. Enjoy the pictures.
Tomorrow, I will be switching gears and making another customer tee shirt quilt.

The custom quilting marathon

The thing about quilting for customers is, it is boring for you to look at day after day. So, I didn't post for a couple of days to let you take a nap and recover. I am still working on the beautiful reproduction quilt, and the quilting is slowly coming along.

Wednesday I quilted all the gold zig-zags and setting triangles.

I also got a good start on the brown narrow border. Its hard to see here, but there are squares quilted into the border.

Yesterday I finished the small borders, quilted the two long, wide brown outer borders, turned the quilt and quilted the other long brown borders. I also quilted all the white background triangles in the zig-zag border. By 6 pm, I was too tired to take pictures, so today I will do that and soldier on with the blocks. Like I said, its a marathon!

Meanwhile, Mr Wazoo was busy in the man cave quilting these customer projects. 

This quilt has nice, big blocks that show off the fabric line. I saw one like it made from Joel Dewberry fabrics on the Meadow Mist blog today. If I were to make one, I would go for the big, bold prints! This quilt is for a young lady who likes these sweet fabrics, so I understand the selection.

The Joel Dewberry fabrics quilt

Panto: Big Splat

Rosebud backing

Also on his list were these two Easter table runners.

Colorful Easter eggs and the panto: Feathers and Flowers

White linen backing.

In the evening, I am working along on the double knit quilt repair. I'm on the last round of 42 dark blue plaid squares!! I stitched during the Olympics last night, happy to see the married couple from the USA do a great job in the pairs skating competition of the team event. The moguls event was fun, too.

21 squares to go! See where I am sewing them? Into the openings where all you see is batting. I stitched from 8 until midnight and did 12 squares. Polyester double knit is a fabric from Hell!! I will be so glad to finish this one. It weighs about 20 pounds (really...) and has mold on a large part of the back. As soon as I have finished the squares, I will soak it for the mold, wash it, and get it back to the customer.

It is a beautiful day outside, so Mr Wazoo will be doing some yard work and enjoying the sunshine. I'll be in the studio, quilting the reproduction quilt. Have a glorious day!!