Time of the year II

This is also the time of the year for the Blogger’s Quilt Festival and somehow I found bravery to enter my Pheasant quilt. It fits to several categories like large quilt, home machine quilted, applique, original design.... I decided to go for applique, because basically this quilt was about learning applique. You can click on the links and see yourself all the entries and if you find something you really like, you are very welcome to leave your vote.

Design is mine, each corner has a story behind its design, quilting is rather dense, back is plain red and surprisingly, at the end of the job there were rather small amount of big quilting mistakes to deal with. The fabric is cotton sateen.

The making of this quilt are here, here, here  here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and finally here. 

O happy day! I'm back!

Skipping and dancing around the table! I finally ... FINALLY.... finished quilting the pheasant quilt! Hurrah!

I must admit there were moments when I was ready to rip it apart, wrap tightly and hide in the deepest drawer, or drown in the sea...

Right now, before washing, it contains about two pints of my own sweat ( I carried on at +38 C in shade), daily from March till August. And now the quilting is done. My biggest project so far. And hardest.

I took advice about practicing on quilting, and slowly I'm getting there. The quilt is very densely quilted, just for practice, overall about 25 standard 400 Y spools of yarn for the top (the same amount went for the bobin). Of course, there are still plenty of mistakes, but I can see some improvement in my quilting so it was well worth it.

Tomorrow it will be washed and all that, but in general it's DONE! WHOOP-WHOOP!

So now it's time to tidy up the scrap bag - the minute pieces of scrap had built up past the last 6 months. Already divided the leftpvers into three colour schemes and will put as much of these bits together - plenty for few quite large blocks. 

Woop-whoop!

Finally my pheasant top is done, and on the 5^th, as I planned to, despite all the puppy fun around! A complete whoop-whoop time for me today! 

Even better – the material which I hoped to use for the back, is exactly as big as I needed to – no need to mess around, adding this and that! 

I bought a piece eons ago and didn’t dare to unfold it before the top is finished – I didn’t wanted to think about a problem before it arises. I unfolded it today, measured and... like I purchased it exactly for this quilt! 

So it's officially then – today is my lucky day! 

Now the ugly part – I hate quilting. As my quilt is rather big, I’ll be fighting with arm space again, and it drives me crazy. So for the next week or so I ‘ll be totally grumpy. I had been studying a lot of quilting close ups on Quilt Inspiration and now I have convinced myself that my quilting skills are not a total disaster but still – I’m dreaming about a space and a long arm.... You are allowed to dream, don’t you? 

 

Dog, puppies and Ukraine

My foster puppies are doing great, running around like loonies, and finally the dog on the left bottom corner of Pheasant Quilt is finished. 

What else to wish for? Nicer weather? Winning a lottery? LOL 

With puppies I have only one problem – I can’t get them on dry food. They have a high quality starter, and Royal Canin puppy food to choose from but they hate both. They prefer freshly made curd with an egg yolk or boiled chicken breast, finely chopped instead. It's not a problem for me, but it will be definitely a problem when they will be moved to the shelter. 

Actually, my head is full not with puppies but with Ukraine. The things are not going great there and I worry that further developments can lead to unpleasant changes in whole Europe. But that’s politics, not quilting.

Day too short

Today was definitely too short to hit the target but at least I managed to do the most – I made the dog for the right bottom corner. 

I’m rather happy about the outcome because my dog looks like the alive original and that all that matters. Now it only needs to be put in the place, and then I can go for the geese on the top right corner.

My little foster babies are doing as great as my fabric dog. They definitely know what’s best for them and bravely go for it. 

Last night they started in their own cozy bed but this morning I found them in a bit different, much better place.

THE DRUNKEN ROOSTER

The right top corner of pheasant quilt is done. It’s almost like I wanted it – almost. The main achievement – I think the drunken rooster has some character in him. LOL  

There is some paper piecing (without paper, I was creative... or lazy... so I made it all free hand) mixed with appliqué, and the outcome isn’t bad (or, will be, after quilting). 

The main thing I learned with this quilt so far is – starch is your best friend, especially when working with cotton sateen. Sateen is floating in all directions, and really hard to work with in comparison with nice, sturdy cotton. So I just starch, starch and starch again, each step, and it makes my life so much easier.

Now only three corners left. I set up my target – to finish the corners until the 5^th May, so I can start quilting. Now I’m curious will I be able to press on to reach the target.