quilt it out

My quilt tops were piling up, so I bit the bullet and learned how to freemotion quilt because I have a lot of time on my hands and a greater willingness to spend my money on more fabric than to send the tops off to be longarmed.  Leah Day, Freemotion Queen, says pick a design and just g'head and quilt an entire quilt with it, and you'll know it inside-out by the time you're done. I did the rainbow over a few evenings, and though it's got a few hundred thread-birdnests on the back, I sure did grok the stipple by completion. The quilt now lives on my wall so noone will see the nests.

My second quilt had fewer nests but isn't bound yet so no picture. The lucky third up there on the left is my crowning achievement. I had the speed of the machine and the hand movement in a nice rhythm, I'd worked out how to stop and start and weave in the stringy-ends, I was wired-in to the groovy flow zone and then it was over too soon! Now that I've got it I think it's my favourite part of the quilting process, and totally my new yoga. And what it has over actual yoga is, you're sitting down. You got a quilt sandwich you want me to stipple for you?

I used charm squares from Anna Maria Horner's Field Study, which is, in my humble opinion, the most perfect fabric collection ever created. I had fun messing around with dozens of possible half-square triangle arrangements but in the end I wanted a strong, simple graphic effect. So I went with chevrons, but wondered if their cultural moment is on the wane? I'm always the last to know these things. To be on the safe side I repurposed them as zigzags by turning them ninety degrees.  Latschky saw the quilt in progress and said she loooooved it, so guess what she got for her birthday last week? I worked a little secret message for her into the quilting in glow-in-the-dark thread.

Thankyou so much for your kind comments and emails after my last post. I am alternately OMGSOTOTALLYOKKTHANXBAI!!!-Universe and MRRRAAAWAARGHGHGH!!!WHYYYYYYYY!?!?!?!-Universe but I am managing. I'm being pretty good about getting stuck into sewing projects in the evenings. Doing Things rather than ruminating and snarfing two-litre completers of mint chocolate chip icecream in front of reality TV is the way to go, I know... not that that ever happened... much. I'll just say, your spoon hits the bottom of one of those even quicker than you'd think. I've got Pattern Runway's Sweet Shorts about half-completed. I had an awesome city meetup with TJ. She of the Perfect Nose took me out and had me giggling all day as we bounced from fabric stores to munching chorizo at Little Creatures to checking out costumes at the NGV. She also showered me with gifts, one of which was this book by the lady who makes Amy Sedaris' fancy frocks, telling me I needed it to make a party-dress because did I know I was going to Poppykettle's upcoming Sewciatie event? I hadn't known this and I'm so glad she told me! I can't wait.