Back to Denim

     As I look over my Etsy shop sales, I see that my denim creations have been better sellers than custom quilts, even though the quilts are more fun for me.  So after my big push to finish Sweet Dreams for Danielle, I have pulled out my bin of recycled denim jeans.  In the beginning I bought jeans at thrift stores, but now I have  a reputation and people bring me their pre-loved jeans.
     My most favorited item in my Etsy shop is denim throw pillows which are half bleached.  So weeks ago I had cut and bleached some denim, but didn't do anything with them.  Over the last 2 days I have made 8 pillow covers.  That is the easy part!  Now I will need to find pillow inserts for each and photograph.  That is the last 10% that is essential, but difficult for me.
     We are having rain for the next week, and company, and a trip to Ridgecrest, North Carolina.  So it might be a while before I get them photographed and listed.
     In case you want to take a peek, my Etsy shop is linked here:   TheDogwoodBlossom

Sweet Dreams Danielle

  

     My daughter in law, Danielle, is dear to me.  My son chose her, and she adores him. She is the mother of my first beloved granddaughter, and she is the most kind and patient mother I have ever seen.

     My fondest memories of Danielle came from an extended stay they had with us in Holland, Michigan.  I think that was the time I saw her most relaxed and at peace with herself.  During that time, she would just sing out when her heart was happy, no self-consciousness, just joy.  I have always been intimidated to sing out loud.  Danielle has a sweet and lovely voice.  My skills are more like the proverbial “can’t carry a tune in a bucket.”  But from her I learned to just sing it out when I feel it.  I have stopped being embarrassed by my lack of skill, just show the joy inside.

     It was thrill to me when she took up quilting.  It is fun to have that in common.  In Holland my quilting area was in the basement.  She and I had tables set up where we could sew at the same time.  We continue to enjoy showing each other our latest creations and discussing our plans.

     From Danielle I learned to count the actual time spent on a quilt.  Before I just knew I worked a week on that one, 3 weeks on that one, etc.  But she counts the actual hours.  That’s discipline.  Danielle is probably the most disciplined person I know.  If I am going to make quilts to sell, I need to know how much time I spent.  So, I have lately begun to follow her lead and log my time.  That is how I know her quilt took 78 hours not counting the times I lay awake at night thinking about it.  She is worth every minute and more.

     Danielle causes me to reflect on myself.  I would often see something in her that would cause me to see myself.  I saw our similarities.  It took me a long time to see our differences and part of that came from her pointing them out to me.

     Here is the metaphor I have for the two of us.  I am a bubbling stream.  I’m not deep, you can see the bottom and know what is there.  There are a few nooks and crannies that hide little creatures, but it is mostly transparent.  I’m mostly cheerful.  I take things at face value.  There are storms that cause me to swell and churn, leaving some rocks moved and banks eroded, but when they are over, I’m pretty much the same.

     Danielle is a deep ocean.  Our life experiences have been very different. I have the luxury of being shallow and transparent.  She does not have that luxury.  She has many layers that have different temperature zones, light zones and different creatures abiding in each.  On sunny days she is a beautiful azure.  Then there are gray stormy days when she is clouded over, waves are tossed, and things from the deep surface. 

     If you met Danielle, you would know right away she is beautiful.  It would not take long before you would perceive that she is extremely intelligent.  But as I have known her for 10 years, the word that comes to my mind to describe her is overcomer.  She has grown and developed in so many ways over the past 10 years.  She has looked into the depth of her soul in ways few people are brave enough to do and allowed herself to be transformed.  Monsters from the deep threaten to pull her under, but she fights for the light.  She fights to overcome; to overcome evil with good; overcome hate with love; overcome cruelty with kindness and gentleness; overcome chaos with shalom.

     She has been willing to share with me some of these battles so that I can understand her more intimately.  It only causes me to love her more deeply.

     So as I spent the hours on a quilt to wrap her in love, acceptance and shalom, I have prayed for her.  Another experience we have had together was being able to attend Ray Vander Laan Bible classes.  From those we heard about the world being plunged into chaos and God’s spirit moving to bring shalom.  The call of Christians is to bring shalom to a chaotic world.  So, I have prayed continually for God’s shalom for her.  The Hebrew expresses much more than peace as in absence of war.  It expresses peace, wholeness, wellness, prosperity in mind, soul and body.

     So, Danielle, here on your birthday I want you to know I am constantly amazed at what I have seen God do in your life.  Constantly amazed at the changes you have allowed and incorporated.  Constantly amazed at your discipline.  Constantly amazed at your transformation.  And constantly amazed that it continues day after day after day.

     Shalom my dear daughter of the heart.

Sweet Dreams - Finishing Up

     My favorite pieced quilt of all time!  I love this quilt.  The piecing is very precise thanks to Deb Tucker's V block ruler, Quilt in a Day triangle ruler and extreme starching.  I love the colors and fabrics, Hand Picked by Riley Blake.  I love the design.  This is the most complicated piecing I have done and I am so pleased with how it turned out.

     As best as I can tell, it took 59 hours to starch the fabric , cut out, and piece the top together.  It took 14 hours to make the quilt sandwich and quilt it.   It took 4 hours to make the binding, bind it and make the label.  Speaking of the binding, I decided to use continuous bias binding as binding on the bias is supposed to wear longer.  I have used other tutorials in the past on how to cut the continuous binding but the one from makeit-loveit. com explained it more clearly than I have seen it before.  How to Make Continuous Strip Bias Binding  .
     I frequently neglect the last 5%, taking good pictures of my finished product as they are out the door as soon as they are finished.  This one had a trip to Stone Mountain Park in Georgia for her photo shoot.

Sweet Dreams - Quilting

     Ahhh, quilting.  You finish your quilt top and feel victory, then realize you gotta quilt this puppy!  There was a 2 week trip, so the top had to be left on its own for that time.  Since the beginning, I have considered how to quilt it.

     Serious over the top free motion quilting seems to be all the rage right now.  While it sometimes looks awesome, sometimes it seems to take away from the piecing.  There is also the debate about the comparison between the cuddle factor of intensely quilted quilts versus less densely quilted.  Many seem to side with a less densely quilted quilt being more cuddly.  I also read recently that less densely quilted quilts are warmer because there is more space for air to be trapped.

     This quilt has a lovely and soft pink Minky cuddle fabric on the back because my daughter in law LOVES Minky.  She also lives where it is very cold in the winter and as she has a February birthday, this will wrap her in warmth from the very beginning.  But Minky is heavy.  Therefore, I did not want to do a walking foot quilting going back and forth from top to bottom or side to side over and over again.   I love the fresh and clean look Rita from Red Pepper Quilts has with her quilts that mostly have straight line quilting with the walking foot.  Red Pepper Quilts   I want the piecing to shine, but it is hard to wrestle a quilt this size and weight by myself.

     I had asked a long arm quilter what she would recommend.  She took one look at the photo and said an all over pattern.  My fear was that would still leave me having to move the quilt great distances in my pursuit of a continuous overall design.  You see, I am still not that proficient.

     Stroke of luck, I found in my supplies 3 inch stencils.  They would fit perfectly in the white squares and the print square centered in them.  Then I could free motion stitching in the ditch around the 4 pointed stars.  Loved that idea.  I left on my trip, came back ready to get started.

     First morning, out of bed, I began by laying out the batting on the floor and had my dear sweet man crawling on the floor with me to use spray adhesive to attach the top to the batting.   Then I laid out the Minky.  I was displeased with the feel of the finishing chemicals on it.  Also it had some pretty intense wrinkles from how it was placed on the bolt.  SO, change of plans.  I put the Minky in the wash, sent hubby to work and he would help me finish when he came home for lunch.

     I just like to "get 'er done", but since I had the delay, I thought I probably should practice my stencils.  Oh boy, what a disaster!  One side was fine, but when I began to sew the second half, sewing blind by going backwards, the sides were definitely not symmetrical.  3 different designs and none very good.  Also I had trouble with the pink chalk markings being hard to see.  So I practiced sewing straight lines free motion style.  I could do that.  Change of plans, straightish (as Angela Walters says) diamond shapes.  I marked my diamonds with frixion gel pens.  Later I threw the quilt in the dryer so the heat would remove the markings.

     13 hours later I emerged from my sewing room with the quilt quilted to suit me!

Sweet Dreams - Choosing Batting

     There is time spent on choosing a pattern for a quilt, planning it, selecting the fabric and color scheme etc., but I fail to count the time spent in the middle of the night worrying about a quilt plan.
     The middle of the night wake up call happened several times with this quilt.  The quilt could only have Minky (Cuddle) backing because my DIL LOVES it!  I have 2 problems with Minky on a full sized quilt.  One- it is heavy when moving the quilt around to quilt it. Two - it does not shrink but the quilt batting and top do shrink.  I have seen quilts where the MInky doesn't lay smooth after the quilt was washed.  So in the past to avoid that I have put a muslim backing on a quilt, quilted it, did a fast self binding, washed the quilt then added the Minky with just a few lines going across to hold it in place, then adding another binding.  To quilt, then add Minky, almost doubles that work.
     I have also wanted to avoid intensely quilting the Minky because the point is its softness.  I talked with a long arm quilter who said she quilts quilts all the time with Minky and it does not affect its cuddliness.   Hummm, new thought.
     
     On one of my middle of the night wake up and think about the quilt times, I suddenly had an epiphany - use polyester batting!  The batting always shrinks more than the top giving the quilt the crinkly look.  But if I use polyester batting, it will not shrink just as the Minky does not shrink! 
     Problem solved - I think!