Over the last month I've been watching the "Quilty Christmas in July" series on the Sew The Distance Youtube Channel. Kris has been posting a video a day with great tips and ideas for sewing up Christmas gifts or projects for yourself. One of the tips she shared was to finish up those UFO's and give them as gifts. Most of the work is already done so it would be quick to finish.
As you all know I recently went on a quick finish quilting spree for a couple of months and thoroughly enjoyed the feel-good boost I was getting from finishing them. Kris's video reminded me of a couple Christmas projects in my UFO stash. The first one is this Lone Star quilt I started back in 2012. It was pulled off the quilt frame about halfway through the quilting because I was not happy with the quilting I chose for the border. When I decided to pull it out of storage the other day, I thought I still needed to rip out the border stitches but much to my surprise I had already ripped out all the stitches! YAH!
All it needed was a lint roller to remove a few stray threads. I also needed to relax the creases left from the previous quilting. The cutting table was cleared off for this monster sized quilt (96 x 96).
The best way to remove those lines is to spritz them with water and give it a gentle rub with your hand.
This is before...
...and this after it dried. TADA! Works like a charm!
The next hurdle was the thread. Remember, I was new to quilting on the frame, so I was still learning and trying new things. At the time I was using embroidery thread for quilting, the same thread I used with my embroidery machine. Seemed like a good idea at the time and I liked the way it looked on this quilt. Unfortunately, I don't think there's enough of this light-colored thread to finish this quilt. No problem, I'll order more. Guess what? In my online search for this thread I found out this company no longer exists. OH NO! The online search began. Searching Ebay, Etsy and any shop that mentioned ARC thread. Somehow, I stumbled upon a PDF for ARC Poly to Isacord chart. Yippee! The thread was quickly ordered and should be here sometime next week. I don't plan on quilting this up anytime soon, but I would like to have it finished by Thanksgiving of this year. Just in time put on the bed during Christmas.
The quilting around the applique is a bit heavier than I would do these days but I'm not ripping it out. The applique was my design and was machined stitched in place with clear thread. These days I use Superior Threads Mono-Poly for invisible machine applique but I'm pretty sure for this quilt I used whatever they had at Joann's.
Before loading this back onto the frame, I need to add a quilt label to the very busy back. My goodness, that backing is awful....LOL! I'm not a fan of poinsettias but it's what I had on hand. It's fun to go back and look at our older quilts. Styles change and so do our taste in fabric and quilt designs. Just wait until you see the other Christmas themed UFO quilt, it's a hot mess! But at the time I thought it was just too cute. More on that in a week or two.
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That's a gorgeous quilt! Glad it is getting it's time to shine again. LOL on the backing fabrics. I have the same fabrics in my stash. BOTH of them have been pieced on a back!!! The person that receives this as a Christmas gift should be super happy with it.
ReplyDeleteWhat a blast from the past. Fun seeing what you had in mind in 2012. Even better that you are well on your way with finishing touches. It will be a great quilt. Can you tell me what batt was used. The feather plumes in the block are well done.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous quilt!! Hoping to see it on the bed for Christmas, too. PattiK
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