Thursday, April 21, 2011

Finished with Unfinishing

I'd hope to share a picture of my Supernova quilt, pinned to my umbrella clothesline... gently waving in the wind. Ha! Iowa hasn't yet heard that spring is supposed to be here. We've had endless days of dreariness, strong winds, rain, cold (36F/2C this morning) and no sunshine. It's downright depressing.

Dare I be honest and tell you how many times I re-made blocks for the Supernova quilt? No. You don't want to know that a quilter with 35 years of experience re-made blocks that many times! The latest iteration is the last. I swear it.

I completely removed a dark green block that didn't suit and made a yellow block (upper right) to replace it. Then, I changed fabrics on two blocks, completely removing brown prints. Even now, as I study this, I don't like the green center block that makes my eye stop with its abrupt change from dark green outer patches to different colors in adjacent blocks.
62" X 62" Supernova quilt top
The rejected dark green block has been sewn into the backing.
Supernova backing
This backing fabric was 25 percent off at my LQS. That isn't much of a discount when I can remember $6 to $7 a yard quilting cotton that could be bought half price. I heard recently that cotton prices are stabilizing and I hope that's true.

Though the Supernova quilt is ready to sandwich and pin-baste, I can't baste it just yet. Believe it or not, almost all my safety pins are in this 80" X 80" "Snowflake Medallion" quilt.... and they've been in the quilt since last June! How sad is that?
 
Pretty darned sad, I'd say. It's not that I don't want to quilt it. It's that I don't know what to quilt! It's my same old problem. And I've surely set myself up for failure too because I want the quilting in this one to be knock-your-socks-off awesome. Though I've been looking for, studying, and drawing quilting designs seen on blogs, I'm just not confident in my ability to choose the "right design." There must be a trick to it. Advice eagerly accepted, please!

I find it much easier to sew and piece. Even resewing 120 HST for the "Roll Roll Cotton Boll" quilt wasn't too bad. How nice to have the blocks sewn together now. 
"Roll Roll Cotton Boll" 11" X 11" unfinished block
These 30 blocks are ready to be joined to string-pieced blocks to make the quilt center. Yay!
30 "Roll, Roll, Cotton Boll" blocks
I've made a little quilting progress on "Glinda." Oh how I adore those ruby slippers. I found an interesting picture of the real ones here.


Now, what shall I quilt in the next triangular shaped sections? Lola (whose "Glinda" quilt it is) and I are thinking yellow brick road, kinda like this. One of Glinda the Good Witch's lines in the Wizard of Oz movie is, "Just follow the yellow brick road." Maybe bricks quilted with yellow silk thread? 

"Inspiration. Do come for a nice long visit," says Linda.

Have a blessed Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday.

13 comments:

  1. You have been a very busy girl! I'd love to give you advice on your quilting, but I've had to go out and buy pins more than once because all of mine are "tied up". I'm sure you'll get some Ideas from other more creative followers.

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  2. Gosh, you're going along better than me at the moment on RRCB. Well done on getting those triangle strips resewn. A huge job I don't think I would have started. The quilt will be together very soon.

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  3. Way to go on your RRCB blocks! I'm looking forward to seeing your finished quilt. About not knowing what to quilt, I'm afraid I know the feeling quite well.

    Wishing you and your family a very happy and meaningful Easter!

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  4. Thank you for the link! I had no idea they put something on the bottom of them to keep them from making sounds. That must have been interesting to walk and skip with slippery bottoms.

    Lola is going to love this quilt. Every girl needs some ruby slippers! And I have no doubt you'll come up with the perfect quilting for Snowflake Medallion.

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  5. Hi Linda, you should come to Switzerland. Here we a have a spring with lots of sunshine and so warm. I cannot remember when we had so beautiful weather in a row and all the trees and flowers in full bloom. But on the other hand the farmers are missing rain and therefore we hope for rain!

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  6. My gosh you certainly have been busy, as for the quilting, go with what your heart tells you and not your head. Love your SN quilt top.

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  7. You Supernova quilt top is beautiful. I like the center block - it gives the quilt another dimension.
    Your Snowflake Medallion quilt is amazing. I just finished up a quilt that was pinned just like that since July. So there's still hope for your - lol!

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  8. When the thumbnail picture came up on my reader, I thought, "Oh, I didn't know Linda was making an asterisk quilt." Then I clicked and it was your super SuperNova......great job! The RRCB is going to be so awesome, but you better go buy some more safety pins girl, for all these quilts! LOL
    I'm no help with quilt designs...sorry!

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  9. I'm diggin' the Supernova quilt...

    I've seen at least 1 pair of the Dorothy slippers - they have a pair @ Disney MGM theme park in Orlando.

    And you've seen the FMQ blog, right? http://freemotionquilting.blogspot.com/

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  10. You seem to be getting a lot done. Pity about the "re-making" of blocks but sometimes it just has to be done. I find quilt decision making quite difficult at times and glad I am not the only one.

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  11. Catching up Linda...you have been busy. that green block looks so different to the others, i would have thought it was..
    I too find it hard to decide what to quilt on a top..so end up doing something simple.
    I love your quilting on Glinda..do you quilt on a domestic machine..beautifully done.
    Julia ♥

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  12. You have really gotten a lot finished on your blocks, ripping and resewing. I like the supernova...it's a really neat pattern. Have a wonderful Easter.

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  13. Linda...I love your Supernova blocks.....and I can relate to your quilting indecision.....I love the pieceing part...but am always at a loss when it comes to choosing a quilting design ....but since you need the pins for supernova you had better decide on a quilting design...or buy more pins..!

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