This week has been high summer for all of the UK and even here it has been in the mid twenties with clear blue skies. I stood no chance of getting sunburnt because I have been in my workshop all week pushing on with “Help Ma Boab” aka the mirror quilt. I am off to Norfolk next week so I knew that I had to get as much done as possible before I go so I don’t have to stress about it while I am away and then rush to finish it when I get back.
My original vision was for straight-line quilting and I was tempted to come up with some fancier quilting but decided to stick with my plan for a change. It took me around 20 hours to complete all of the ¼” lines with a ruler on my longarm. I had to make sure they were accurately placed and even though I was very careful there is still an oddly spaced line or two. My hand and arm ached as I am not used to that kind of quilting endurance these days.
I spent another day couching on the silver accent macrame cord up and down the seam lines (not to hide any dodgy piecing because it was nearly perfect!). The quilt had become quite rigid as I had used 2 layers of wadding so it was quite a challenge to fit the quilt under the sewing machine for the long seams.
I decided to block it while we had hot weather and it had held its shape quite well. While I waited for it to dry I made up some binding samples, a bit like I had done with Rainbow Warliors. There will be a LOT of layers right at the edge so I have decided to add a single-fold binding. It’s not going to be a bed quilt and the Quilt Police don’t need to find out.
I have now got all of the finishing components ready - the binding is made, the hanging sleeve is cut, the silver lamé flange has had gold ricrac attached, so I just need to hand sew micro bells onto the prairie points with invisible thread. I think there should be a special prize for ingenuity in making a quilt label. My Mac computer does not easily create curved text so I had too think of another way. I designed the text around a circle using Cricut software but my Cricut Joy was too small to draw the label the size that I wanted. I took a screenshot, resized and printed onto fabric attached to freezer paper with my printer. Then I made a reverse appliqué hole and put a spare block from the quilt behind it. Next I did some metallic stitching and kantha then had the brainwave of making the label circular. I keep thinking about what the maker of my Indian tunic scrap would do if she had the same access to trimmings that I do…!
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