Completer Finisher Quilter! Motto for 2015
Blog Post by Liz Holpin, Director of The Cotton Patch
My motto for 2015 is "Completer Finisher". I would like to think I was one but the evidence is unfortunately stacked (in little fabric piles) against me. Some of them are in big piles come to think of it but if I put those big piles in big boxes and close them, pushing them carefully under the large table in the sewing room I can forget them for....well years actually.
Does any of this resonate with anyone else.
2013 was an epic year for the beginning of a turn in the tide, a seed change if you will. Time is seldom on my side and I can't say that it was due to my kicking my heels, wondering what to do next. More likely it was the reminder every time I saw Pam Webb at The Cotton Patch.
Now, I don't see Pam very often - she works Saturdays but Pam has been at The Cotton Patch ever since she started working for us at the Malvern Quilt Show when Di Wells introduced us and that is a long time ago. Pam commutes up from Winchcombe to Birmingham on a Saturday and her knowledge of patchwork and enjoyment of meeting like-minded souls has been a winning combination for her and for us.
So, Pam had been on to me for around ten years about my Log Cabin Quilt - the quilt kept getting dragged out at Show and Tells throughout the 1990s quite honestly. I mean really I needed to get it finished. It was well into double-digits in age and I still hadn't finished the quilting let alone the binding. I did the centre using my old Bernina 1130. What great metal machines Bernina made. It's still going strong but it was beyond my abilities to wrestle with my quilt - most of the time it felt like a wild thing .....
....and it was only through the use of regulated medicinal quantities of Australian unoaked Chardonnay that I was able to do the feathered wreath in the centre of the Double Quilt. The back was flannel and the wadding was wool so it was chunky to say the least.
What I really wanted was relaxing quilting, not to have to fight it. So, that's when I decided to finish it on the Handi Quilter Sweet Sixteen and it all became nice plain sailing as I steered my quilt through the large arm doing feathers and stippling....
So, thank you Pam for not letting it go....I have the joy of seeing this lovely warming quilt every morning.
Next project to complete - a William Morris Block of the Month Club quilt by Marti Michell circa 1998! The great thing is it's practically an antique and I haven't pieced all the blocks yet. I just dug it out of that big box in my sewing room....updates will follow.
So, here's to all of us out there with our UFOs - let this be the year of finishing quilts!
My motto for 2015 is "Completer Finisher". I would like to think I was one but the evidence is unfortunately stacked (in little fabric piles) against me. Some of them are in big piles come to think of it but if I put those big piles in big boxes and close them, pushing them carefully under the large table in the sewing room I can forget them for....well years actually.
Does any of this resonate with anyone else.
2013 was an epic year for the beginning of a turn in the tide, a seed change if you will. Time is seldom on my side and I can't say that it was due to my kicking my heels, wondering what to do next. More likely it was the reminder every time I saw Pam Webb at The Cotton Patch.
 |
| Pam on the left and Diana on the right at the Malvern Quilt Show |
Now, I don't see Pam very often - she works Saturdays but Pam has been at The Cotton Patch ever since she started working for us at the Malvern Quilt Show when Di Wells introduced us and that is a long time ago. Pam commutes up from Winchcombe to Birmingham on a Saturday and her knowledge of patchwork and enjoyment of meeting like-minded souls has been a winning combination for her and for us.
So, Pam had been on to me for around ten years about my Log Cabin Quilt - the quilt kept getting dragged out at Show and Tells throughout the 1990s quite honestly. I mean really I needed to get it finished. It was well into double-digits in age and I still hadn't finished the quilting let alone the binding. I did the centre using my old Bernina 1130. What great metal machines Bernina made. It's still going strong but it was beyond my abilities to wrestle with my quilt - most of the time it felt like a wild thing .....
 |
| A wild thing...large green moray in my feeding bucket at Stingray City - it felt just like this. |
....and it was only through the use of regulated medicinal quantities of Australian unoaked Chardonnay that I was able to do the feathered wreath in the centre of the Double Quilt. The back was flannel and the wadding was wool so it was chunky to say the least.
What I really wanted was relaxing quilting, not to have to fight it. So, that's when I decided to finish it on the Handi Quilter Sweet Sixteen and it all became nice plain sailing as I steered my quilt through the large arm doing feathers and stippling....
 |
| Central feather quilted on my Bernina 1130 |
 |
| Free-hand feathers in the dark sections of the Barn Raising Log Cabin |
 |
| Lots more space on the Sweet Sixteen! |
 |
| Stipling and Feathers |
 |
| Completed and on our bed at last! |
Next project to complete - a William Morris Block of the Month Club quilt by Marti Michell circa 1998! The great thing is it's practically an antique and I haven't pieced all the blocks yet. I just dug it out of that big box in my sewing room....updates will follow.
So, here's to all of us out there with our UFOs - let this be the year of finishing quilts!
Comments