Thursday, May 2, 2013

Skyward and Inward

Well we had quite an interesting day weather wise today.  I'm sorry I didn't have my camera at the ready to show the different moods of the day but I was bored with cloudy skies, lol

Today started off sunny and bright but by mid-afternoon was extremely cloudy. I'm glad the sky was cloudy as it allowed me to do some work to finish my project (see below). Tonight the sky turned beautiful again and we are expecting a fabulous weekend ahead.  Some of my garden has been fertilized now but the other half still needs to be done. Hopefully that is my weekend project as next week will be busy with other things.




I've been going on about making my niece a quilt for some time. I've never worked with a printed panel before and I thought it would be easy. But this panel was not the typical quilt panel with printed blocks.  It was one long continuous scene from the Wizard of Oz. My niece absolutely loves the Wizard of Oz.


Anyhoo, I wasn't quite sure what to with it. I thought I would simply do some hand stitch quilting around the different characters but nixed that idea. Then I thought I would stitch some lines around lines on the panel, like along the yellow brick road. I nixed that idea also. Then I thought, I will simply hold the quilt together with some old fashioned yarn ties. I did do that but found that the fabric I selected for backing kept puckering up and was very difficult to keep smooth. This proved to be a bit problematic throughout the finishing of the quilt. I think it would be far easier to use adhesive spray for quilting but it is somewhat of a luxury item. I don't buy it because I don't make so many quilts but perhaps in future I will treat myself.  In the end, I decided to do a little stipling along the yellow brick road (top and bottom of the panel only). It is my first attempt and it breaks all the rules, lol. But my niece won't care a bit. All she cares about is Dorothy in her red sparkly shoes, the yellow brick road and the wicked witch.



All the fabrics and batting in the quilt are new.  However I did recycle a chambray denim skirt and used it to make the binding for the quilt. It was a newer skirt I bought in the thrift store but never wore. I'm glad I could put it to good use.  The binding picks up the blue in Dorothy dress quite nicely.




Now that I've figured out how to use my walking foot (the fact that the long piece that has to rest on the top of the bolt that tightens the needle had me confused) and my free motion foot, I can practice on more quilts or sample pieces.

I found I really didn't like working with a quilt panel. I prefer pieced quilts and that is what I will make next like the one I made for mom at Christmas. Ever since then my nephew has been asking for one too so I've been thinking about the fabrics to use.

On a blog related matter, I understand that the Google reader service will soon be discontinued.  I currently follow a lot of blogs using this service and  I hope I can still find them afterward.  But if you don't see me visiting your blog in a long while, please do leave me a comment so I can find you again! I'm not sure whether I will use BlogLovin and/or migrate my blog to another blog platform altogether.  There are pros and cons of migrating. I had been considering the move to Word Press for awhile but someone I follow said she was leaving there over copyright issues concerning her photos. I'm not sure where she has moved to yet and somehow I'm not sure that things will be any different on a different platform.

I'm linking up with Skywatch Friday. Thank you so much for visiting me. Have a wonderful weekend!

Sky Watch Friday

16 comments:

Lady Fi said...

That's an amazing quilt!

(I'm including a link so you know who I am... Can't comment with my Wordpress iD at the moment...)

KB said...

Love the quilt!

Vores have said...

Beautiful "celestial" images you show Joyful.
Wish you a good weekend - hope you are well. Hugs Hanne Bente

Meghana Hassan said...

Beautiful sky images... and of course i loved your quilt...

Diane said...

That quilt is fantastic. Still no forms available and there are two days public holiday next week!!!!!!!!!!! Have a good weekend, Diane

Denise said...

Awesome quilt.

joy said...

Wonderful quilt. Yes, we should still follow each other by mail:)

Shannon said...

Beautiful sky photos and quilt.

Jan said...

Wow that quilt is just fabulous. How clever! I was thinking of moving my blog too but if there is some issue with wordpress maybe not there. Is blogger going too? Will have to look into all this. Have a great weekend Penny.

Dimple said...

Interesting thoughts about the quilt. I have a top that my husband's grandmother pieced, but the quilt was never completed. I bought some backing which is a good complement to the top, but that is as far as I have gone...

eileeninmd said...

Love the pretty sky shots and the quilt. Happy weekend to you!

Misty said...

Cool looking quilt and my 5-year old great-niece would love this, also. :) Thanks for stopping by my blog. By the way, on other blogs...I usually save the hyperlink to a blog I am interested in and save it in my Favorites in a folder I call, Blogs of Interest. You might try that and at least you won't lose them. Just a thought. :) Have nice w/end.

Gattina said...

Love the patchwork ! In Belgium too, the sky is moody, but today the sun shines !

tiptoethruphylsgarden.blogspot.com said...

I adore the quilt! Someone just emailed me to say that they had trouble getting on my blog,I hope things work out with blogger so I don`t have to change anything!

Joyful said...

Thanks for your nice comment. As for the blogger issue, that happens every now and then. It should rectify itself.Have a wonderful week!

clairz said...

I had to laugh - I'm just like your niece, and love Dorothy's sparkly shoes and probably wouldn't notice anything else. Sometimes I see shoes like that for sale (for little girls) and think that I should buy a pair just to put on a shelf somewhere. They would always make me smile. This is a lovely project you are doing, so thoughtful.

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