Monster update / I made a quilter

Last Sunday I did actually do some quilting. Nick's Monster was tamed and it actually wasn't too bad. I again used my card table and ironing board to help support the quilt and just channel quilted wavy lines down the length of the quilt, about two inches apart. I have doubts, though, if it is enough quilting and may need to sew at least one line of stitching through each row crosswise just to ease my mind about any shifting of the batting, however unlikely! I got half of the lengthwise quilting done but never got back to my machine since.


This last week was seriously horrible work-wise but luckily I had some alternate quilt therapy! One night I helped my quilt inductee, Laura, with cutting out all the pieces for her next quilt. The book she is using (I'm sorry but I don't have the title or author right now) had large pieces and simple drawings but was not really written for the beginning quilter. The center of this star below is cut 16 1/2" and the smaller stars are 8 1/2". Once everything was cut we laid it out. This was a revelation for Laura and she decided she couldn't live with the light border and shopped for another the next day. Below is the first "cream", a tan botanical/bird print on cream. It was a little muddying, I have to admit. The outer border (not visible in this pic) had another rectangle of the brown center as well as pink squares, with pink squares in the corners, so the cream really made it too light.

This slightly more contrasting toile with a darker image was the substitute, though not what she truly wanted. We cut that on Saturday morning and then drew the sewing lines on the star point squares. I showed her how to get a bonus triangle square from the waste by drawing and sewing a second line 1/2 " away and cutting through the center. She was stitching away when I left early Saturday afternoon.

We went over to their house this evening for a birthday party for the daughter to whom this quilt will belong, and I asked Laura where she moved her quilting stuff and. With her eyes lit up she said to go look on her bed. She had sewn the entire top together by mid morning today and it was laid over the bed! It looked fantastic and I wish I'd had my camera with me to show her beaming face. I made a quilter!