The final countdown

It took Barb five years to finish the applique on this beautiful quilt and she wanted it quilted with a traditional custom design.  She wanted trapunto but didn't want to use two layers of batting, which makes for a stiff, heavy quilt. We did cut-away trapunto which leaves the quilt with a wonderful soft drape so it still works as a bed quilt.  I sewed the trapunto with soluble thread and then gave the quilt back to Barb to trim.  She did a great job and managed to avoid snipping a hole in the top - that's the danger with this kind of machine trapunto. It was worth it in the end although it meant the quilt had to be washed and blocked to remove the soluble thread and blue marker.  That caused some worry for Barb because despite prewashing her fabrics three times and going to great lengths to prepare them, she had some bleeding from the pink and red fabrics.  Luckily, washing with Synthrapol took care of it.

Barb has a collection of patterns which came to her through her family.  This quilt was designed by a woman that lived in Kansas City  in the 1930's  at the same time that quilters like Rose Kretsinger and Charlotte Whitehill  in Emporia, KS were famous for their applique designs. The patterns are hand drafted and hand colored - a real treasure for Barb, who does wonderful applique.

 

 

 

This took serious marking and SID but it was worth it in the end - it's a gorgeous quilt.

Leslie has beautiful workmanship which made this a pleasure to quilt.

 

 

 

Beautiful choice of batiks for the top. 

 

 

 

 

I'm doing a countdown of quilts for customers - this leaves ten to go before I 'retire' from customer quilting.


My guild, Prairie Quilt Guild in Wichita had a wonderful program yesterday.  I'm the program chair this year but traditionally the January program is planned by the workshop chair and has always been mini workshops.  Tammy, the workshops chair and I both thought the mini workshop idea had gotten old and stale.  It's awkward to present to our large guild of around 700 members and hard to find presenters from within the guild year after year.  Tammy had the great idea of asking guild members to bring their own vintage and antique quilts that had a story - quilts that had been handed down in their family or made by friends and relatives. 


It turned out to be a wonderful program with beautiful quilts and heartwarming stories.  I hope our guild repeats the program in the future.  Here are a few of the quilts that especially appealed to me.

 I twisted Cathy's arm so she would bring this quilt which I had seen in her home.  This is a family heirloom from around 1850 and is in beautiful condition.  She also brought several embroidered samplers from around 1840 made by the same family member.  She is so lucky to have these treasures and I know she appreciates them.

There were many quilts from the 30's and I especially liked this one that Debbie brought, made by a family
friend.

Donna brought this one and the pattern looks like a lot of quilts being made today, but it is an old quilt.



I got a new roof right before Christmas.  The weather co-operated and it was finished before more typical
winter weather set in. 

 

 

They found three layers of shingles that had to be removed.

What a relief to have a new, un-leaky roof!