Friday 27 April 2012

I Love It When I am Wrong

Okay, that might not be a good title. Because I hate it when I am wrong with my kids. And I hate it when it happens in other situations too. But I love it when I state here on this blog that I might not be too happy with a backing I have pieced for a quilt and then realise once it is quilted that I was wrong, wrong, wrong. Or, as Emily would say - I don't like it. I love it!

First I had to baste. Oh yay! Obviously I like basting so much that I thought I would do it twice. I spent ages smoothing the backing, carefully placing the wadding on top and then putting the quilt top onto those layers. And then I pinned for England. Once I was done I flipped it over and inspected the back. It looked like it had been basted by a three year old!

Thankfully attempt number two went better than the first one.


I chose to quilt in a big stipple so that the quilt would be nice and snuggly, and to match it up with it's partner in crime on the sofa when it is finished. (The Across the Seas is quilted in a big stipple too.) The bonus to this is that it doesn't take as long as just about any other type of quilting. And I even remembered to change my bobbin when I was by an edge instead of running out of thread when I was smack dab in the middle of the quilt. This was a huge break through in thinking for me!

Obviously all the positive thoughts that were missing on Wednesday are back in force today!

I tried to photograph it on the trampoline because
I love the black background when I do this.
Unfortunately I am not tall enough to get far enough away
to get the whole quilt in the photo doing this.

So instead I resorted to the handy dandy 'rustic' fence.

Did you notice something else? There is a touch of blue sky in that there photo! Quick, look before it is gone again. Ooops! Too late. It's raining again - never mind.

I haven't linked up with Shay for Favourite Things Friday for absolutely ages. But today I can honestly say I have a whole load of favourite things. Pieced quilt backings that make me happy. Blue skies, no matter how briefly they stuck around. Sewing without running out of thread. And colour. I love all the colour in this quilt.

Now if I haven't put you completely off with all this happy stuff, have a brilliant weekend. I'll be doing some binding when I can fit it in between entertaining the in-laws, doing all the usual crap and life in general.

Susan

34 comments:

  1. Love the back...but you didn't show us the front!! Congratulations on a successful quilting session, especially not letting the bobbin beat you!!

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  2. I dont like it either, I love it! Honestly I dont think you even need to show us the front, the back is the front to me. Puts all my used charity shop sheet backings to shame!

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  3. Yay, it looks fab, glad you came round to our way of thinking in the end ;o)

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  4. Blue sky!!!!!!! We've not seen much of that lately either.
    Love the back :-) but not as much as the front ;-D can't wait for the big finish x

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  5. The back is lots of lovely little stained windows - and it`s gorgeous, but I`m with Susan, show us the front!!

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  6. You're absolutely right about the backing - it's brilliant!!

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  7. Eeep! Looks great S! I can't believe you have sun. We've had sodding rain all sodding week. I nipped out between showers at 8am this morning to take a picture of my Bee quilt, and promptly dropped it in a muddle puddle. Its definitely a 2 person job. Not a one person + 2 pegs kinda job.

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  8. It looks wonderful! I would love to see a picture of the front too, I am going to poke around on flickr and see if one is there.

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  9. Gorgeous!!! I have trouble machine quilting big loops or meanderings...of course; I have trouble machine quilting at all...lol
    Seriously; I tend to rush the fabric around too much and end up with little loops or whatever. Beautiful job on this.

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  10. Looking fab! In fact the back looks good enough to be a whole quilt top itself so you have made yourself a reversible lovely there!

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  11. I'm loving the back--it's prettier than some of my fronts. LOL! Thanks for "happy stuff" -- we all need more of that.

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  12. see, we told you it was a great backing and now look, it is a great quilt.

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  13. Love it love it love it :-)

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  14. You have so shattered my illusion that you could never be wrong S - but you were! It's fab!

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  15. wow, this looks fantastic: well done and I'm so glad you proved yourself wrong! When can we see the front?

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  16. Oh I love it Suz! Perfect back and perfect quilting! Have a brill w/e. Jxo

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  17. Oh I love it Suz! Perfect back and perfect quilting! Have a brill w/e. Jxo

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  18. I adore this post! I laughed and nodded all the way through :) The back looks amazing and the quilting is fab! And while the weather isn't cheery, I'm glad you and the beautiful quilt are x

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  19. Oh it's gorgeous Susan! I love everything about it. And I NEVER remember to change the bobbin at the edge either

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  20. It's perfect. I don't know why you ever doubt yourself.

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  21. I adore it!!!
    P.S. We haven't had any rain today!!!

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  22. I'm glad I'm not the only one that has trouble basting a quilt!

    You've had the only bit of blue sky in the whole country for the last 2 weeks!!!!

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  23. OH, Susan! It's totally gorgeous, front and back. Wow.

    The sun has been playing the same teasing game here... ;o)

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  24. It's so beautiful. BEAUTIFUL! The back is just perfect too. What a lovely creation.

    Um, would you not get to jumping next to it on the trampoline 'til you're far enough away for a good photo. The neighbors will thing you've lost it...again...

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  25. There’s usually a bit of swearing here when I pull up a back and it looks like it’s been sitting scrunched up in the ironing pile for a week. I want to know how that happens when everything is laying nice and flat?

    Kudos to you for getting on with the job and re-basting. Mine would have ended up in the naughty corner!
    I love the pops of colour through the back of this quilt. I really must make a pretty back for a quilt at some point instead of my utilitarian” Im-so-sick-of –this-quilt-I-just-wanna-get-it –finished” type backs.

    You were on a roll. No bobbin disasters, blue skies and a quilting finish!

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  26. Told you so! love it, it's just perfect. You can send a teeny bit of your blue sky this way please.

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  27. A double A sided quilt ! Are you coming round to my way of thinking at last! Haha!

    Fabulous quilt - both sides!

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  28. The back is just beautiful!

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  29. Gorgeous stains!! Did you try bouncing on that trampoline to get high enough ;-)

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  30. Great favourites and yes we could do with a little blue sky here too. Your quilting looks great. It is great when something you feared would be awful turns out to exceed your expectations. Well done.

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