Finally Completed DS Quilt Top

I think both the quilt and the pictures turned out very nice.

Brian Christiansen

Your quilt sings. Well, maybe what it does is 'meow' but it makes me happy just to look at it. Congratulations on a wonderful creation. Polly

That is just lovely - I take it DS likes cats ;-)

Lizzy

LOVE IT......

Thanks for the kind words :-). Bev in TX

Thanks for the kind words. I think its great that it makes you happy :-), because that's exactly what I hope it does for my DS.

Bev in TX

Thanks! Yes, she does :-). From what they tell me, the cat she has now really does have an "attitude" -- she is the only one that can get near it.

Bev in TX

snipped-for-privacy@w12g2000vbj.googlegroups.com...

Thanks :-), Bev in TX

Great job on the quilt and the pics!

you've done a beautiful quilt and it will be much loved. dont forget the label too. its good to have all that info for your DS and for future generations. j.

"Bev in TX" wrote ... I finally completed my DS quilt top. I'm working on a label for it & then I'll pop it in the mail to my DSIL, who is going to quilt it on her longarm machine in AZ. Rather than sewing the backing together here, she is going to buy the fabric & sew it there so that I can save on shipping costs of essentially 9-yds of fabric. She is also going to bind it by machine (I am sending her the prepped binding) & deliver it to my DS in CA. She is so kind!!! I did not even have to ask her to do the quilting. She offered to do it when she heard that I would have to send it out to be quilted on longarm machine.

I tried to take some pictures, but they did not turn out very well. Still, you can get an idea of what it looks like at:

I designed the quilt in EQ6. There are a lot of "firsts" for me in this quilt:

• This was the largest quilt that I've ever made (the top is currently

90" square). It was a bit difficult to deal with in my small quilting area & small ironing board.

• It is on-point. Okay, I did a little trial first on a table runner, but I'm not counting that as it's not a bed quilt :-).

• The center is the largest applique that I've ever done.

• While I have machine embroidered a block here & there for group quilts, this is the first time I did any for a quilt that I made.

• It took the longest to complete. My original conception of it was back in Jan 2008 and I just completed the top yesterday. Work & ill health took its toll, but it is finally done (okay, at least my part :-) ). The center applique took the most time; the machine embroideries came in 2nd on the time it took to do them.

I've had some help from this group on the center applique when I ran into some problems. Now you can see the results. Thanks again for everyone's suggestions :-).

I hope that I can get my DSIL to take some photos after it is quilted & bound.

Bev in TX

] Thanks for the kind words :-). Bev in TX

Thanks for both the kind words and the label reminder :-). I've been trying out some things for the label.

First I tried some labels using the alphabets on my sewing machines. There are only caps on my Bernina Activa, and the some of the lower case characters on my Janome 10001 look rather strange (i looks more like a funky h and g is all scrunched up with no lower part -- etc). My DH found my trial stitch outs a bit hard to read (both all caps & caps with lower case). That concerned me because my DS has some vision issues.

In the past, I've used "Printed Treasures" inkjet fabric sheets for my labels; however, I've found them a bit stiff and difficult to sew by hand. A while back I had purchased some Bubble Jet Set and Rinse, that I had chickend out of using. Yesterday I tried it out by printing the label on some light colored batik fabric. My first two attempts used regular freezer paper for the backing, which is needed for feeding the fabric through the printer. That worked poorly, because the printer forced the fabric to "bubble" and some words did not print correctly. I happened to have some precut C. Jenkin's freezer paper and that worked perfectly :-). Today I'm going to wash one of the "bad" labels in my washing machine to verify whether there will be a fading problem or not. If it does have a problem, then I'll switch back to "Printed Treasures" (which I'll have to purchase).

I guess that I could also try printing the label on my DH's printer, which has more permanent ink than on my HP one.

Bev in TX

...portion snipped ...

There is another possibiity -- I could try a machine embroidered label :-). Bev in TX

Bev, the Printed Treasures sheets are a little tedious to stitch by hand. How you bypass that is to put a sashing on your label and then you'll only have to hand stitch the sashing. I hope you have some of that gorgeous turquoise left for the label's frame. That fabric is one I'd like to have a bolt of. Or two. Polly

"Bev in TX"

In the past, I've used "Printed Treasures" inkjet fabric sheets for my labels; however, I've found them a bit stiff and difficult to sew by hand.

Thanks so... much for the excellent idea!!! I'm not sure as to whether I have enough of the turquoise. I also used it for the binding -- but I might. I tried to find some more of it, but it was all sold out (no wonder). If my Bubble Jet Set labels don't turn out, then that's what I'll do :-).

Bev in TX

I machine embroider all my labels.

That is one very cool quilt, Bev! I love the cat theme. The kitty in the center looks so smug. :-) Your on-point blocks are perfect and very striking, as is the applique. You should be feeling quite pleased with yourself!

Michelle in Nevada

Hi Bev,

Your quilt is lovely. Very happy and bright. Well done.

As for the label, have you thought of also designing it in EQ6? I did this for the last couple of quilts I made. Just make a new mini quilt and then print out the quilt. As you already have the fabrics in the sketchbook, you can actually put them on there and print it out. You'll still have to sort out what printable fabric you like, but at least this way you'll have a label that really matches the quilt. I used a printable fabric I got from a local Australian company, so I can't really help you with that part. I didn't have any problems hand sewing them on though, so the right fabric is out there somewhere.

You can see pictures of my two labels here, if you're interested.

The photos are a bit blurry as it was hard to get them clear in close up, but you get the idea.

Hope that helps.

Scathingly brilliant, Leigh. What a wonderful idea. Thank you, Polly