Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Being a Finisher

I know I'm not the only one who struggles to finish projects. With quilts I often get hung up on the borders, so the quilt goes into the Closet of Doom until I can figure out what to do. The other stopping place is the actual quilting. I do most of my own quilting. On small pieces I can get fancy and free-motion quilt, but on larger pieces I'm satisfied to do simple straight quilting.

Mary Mashuda's recent book Foolproof Machine Quilting offers very useful tips on quilting your own quilts on your regular machine by using your walking foot and some simple freezer paper stencils. I love all of Mary's work, and I plan to use some of her tips on the stack of pin basted quilts I have ready for quilting.

But in the meantime, I did finish "Caprice," a quilt I blogged about here and here.



Here are some close-ups of some of the vintage and contemporary fabrics I used.


Among my favorite fabrics is the aqua calico I used in the borders.


I added a piece of gingham to this lovely bright seersucker for the back.

And I also finished my locker hooking rug.

9 comments:

Judy S. said...

Like that rug, Barbara! I too have trouble finishing my quilts...one in my Closet of Doom only lacks a binding. Sigh. Maybe I need to check out that book of yours?

Vicki W said...

Borders are my big hangup too. Caprice turned out great!

Libby said...

Me too on the borders - either I get stuck on them in the first place or I do them and later decide to change them and either way I can't move on.

The quilt looks lovely - sweet w/o being too much.

Debra Dixon said...

It seems everyone has a particular spot where they get hung up. Maybe we should all band together and pass the quilts around when we get to our "dreaded" hangup spot.

Another wonderful quilt from your creative hands!

allie aller said...

I just love this quilt! Very glad it is about done. That book for home machine quilting tips sounds like a good one, too...that is where I get hung up!
I saw an amazing dollhouse at the Nebraska History Museum yesterday and took some pics for you... xo

quiltmom anna said...

Barbara,
What a pretty quilt- so fresh and soft looking- It is always fun to get finished a project.
I am on project number 3- I have made around 50 additional blocks for the king size quilt - it is a big quilt VBG.
Hope all is well and you are enjoying the last days of summer vacation.
Warmest regards,
Anna

Finn said...

Hi Barb, I often have the same problem. Sometimes it's fabric for the blocks I run out of, or really tire of the pattern. But mostly it's what to do next for borders. Often I just DON'T, LOL, and finish without borders. All you work in progress is looking wonderful! How are you coming on the doll house? Can't seem to keep that one out of my mind...hehehe! Hugs, Finn

Magpie Sue said...

Nice job with the rug! I like this quilt too, it's very happy looking. I think I may have seen that particular seersucker at some point in my life!

Deb said...

I just found your blog Barbara, while searching about locker hooking on the web. Your blog is great. I've done quite a number of various creative hobbies but just started locker hooking (last night in fact). It will take me a few tries to get it going smoothly. Is canvas the only backing you can use, or maybe washing it first to make it softer? /Deb

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