Wednesday, October 7, 2020

Unity--Border Six, Seven and Eight Completed--Post 14

Border Six completed
Wow--I've written a lot of posts regarding this project since I began it last March! The Riverside fire which burned less than a mile from us and which had officials placing us on a level two (be ready to go) evacuation level, interrupted progress on this project. 

The reason I took a break was because while packing the "important stuff," I included this project! While I was waiting to hear that firefighters had the blaze under control, I worked on other projects which I posted about here and here. I am thankful for my quilting hobby to keep my mind and fingers occupied during COVID social distancing.

Border Seven completed

After we were cleared from the evacuation list, after we had unloaded, and after we had put away our important stuff, I selected this project. I had quilted about a quarter of the sixth border. It took me a few days to get back into the rhythm of working on it again. I berated myself for taking so long to finish. I lamented about the imperfections. I struggled with ideas on how to quilt the next border. In short, I wasn't getting back into this project!

It took stitching at an online retreat to change my attitude. I don't know whether it was hearing people laugh or the anticipation of an activity or seeing friends I haven't seen since last February; but, after the first day of retreat, I started enjoying working on this project.

I estimate it took me about a work week to complete border six which is composed of two inch neutral squares. Quilting pebbles takes a lot of time. I sure like the texture that quilting pebbles creates. I tackled border number seven. This flying geese border is at the top and bottom of the quilt. I knew early on that I was quilting half circles in the triangles with the squiggles or as some readers have suggested sun rays. 

Borders 5, 6, 7 and 8
These half circles are in a lot of sections of this project. I like repeating designs because repetition gives cohesiveness to the project. Quilting the quarter inch lines on either side of the triangles added more repetition. There are also a lot of quarter inch lines in the project! I had thought that I would quilt a vine meander in that space; but, I decided to save the meander for the backgrounds of the last full border.

Knowing that the inch wide border number eight would be next, I decided to quilt it after I had finished half of the geese border. Truly, I'm wearying of quilting circles! I thought that having the other half of border seven to quilt next was better than quilting another 38 circles and pebbles. 

I'm glad that I decided to quilt half of those borders because having that break from pebbles was great! What remains to quilt is one full border and one half border. I've a plan for the half border. I have a plan for the full border too. I envision writing a couple more posts regarding this project. I am excited that I'm nearing the finish!

I'll be linking up with longarm learning.


2 comments:

Rebecca Grace said...

Terry, I am seriously tempted to steal all of your quilting ideas for my next baby quilt. I love the circles, the half circles, the straight lines and pebbles. It looks amazing! Since the baby is already born, I really SHOULD finish his quilt with a pantograph so I can get it bound and shipped off to them, but your ruler work designs look like so much fun!!

I cannot even imagine what I'd pack up if I knew I might have to evacuate for a fire. I have so many quilts in progress all over the house, things I've invested years of stitching in already that no insurance money could replace with new fabric, blocks I remember stitching at my dad's house or in the waiting rooms of doctors' offices before he passed away. The important photographs are mostly "in the cloud," but after my family and my dogs, I'd want to save the unfinished quilts even more than the ones that are finished! So glad you and your home remained safe, that you were able to get the boost you needed from your retreat, and that you're quilting up a storm again. Thanks for linking up with Long Arm Learning!

TerryKnott.blogspot.com said...

Rebecca, You can always stitch pebbles and circles in your next project. I'm glad that you like my quilting ideas. Figuring out what to go where and seeing if it works or not is always the fun part of the process for me! As for the unfinished projects, I plan to be more diligent of getting them to the finished stage.