Red Sky at Night

Red sky at night - Sailors delight,

Red sky in morning - Sailors take warning!

 I finally finished it, and it's in the mail! 

I saw this panel in a quilt shop in Ketchikan, and I thought of our friends whose son attends the Coast Guard Academy, so I bought it for them. Then I got the idea that I could make it into a quilted wall hanging before I gave it to them. 

This project turned out to be a lot more complicated than I was expecting, because I had no directions for it. Ultimately, I decided to include three "Storm at Sea" blocks. Then I saw a quilt on Pinterest that had the "Starry Night" blocks, and I loved how they fit in with the theme of the quilt.

Just about every step presented a challenge. The panel was an odd size, so I had to figure out what size to make the blocks and the sashing pieces. Fortunately, I have a set of templates by Marti Michell called "Long Skinny Sashing Stars." I also used Marti's "Set A, The 3" Square Basic Set." My troubles and travails are detailed in my May 15, 2019 post, So Much to Wilt About. Let's just say I learned many important lessons before I was able to get all the moving parts synchronized.

I had to put in a dark red border around the panel. It was narrower on the top and bottom than on the sides, but that's the only way I could get the panel to fit.

My quilt buddy, Susan, came with me to The Quilt Tree to help me pick out the fabric, after I had the basic plan sketched out. The nice lady at The Quilt Tree helped me figure out how much of each fabric I needed. I think we did a good job! I still like the fabric a lot, despite all my frustrations with this unruly project.

This photo of the back gives a you a better idea of what the black batik on the outermost border on the front really looks like.

On the photo of the back you can also see the dark red binding (hand sewn), the hanging sleeve (made out of the blue-violet batik I used on the front), and the label.

 

If you squint, you can see some of the machine-quilting I did. I used a variegated blue thread. In retrospect, that turned out to be a poor choice. I went through so many quilting scenarios in my head. Most of them turned out to be too difficult for someone like me, so I ended up with something fairly simple.  I eventually realized that I did not need to be overly concerned with stabilizing the batting, since this will be a wall hanging. After much debating with myself, I determined that it would be best to leave the panel unquilted. It has a rubbery coating that would be very difficult to work with, and I couldn't settle on a good quilting plan for the panel (Outline the pictures? Geometric pattern?).

I ended up stitching-in-the-ditch around the blocks and the sashing. Then I did a free-hand serrated line of stitching in the outer black border to echo the serrated edge of the stamp in the panel. I wish it were visible in the photos.

Even the label was tricky. I had to think very carefully about the cleaning instructions. I was going to say "Dry Clean Only,"but the rubbery coating on the panel gave me pause. I think some of the ink/paint started to come off when I ironed it. I also had reason to think the yellow fabric might run. And I really didn't want the batting to shrink on this piece.

Lesson Learned: Don't do this again.

 

Slice and Dice, Part 2

My first "art quilt" is finished. I really think of it as a practice piece more than anything. I learned several new techniques doing this project, and it was fun. The most amazing thing I learned was that it is possible to make a quilt without following any of the rules!

Ta da!

After I finished quilting the piece, I spent some time thinking about how to finish it. I thought that if I used a print for the binding it would look too busy. If I used a solid color, it would take away from the dramatic effect of the purple horizontal lines. My friend, Nan, had mentioned facing to me as another method of finishing. I decided to try it.

I spent a few days thinking about what fabric to use for the facing. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough of the backing fabric left for the facing. I wanted to find something that would co-ordinate nicely with the backing fabric - probably a solid. I wasn't convinced that it would look good to have a wide solid border around the back, but I told myself it would be on the back, not the front, so it would be okay.

As I was about to run over to the fabric store, I was struck by an inspiration. What if I used pieces of The Secret Garden for the facing? I had used it for the front, so why shouldn't I use it on the back? I didn't have to go to the fabric store after all!

I made the facing, and sewed it down by hand with a blind hem. It resulted in a rather thick edge, but it actually gives the piece a little more stability, so it is not a problem for this type of project.

I wanted to try out the monogramming function on my new machine, so I decided to add some monogramming to the facing instead of making a label. I thought maybe I would do it after the facing was sewn onto the edge. I don't know why. I think I was worried about placement if I did it before adding the facing to the piece. That was probably not the best way to approach it.

The back, with facing

I stitched a sample of the title, and it looked okay, so I stitched it on the facing. (Well, to be honest, it looked "okayish." My machine is not one of those embroidery machines. It can do monogramming, but it is not terrific.) As I was adding the monogram to the facing, it looked like the fabric was not feeding through the machine in a straight line, so I pulled on it a little to keep the letters in a straight line. Hah! That was a bad idea. The letters got scrunched up and turned out too close together. I had to do it over three times. It was a real pain to rip out the monogramming, but I didn't want to have to rip out the seam holding the facing on. It didn't come out as straight as I would have liked, and the fabric had some holes in it where I had ripped out the monogramming, but it's only the back, right?

Then I added my name and date to the other side.
After finishing the facing I started thinking about whether I should make a hanging sleeve, and how. Alas, my research revealed that it is better to think about this before you sew on the facing. Oh, well. Live and learn. 

Now that I know what I am doing (sort of), I will think more carefully about what fabrics I will use before starting a future piece.

Lessons learned:

• When you select a backing, make sure you have enough for a facing or binding, or else have a clear idea of what you will use.
• Plan your hanging sleeve BEFORE you do the facing or binding.
• Practice the monogramming, and don't try to pull it straight if it seems to be going crooked.
• Think outside the box!