Thursday, May 7, 2009

The House on Edgewood Lane

Dear Quilting Friends,

I spent four days last week machine quilting my first and new design. The pattern which I named "The House on Edgewood Lane" will soon to be in a quilt shop near you!! Can you guess what quilt shop will have it in stock first?



Just when you think the design is finished, you end up making changes along the way that you think will enhance the "look" of the quilt. I have more notes of changes than actual notes! I used Beach House fabric by Blackbird Designs for most of this quilt. Then I threw in a little Rhubarb and Ginger and Sweet Romance....two old favorites of mine from my plentiful fabric stash. Just when I thought I was seeing daylight at the end of the tunnel, I had to machine quilt it!

In my opinion, machine quilting is extremely creative yet exhausting at the same time. It took me one whole morning to mark the crosshatching in the border and then mark the areas for the circular feathers.



Then another hour to load the backing and quilt top on my Handi Quilter (HQ16). Finally, let the quilting begin!!! It's the same as saying, "Gentlemen, start your engines!" I don't know if I'm just slow or just a perfectionist. It's not that I agonize over every stitch and thread color choice....well I guess I do. There are some problem areas, that I'm not going to stress over because in the grand scheme of the overall quilt, I'm the only one that will notice....I hope.




I've had a great time designing, piecing, machine quilting and doing the applique on this quilt. It's been a real learning experience and makes me appreciate all of the talented designers in the quilting world. Now I have to transcribe all of my notes that I made while creating Edgewood Lane and get them into an easy to follow quilting pattern. I'll work on the binding today until my arm tells me to stop and hopefully the quilt will be in the shop Monday morning for all to view. I have more ideas on my design wall and pages of drawings of new creations....."Let the designing begin...after I finish the borders of Blossom of Friendship!"


As always,

Lynn

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