You will not believe this. I woke up this morning having glued stars on all but one constellation in the border and looking forward to completing the four larger constellations, representing the zodiac signs of the family this quilt is going to. For no good reason, I rechecked their birthdates. Dec. 4, Sagittarius. May 1, Taurus. January 23, Aquarius. September 21, Virgo. WHAT? September 21??? How is it that I have
Libra in that square? Frantically recheck lists of dates. Nope, September 21 is never Libra, always Virgo. Good Grief, now what? I had redrawn Libra because it was the only illustration I didn't feel worked in the larger squares and
now--it doesn't even belong there! No sense crying. I thought about ripping out all the quilting stitches, but after 20 minutes spent ripping out Virgo's foot I realized that wasn't going to fly. So I cut out new blue squares, hand appliqued them over the finished blocks, then quilted Libra in the small block and Virgo in the large block where she belongs. 5:00 and I am caught up to where I was this morning. Well, it would have been the END if I had gifted it with such a major mix-up. "That's nice, but my daughter is a Virgo." You can see the mixed up squares if you click on the detail photo. I'll post a new photo once the blocks dry--had to spray water on the fabric because I don't think the quilt should go thru the washer with all the rhinestones glued on, but the new blocks look flat since they haven't been washed. Fingers crossed!
Quilt gallery and quilts for sale at: http://community.webshots.com/user/roconnorquilts
What a lovely day we had at Old Fort Johnson near Amsterdam, NY on Saturday! We started the day with quilt historian Kris Driessen, who brought many antique quilts to illustrate her discussion of dating and appraising quilts. She was very informative, talking about various fabrics a historian looks for to help date a quilt, such as double pink, or turkey red, and sharing some little known facts that we New England quilters take for granted. For example, quilts designed for four poster beds are an east coast phenomenon--western families did not have four poster beds, so that unique shape is unknown to them. Likewise, shirting fabrics were commonly brought home as cut-aways from shirt factories and mills found mostly in New England. The best part? Kris allowed us to pass her quilts and tops around to handle and examine the fabrics, note the stitching, admire the rich colors. After a grand picnic on the lawn (it was a gorgeous day and one of the women brought a to-die-for chocolate cake) we reassembled for my trunk show. I brought a baker's dozen art quilts--including the unfinished Honu. Like Kris, I enjoy letting others handle my quilts and discuss details of technique and style choices. We worked our way from Back Bay Winter, completed in 2006, to the present. I brought some of my Quiltini Pins--you can see my post on them here. Once I got started making them I found it hard to stop--I get more ideas as I work. I think I've made nearly 100 so far. They were a hit at the gift store!
