BOMs Away Monday - 11 Mar - Dear Jane

Welcome to the Link-Up for BOMs Away Mondays!

We'd love to see the BOM you're working on lately.
This week's link-up is at the bottom of this post.

So - - - Not only did I survive my first professional history conference presentation; it actually went quite well. I really enjoyed meeting many of my colleagues in person and gained a much better direction for my thesis research. Don't have pictures just yet. 

Despite having to drive home from Omaha through a blizzard yesterday, I managed to get 4 Baby Janes finished for this week's BOM work. The other 6 from this set have varying degrees of hand stitching to be done. 

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 What have you guys done on BOMs or interval projects lately? Weeklies are welcome along with regular projects that you’ve broken into monthly units, and –of course- true BOMs.   Share your eye candy and show off your progress since the last time you linked up! There are some wonderful monthly and weekly projects going on out there.  

BOMs Away Monday - 4 Mar - Kelly's Stars Round 2

Welcome to the Link-Up for BOMs Away Mondays!

We'd love to see the BOM you're working on lately.
This week's link-up is at the bottom of this post.

HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY to my oldest daughter!! 

I can't believe I have a 21yo. Inconceivable.

She's so bright and vibrant, she brings a lot of joy to my life. I really wish her college wasn't so very far away from home, but I'm thrilled that it became a possibility for her to go to the school of her dreams.

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Boy! The BOM project I do on the first week of the month is just getting stuck in molasses every time. I pulled out Kelly's dual set to finish the second part of the Month 1 work (last month I did the 10 small stars and left the 8 double stars for this month).  

Well, after many hours of work, I got the first 4 of the double-ray stars finished. I was just finishing the patches for the outer ring of the last 4 stars (the red bursts are all constructed) when my piecing machine had some kind of motor issue that renders it unwise to do anymore on it until it's seen a doctor. So I'll finish the last ring of those four next month.

The other issue I had with these was that there wasn't enough of the yellow fabric to keep that part uniform on every star. Kelly had 2 large civil-war charm packs in the fabric box, and after re-scrutinizing all the fabrics, I deduced that she had included those apparently superfluous packs for times like this. So I subbed in 3 charms. One of the finishes from today shows how I did that.

I actually really like the effect.  :)

(And this is the orientation they'll sit in for the quilt top)

~*~*~*~*~ 

 What have you guys done on BOMs or interval projects lately? Weeklies are welcome along with regular projects that you’ve broken into monthly units, and –of course- true BOMs.   Share your eye candy and show off your progress since the last time you linked up! There are some wonderful monthly and weekly projects going on out there.  

Finish!! Hawaiian Etude

It is so nice to have this finish report! 

"Hawaiian Etude"
17x17 inches, 100% cotton fabrics and batting

"Hawaiian Etude" has been on my plate for a long time. A couple of years ago, a high school classmate found me on Facebook and we developed a mutual admiration for each other's handiworks. She is an amazing knitter and now an amazing photographer as well. One day I got this fun package in the mail. While on vacation with her family in Hawaii, she'd seen the beautiful and unique quilts they make. Knowing I'm a passionate quilter and love history, she had a book sent to me to share the experience. It's fun, showing both historic quilts of Queen Lili`uokalani's imprisonment period (she made some incredible quilts) as well as the typical style that is still made today.  

That style is very identifiable - it's typically done in two fabrics, often quite bright, and batiks are favorites. It's very geometric, almost like cutting out a gigantic 8-based snowflake, and features elements that relate to Hawaii and hospitality, such as Bread Fruit, Birds of Paradise, dolphins, palms, waves, turtles. . . You get the picture. They are hand appliqued and hand quilted in a distinctive echoing tradition. 

Well, after Kathy sent me the book, I really got the bug to try my hand at this genre of quilting. First I had to gain some hand-applique skills. That took a good while since I'm working on a masters in history and only get time for stitching most evenings for a half-hour or so. 

When I felt ready to tackle my Hawaiian foray, I found a mini pattern online, some batik fabric that made me think of Hawaii, and went to work. I used the back-basting needle-turn method rather than the typical cut-the-whole-thing-out-first method, and was very happy that I did it that way. 

The quilting took me F O R E V E R. I'd never done hand quilting before, so I was (and still am) quite slow at it. Plus, every time I had a binding to stitch down, or label or sleeve to attach, those got priority for my stitching time. After I finished the interior, I was browsing Hawaiian artists again and  realized I could have done something different in the flowers if I'd wanted. But I did really enjoy working this piece. I almost couldn't mail it off to Kathy, because I really love how you can see my skill progression in it. Nothing was marked. I just did the traditional Hawaiian echoing, spacing mine roughly the width of a wooden pencil. That seemed proportionate for this mini's size. On the larger quilts, the echoing is typically 1/2" to 3/4" apart.

I started the quilting in the outer border of the print where my beginner stitch size wouldn't be so noticeable (on the front, anyway). Then I quilted the applique, leaving the creamy background for the last. My stitches went from a 5-count to a 9-count per inch. I just adore how you can see that so clearly on the back. If Kathy weren't a knitter who could appreciate that fun tell so much, I couldn't have let it go. But I like knowing she could look closely with the same eye for detail and smile at the progression.

One more thing about this to share - I did not use a hoop or anything to support it while I quilted. I pin-basted it quite densely, and just held it however was most comfortable as I worked. I'd seen a couple ladies in my Florida guild quilting Hawaiian and Somoaon sofa-quilts with no hoops, so I figured I'd follow their leads. When I got finished and triumphantly laid it out, I panicked!!!  It was the waviest, bubbliest thing I'd ever seen, with very pronounced crease marks showing how I'd kept it folded in quarters each time I'd put it away.  I was so distraught, I forgot to snap a shot. It was about twice as bobble-ly as this one:

But you know what? A very easy blocking job solved every problem! I just put out a couple styrofoam sheets, spritzed each side fairly well, and then patted it down flat. (The batting is 100% cotton.) I didn't pin it, because when I checked the squareness it was already there. I flipped it over once to let both sides dry well perfectly flat.  Problem solved, quilt lying beautifully!

I attached the binding completely by hand. Never done that before! After all that hard hand work, from the applique to the intense echo quilting, I couldn't let a machine touch it. I'm glad I did it this way. 

A hanging sleeve and a label attached, and all is Happy!  The Hawaiian quote is one that conveys a traditional Hawaiian idea of giving freely without expecting returns. 

I love this piece. It was particularly difficult to part with, but I am happy knowing its owner can fully appreciate it and that it can bring fun memories back to her of their family's time together in Hawaii. Some day I'll make a Hawaiian quilt for myself.  :D

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Linking up at

Applique Thursday

TGIFF

Can I get a Whoop! Whoop!

A Week of Finishes

First-Friday Finishes

Link-a-Finish Friday