Monday, October 24, 2016

99% finished


Transformation is finished except for a trip through the washer and dryer. This is my disappearing four patch design made entirely with dragonfly fabrics. When I finished piecing the colored fabrics, the quilt was a little too small. I added more white all around, but unevenly so the D4Ps would "float" in the white.


This is my favorite block, with purple and black backgrounds for the dragonflies. 


I quilted it by doing stitch in the ditch along all the white/color junctions, which left the larger four patches of all white or all colors as a single, unquilted piece. That made a grid that sort of looked like a plaid background. Then I did a four-lobed design in each of the larger white squares.


I also quilted the lobed design into the white negative space borders, but only where solid white squares would have been had the colors continued. I think of these as "ghost blocks."


The backing fabric is this tone on tone green with tiny, subtle dragonflies and some pretty metallic accents. The blue, purple and green binding also has a bit of metallic sparkle.


I had some bad luck with this quilt. Can you see the dark spots in this photo? Those are sewing machine oil mixed with some sort of black crud. My walking foot was squeaking, so I oiled everything in the middle of quilting this. Unfortunately, it looks like I didn't get it all wiped up and it must have dripped along one quilting pass. I noticed the spots several days later. So far, they haven't responded very well to spot cleaning with Dawn dishwashing soap which is supposed to cut any kind of grease. I'll treat the spots with a heavy duty prewash stick before machine washing it. We're in water conservation mode right now on the boat, so it may be a week or so before I run the washing machine. I'll take more photos after that to show that the spots have (hopefully!) washed out, and to show the post-dryer crinkle. The lighting is lousy in these photos, so I'll try to shoot some glamour poses later.


Dragonflies are a symbol of transformation. This quilt is a gift for a friend who is certainly going through some big transformations in her life. She was diagnosed with the beginnings of dementia this year, and retired from her career.  I hope this quilt gives her comfort and a quilty hug from me. I know she will forgive the oil spots if they don't completely wash out, but cross your fingers that they will fly away!


13 comments:

  1. It looks great already, I can't wait to see it after a wash and dry! You did a really good job with the color wash on the four patches.

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  2. Great quilt. Love how the color blocks float into the white space. I have successfully used Orange Goop Hand Cleaner to remove stubborn stains such as grease and blood. It might work.

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  3. Love, love this quilt! You're inspiring me to get back to quilting with all those fabrics I have stashed.

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  4. It turned out so beautiful! Sorry to hear it got attacked by some nasty oil, best of luck on getting that out. I looked back a few posts and want to wish you a really late Happy Birthday!!

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  5. She is going to l-o-v-e, love, LOVE it! Well done! (I never thought to oil my squeaky walking foot, hmmmm!). XO

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  6. What a beautiful quilt and gift for your friend. I hope that the spots are able to fade during the wash.

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  7. Good luck to your friend. I am sure your present will reassure her of your friendship and give her comfort.

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  8. This is gorgeous and I sure hope the spots will come out in the next washing. I know your friend will treasure the quilt.

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  9. Louise, love what you did here! You turned what looks pretty traditional into a modern quilt!

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  10. What a great layout and love the asymmetrical borders! Good luck getting the oil out.

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  11. I love the way you added the white background, it works so well. Janice is right, it's a lovely modern quilt, lovely fabrics. One of my quilting friends has dementia too, I'm sure your friend will love it. No suggestions for removing the spots, but I have everything crossed for you.

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  12. So pretty, Louise! Thanks for sending the link. I particularly like the way you set it off center in the white background - it really makes it special!

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