One item on UFO list now completed. At least the top is. I have the backing and the batting, lovely wool batting. After using wool batting I find it hard to go back to a cotton in part due to the weight of the project when completed.
This quilt is going to take some thinking before quilting it. It is a complex quilt with strong colours. It is tempting to continue the Celtic theme using Celtic circles on the squares making the large block border but this stitching would get lost. The center is planned but I think this quilt top will have to be like a stew that needs some s l o w cooking to become reality. It has been a fun project and as with each and every project I have learned something that carries forward to my next project and makes me a better quilter.
As a reward to self on completing this I have started to work on a Christmas panel. It seems like cheating somehow but in fact it is a challenge. I have started some trapunto where it seems appropriate and I am going to try using several different threads to bring the panel to a 3 dimensional life. Printing a picture with all the detail a fine artist can put into it cannot be totally replicated in a hanging with quilting. Imagine tracing the needles of pine. So you have to select parts of the picture that can be emphasized and parts which will have to stand on their own. It is on my design wall and I keep looking at it in passing and assessing what I have decided to do and reassessing.
Some pics will follow. Somewhere in my travels I have found a cold which seems to think I am the perfect host and I cough so hard picture taking tends to be shaky. But perhaps this should be looked at as a silver lining; I have more time to contempate what I want to do. I was a dedicated follower of Pollyanna for those who remember and looking for the bright side becomes a habit. It can be useful.
In the meantime I still work on a Christmas quilt made with scraps and the closer the top comes to finishing the longer the time seems to take. What illusions time gives. Some days are like water over a waterfall and some days are like thick molasses slowly moving the counter edge. This quilt may be finished this Christmas but maybe not. The finish line seems to keep moving. How many of you find that happens?
In the meantime I have to find time to get acquainted with a big snow thrower who will become my best friend this winter. This weekend was like spring and today the wind whips under clothing as I play doorman for the dogs. Winter is slowly making its way here and that means snow and more snow. It is not only boys who have toys. But I do have to find out the stuff about spark plugs and grounding to the snowthrower. I guess I will have to find a kind boy/man who can explain.
