Friday, March 21, 2008

Lovely Thoughts...Lesson Learned

I just can't say how much I appreciate all of you who commented about Jon and his accident. Many of you have a "no-reply" email, so, for you, thank you. I am grateful for every word. We'll be celebrating his 17th birthday on Sunday. His new NOT favorite words...I'm OK. We had a great couple of days enjoying the country and seeing my mom and dad. Grandma Esther made chocolate pie. Pie heals everything!

I did just a bit of sewing in the evening while watching the basketball games. I finished the Vintage Windows quilt. Yippee!! I love this little quilt. I machine quilted it in a simple diamond crosshatch. I learned a valuable lesson about working with vintage fabrics. While I had soaked the striped squares and air dried them, when I washed the quilt, I didn't even think about the possibility that the colors in the windows would run. Well, did they ever. After the first wash there were spots of red, blue and brown. I almost cried. I didn't have a clue what to do. I didn't have much choice but to wash it again. I soaked it first and worked gently on the spots. I was so worried that I had ruined this quilt. Most of the dye came out. There are a few spots where, if you look close enough, you can see some shadows. At this point it will just have to add to the character of the quilt. I love it with all its imperfections. It will hang in the upstairs hall, just outside of my hubby's office. It was all about him in the first place.

I was able to continue the machine quilting on the Disappearing Nine Patch. Remember this one? I'm about 2/3 done with the machine quilting. I would have finished, but I ran out of thread. Bummer. I hope I can make a trip back out to my mom's and get it done next week. Using her Bernina is a joy!

Lastly, a quick question. I want to put a hanging sleeve on the Vintage Windows quilt. Should I just make it out of muslin...or do I using a coordinating fabric? Enjoy the weekend everyone!

12 comments:

dutchcomfort said...

The vintage quilt is beautiful! I never wash fabrics anymore. I ruined my first little quilt, though I had washed every piece of fabric before. I use colourcatch tissues while washing delicate stuff now. It’s wonderful. I’ve washed red and white together, all the colours are absorbed by the tissue!

Anonymous said...

Hi Jacquie-

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog, and leaving such a nice comment about my inspiration bag. Your quilt is BEAUTIFUL! I'm glad you got most of the spots out, but since it is a vintage quilt, I truly believe the little imperfections add to the character of it. I'm so glad you're going to participate in the challenge. Can't wait to see more projects. Happy Birthday to your son, and you're right-pie does fix everything, so do brownies, and cake! LOL! Have a great Easter!

Anonymous said...

I like your vintage quilt! It is also good to know Jon is ok. I read about the accident. I wish him Happy Birthday!

QuiltedSimple said...

Both of these quilts are absolutely beautiful - and the shadows will add character to the vintage one. Happy birthday to your son!!

Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson said...

I always use the Shout color catcher sheets in the wash and haven't had any problems. (fingers crossed!)

I make my hanging sleeve from the same fabric as the backing or binding if I can. I think muslin looks like an afterthought. I sew it on before I finishe the binding so I only have one edge to hand sew.

Stephanie D said...

I usually make any hanging sleeves from the backing material, because I don't like it to be all that visible.

I like the vintage scramble--I was just looking a pile of my bright scraps today and thinking about how to put them all together. I had thought about the muslin foundation, but I think I like your way better.

Cher said...

I am so glad this accident did not leave any lasting harm to your son-sweet quilt

bettyninja said...

Still loving the vintage block quilt. Rats about the colors running. I have had problem with some vintage materials before too. In one of my What a Bunch of Squares quilt I used a vintage solid green and I did prewash. The hard thing is some of the older fabrics must have been made with different processes and it still ran. Not a ton, but enough to notice.

gunnelsvensson said...

the vintege quilt is beutiful!

Kathleen said...

I love the vintage quilt Jacquie, just love the simplicity of it. What are these colourcatch tissues that de vliegende koe mentioned? I am terrified of things running and wonder if even dry cleaning stops that happening.

2ndAvenueStudio-Rachel said...

i'd make the sleeve from a light fabric that you used on the front.
I make a two pieced sleeve with a gap in the middle, so if I want I can hang it on a nail.
Lovely!

Kim said...

I like 2nd Ave.'s idea for the hanging sleeve. If you have not machine dried this quilt, you can wash it one more time with Shout Color Catchers to draw the remaining dye out. Synthrapol is another way to release the unwanted dye and wash it away. See Kay's Mountain Quilt on my blog for an example. Love this quilt of yours.