#6 is my Red Japanese Quilt. I started it in 2006 or so... not really too sure on the date, but I do know I was living in Nebraska at the time. It was when all the cool Japanese prints were hitting the quilt shops and I thought I'd like to make something oriental too. I knew I was going to want to use some Japanese Crests and Kanji to add more interest to the top. The large floral was from Joanns Fabric Center, as were the solids I'm sure. The rest of the prints I picked up at Material Girl, in Grand Island, before they moved to the newer bigger store. I spent the weekend planning and preparing the quilting designs, actually I knew all along how I wanted to quilt it ... I just didn't follow through on getting the designs... to size. Now I have a printer, that can scan and reduce/enlarge and print on 11x17 paper. So that is what I did.... enlarged the designs until they were the correct size. They will all be traditional Sashiko designs for the quilt center. Not sure what I am going to do with the borders.... yet. I hope it will come to me while I quilt the center section.
To get the designs on the quilt I am using Golden Threads paper. I have used it in the past and it is fairly reliable. I will use 8 different designs... in large rectangular blocks.
For the batting I am using a wool that I picked up at a Hancock's Fabrics a few years ago. It's H Hargrave product and is 100% wool. When I first took it out of the packaging... I was really disappointed, but since it has been all scrunched for several years I decided to rinse it before I used it. What a huge difference a little water and air make. The batt has relaxed and puffed up beautifully. The quilt will really have a lot of texture once it's quilted. I plan to quilt it with a black 35 wt cotton thread.
I have set up the machine and gotten the tension right. Made up a practice sandwich and tested the thread and the tensions. Now to just screw up the courage.... and get going.
A Side NOTE…. or two
Back in October we ordered a new laptop for me, which has finally arrived. The new shipping rules regarding Lithium Batteries held my laptop in limbo… for 12 weeks! Wow!!! it’s really fast, Windows 7 is really pretty, but man is there a learning curve. I skipped Vista and was still using XP on my old laptop. I decided to try Windows Live Writer to write and post this blog entry…. LOVE IT! One of the things I detested in Google blogger was getting the pictures where I wanted them… with the text where I wanted it. I was able to write, and edit (spell checker) and place the pictures and hyperlinks way faster than with blogger! And even better is the preview. WOW WoW, just so easy!!!
So until later!!!
Beth
