QJ - Pink En Pointe (#1)

QUILT JOURNAL - PINK EN POINTE (#1)

Machine Pieced
Machine Quilted
48" x 48"
Started - June 12, 2006
Completed - March 26, 2007

Made for a friend -
To make her laugh when she tells the story of this quilt -
And gets to the "Oh, Crap!!" parts - ;))
Oh well, nobody's perfect - ;))

Pattern - Pink En Pointe -
A Brendalou Scott design -
Featured in "Quiltmaker" - May/June '06 - No. 109

The lady who used to "do my nails” is a quilter and has become a friend. I had shown her how to make a couple of quilts and one day asked her if she would be interested in making a "Mystery" quilt.

I had seen the pattern in the latest issue of "Quiltmaker" and immediately thought of her. I would walk her through it and tell her what colors to get, how much to get, and what to sew and when, but not what the final quilt would look like.

She agreed and said she had a great time doing it.

She told all of her clients that she was making a new quilt and when they asked her what it was going to be she said, "I don't know."

When she went to get her fabric, the lady at the store who tried to help her asked what she was making and she had to say, "I don't know."

I decided to make one at the same time since I would have to re-do the instructions a bit to simplify them and change the sequence to keep the secret. I would do it first and then write notes for her to follow.

She would keep D (the lady whose nails she did before me) and I up to date on her progress and when she was ready, I would show her how to do the next step.

My first choice for the light pink didn't work - it was way too close to the cream - so I had to substitute the light green. I couldn't for the life of me find another pink that would go with the medium pink I had already sewn to the dark green squares for the checkerboard blocks. The light green changed the whole look. I don't particularly like green and I think that a pink would have been prettier.

At the very end, I got my top together to show her and D. When I held it up, it was upside down from the way I had been looking at it on the design wall.

I said, "Oh, Crap!!" as I realized that I had screwed up.

The top left block has the green squares going the wrong way. They should have been the same orientation as the bottom right block.

Oh, well!!

We all had a really good laugh!! The teacher screwed up!!

I had the top together, but still didn't like the light green. I needed to put on the borders and I thought I would never finish it, but decided one day to make it for her to make her laugh. She even liked the green.

I left off the last border and bound it with the medium pink. I pieced the backing using the rest of the medium pink and a leftover strip of the cream floral - it looked good! Then I spray basted all of the layers together.

I decided to use the same quilt pattern I had used on my sister’s quilt (Alex Anderson's soft curved lines). The quilt kept dragging and the stitching was awful! I was about 1/2 way done before I realized what was happening. The basting spray was gumming up the needle!

Oh, Crap!! - Again!!

After I wiped the needle down with an alcohol patch, it would sew cleanly for a bit. I just had to keep the needle clean.

I used my new EQ6 (Electric Quilt) program to make the label. I intentionally messed up the coloring on the outside border to "match" the messed up squares on the front.

After I had printed the label, I realized that the "pre-treated, washable fabric" was actually the "rubbery" stuff they use on t-shirts!

Oh, Crap - Again!!

This whole quilt was a series of "Oh, Crap!!" moments!!

When I found the "right stuff", I redid the label - ;))



QJ - 2007