The Back Door

The option of quilting “as-you-go” has always intrigued me. I love to attend my local quilt group where we stitch and…, well, you know. I take a project along and many times I am transporting enough gear to work for days instead of a few hours. My friends in the Mexico City Quilt Guild have dubbed my rolling machine case the “Studio Sobre Ruedas” or, in English, the “Studio on Wheels.” I sometimes feel like I have to move my sewing room into the trunk of my car each Thursday. Then as I drive (nearly an hour sometimes) across the city I gaze steadily in the rear view mirror for any driver getting too close. Should there be an accident, I wouldn’t want to explain to the policemen in my limited Spanish how I want them to remove all of the contents before they haul my heap to the junk yard. I try to take along a small zippered case with my project “My Butterfly” but, I am currently more focused on “A Match made on the Internet While Heaven Smiled” which will be quilted on a frame. There is no way I am putting that into my car!

I think this is why I have so many ufos. Yes, you pronounce it in Spanish rather than U-F-Os heard in quilt guilds elsewhere. I once made a list of the ufos I wanted to finish this year. They are in no particular order:

My Valentine - planning to tie then bind. I would rather machine quilt it but I haven’t found the funds to get the machine I’ve had my eye on for four years now.

Mother Tell Me the Story - for oldest daughter’s family sandwiched needs more machine quilting and binding. This is another one that is waiting the new machine since I cannot get it right on my current model.

My Family Tree - for our oldest daughter, she made the top in high school (in 2001) for a project, needs to be tied and bound.

Air Show - for my dear husband, this may be his retirement quilt if we take the plunge this year, finish borders and hand quilt then bind.

Grandmother’s Window from Heaven - for me, I need to attach the borders then hand quilt and bind.

My Butterfly - for dear daughter #2, hand appliqued butterflies in colors representing values she holds dear. Complete blocks, join, design picket fence border, hand quilt, bind.

Steps to Glory - tribute to Linda my Aunt who we lost to Breast Cancer in 2005. Sew corner blocks; add borders, quilt and bind.

Christmas Friendship Quilt - for our living room at Christmas, design a way to join the friendship blocks I received from my quilt group in Spain, machine quilt and bind.

I’m So Proud of You - for our son, designed and purchased. This is a 1000 pyramids quilt designed to commemorate his graduation in Cairo Egypt in front of the Great Pyramids of Giza.

A Match made on the Internet While Heaven Smiled - for my brother and his new bride, top complete, hand quilt and bind.

Unbelievably I have many Pigs too! (Projects In Grocery Sacks) most need more fabric so they will remain in grocery sacks until I find more support for my habit!

I Spy - for our grandson this is to be a gift when he moves to a big boy bed.

Grandpa’s Delight - for my Dad, game board quilt

Double Wedding Ring - for our bed I have all of this fabric but I need to do the ufos first, this quilt will need my full attention so I don’t anticipate starting it until at least 2008.

Grandpa’s Love - for our family room, a raggedy edge flannel quilt tribute to my grandpa to wrap around me like his wonderful hugs.

Unlike my attempts at quilting, I am certain that our pioneer grandmothers rarely sat for hours in front of treadle machines and stitched complete tops in a matter of days. No wonder they completed much more than they left for future generations to finish. Quilting on the go is the only way I will ever finish the projects I am currently working on. Having several projects in different stages of the process is the only way I can enjoy quilting in my life. I regularly sit down and pick up a quilt that hasn’t been touched in months and work a bit on it. “Grandmothers Window from Heaven” was in the crates moved from Egypt to Mexico for nine months. When I unpacked my new studio I pulled it out again for a fresh look and designed a new border treatment I had not considered before. Had I finished it in Egypt it could have been machine quilted for me for free to be published I a book by Barbara Chainey but I love it so much more now that I am glad it made it with me to Mexico.

My quilting style makes my quilts unique. I’d much rather let a quilt stew for years than to finish hundreds of cookie-cutter quilts made from kits and patterns to appear exactly as the original. That is just my style. Many craft and quilting teachers can attest to the fact that in a room full of students making the same project mine will always come out different.

I try to work on at least one quilt each meeting and while I travel. Additionally now I am trying to fit in the projects I am working on for RJR, McCall’s and Cotton Spice. So currently the McCall’s project is with me on our vacation. It is due to them July 1st so I guess I need to quit blogging now and get back to quilting!