Sunday, April 2, 2017

Virtual Retreat Weekend

The hearts2hands Yahoo group held another virtual quilting retreat weekend.  Not as many of us participated but it's still fun to pretend we're all together.

My project was to finish a top that had been on my frame way too long.  Unfortunately DS's cat, Phileas, discovered that quilts on a frame make a very comfortable cat bed.  The backing was a bit more stretchy than the top.  The sagging made getting the rest of the quilting a challenge.

If there hadn't been quite a bit of quilting already done on this quilt the solution would have been to remove it from the frame.  Then steam and press the fabrics in the hope of getting the stretch out.  But this was not an option.  So I did the best I could.  Few pleats, but lots of puckers.

Next step was to trim the backing and bat.  Phileas had to help with that.  Just as the ruler was in place and the rotary cutter to be used, he would jump at the quilt in an effort to pull it down to the floor.  What a helper.  No accidental cuts fortunately.  Bonnie got involved of course by sitting on the quilt to keep it from moving.  Even when it needed to be moved. 

Once the binding was added the quilt was washed and dried.  Using a lot of heat.
Here's the result:

You would think Phileas would be more complementary about the finished product since he was so involved in it.