Almost Out of Words

 

I concentrated on getting the words left to be stitched done yesterday on May You Ever Return. This is the before picture, mostly for my reference so that I can put it back in the correct position after I did the stitching. I switched over to a free motion foot and dropped the feed dogs so I could do the smaller cursive writing.

Here's the after stitching picture. I used a small width zig zag stitch. The smaller shapes have single words, intentionally written small and hidden. See the picture below for a before picture. So, I've stitched the words in a blue that camouflages them pretty well. And it's also done in a straight stitch, no more zig zag. I stitched them in place instead of taking each off and then repositioning.

There's going to be several more thread color changes needed.

And then...a mini disaster! A broken needle! That big pin was caught underneath in a folded-over seam. I thought I'd uncovered all of those, but apparently not. All the parts of the needle were found, and it was definitely  time for a needle change anyways.

Here's how it's looking so far. Looking more finished day by day.

And only one more section with words left to do. Then it's mostly free-motion quilting left to do which is a lot easier.

Stitching the Words

 

The UFO challenge deadline approach-eth, (in 13 days). so I'm working on finishing this quilt. There are a lot of words written in pen on the pieces that still need to be appliquéd. So I'm just stitching over the writing in a zig-zag before I'll be attaching them to the quilt.

I really like the look of this after being zig-zag stitched. This was two passes of stitching. It takes a lot of extra time, but I think it is worth to do it separately from the quilting. Was it a bit weird stitching out the word, "Me"? Honestly, yes, a little strange, but I reminded myself that it's just part of the song lyric that I'm working with. And this quilt is my reaction to both the music and those words in the lyric.

A lot of actual quilting has gotten done now. 

Using some decorative stitches on the not-so-skinny-strips.

Still a long way to go to finish, but I have a plan that will hopefully work out. At the very least, I'm feeling this quilt again, now that I've been working with it. And that's a Good Thing™👸

Returning to UFO-ing

Starting in on trying to get May You Ever Return completed before the next Sew Day for the BAMQG UFO Challenge.

I did some more digging and found my notes (yay!) and have more of a plan. First up is working with the words that I've already written in pen. I found some colors of rayon thread that would work, zig-zagging some of them.

Turns out that this was the first thing that's been stitched down to the entire quilt sandwich. It was all holding together so well that I thought a lot of the stitching was all the way through. Whoops! A lot of the top is pieced together, or just top-stitched, but it wasn't anchored (except by straight pins) to the batting/backing. That meant I spent time pinning it down through all the layers with safety pins. Much better, I don't think it's going to fall apart all the time.

Some of the words are quite small, but I made my zig-zag teeny tiny and sewed very slowly.

There's a lot of layers and a lot of colors. I'm remembering why I really like this project.

I trimmed off the excess backing fabric and pinned it back up on the design wall after all that. Onwards!

Cumulative Finish

After trimming the finished quilt to size, it was time for adding on the binding to the piece I've made for the Stretching Art & Tradition exhibit.

And then I decided to go over the couched-on spiral of cotton Baker's Twine as I'd missed too many places. That took a while! But it was worth it, now it won't get caught on anything.

There it is...Cumulative Spiral. One of my first quilt finishes for 2026, hurrah!

A close-up of the binding (I used the same Navy blue as I did for the background of Patchwork Palooza) and the now-secured spiral.  Now it's time to sew on the sleeve and label and send it off to the show organizer tomorrow!


 

Off The Couch(ing)

Well, I lost at "bobbin chicken" and had to stop my couching efforts to wind myself a new one.

It's going pretty well now that I've gotten the hang of it. Very different than free-motion quilting. Also, I'm using a small zig-zag stitch as well.

Getting closer to the top.

And...done! Now to trim to the exact size, 24" w x 36"h and add some binding. 

 

Returning to May You Ever Return

 

The BAMQ UFO challenge has started in January, and the number chosen for us to work on this month was #12 on our lists. For my list, this was my very hardest one, which is finishing this quilt, May You Ever Return. This was started in the excellent class/workshop, Word for Word, that I took with Rosalie Dace along with friend Jaye when we made the pilgrimage up to Sisters, Oregon for Quilter's Affair in 2018. 

It took me a while to even get my hands on the box it was stashed in, and I have as yet been able to find the class notes. (shoot!) So...as you can see this "almost a quilt" is in quite the state at the moment, a little smashed up and un-ironed. It's in an in-between place, I know I was making moves, there were decisions being made about it, placement of pieces, additions and subtractions, etc. That's what I need the notes for.  Seeing it pinned up on the design wall is definitely helping it come back into focus.

Or maybe I just need to listen to the song that it's based on a bunch of times to get me back in the headspace to access my ideas about it all. This quilt has the lyrics to a verse of a Neko Case song, Pitch or Honey, sprinkled around the piece, in an unexpected order. Not at all intended to be easily legible. Just like the song I guess.

Clean & Crazy

Oldest and newest seen together on my workroom chair before heading to the BAMQ meeting today. The assignment was to bring one of our oldest quilts, what fun that was seeing everyone's beginning. Mine is called Crazy Baskets, made in 1999 out of P&B Textiles fabric, with a small border of some of my first SetaColor painted fabric. On top is the most recent finish, Clean Cloud.