Grrr, Wanting Something for Nothing & No Appreciation for Fine Hand Quilting....A Rare Speckledhen

[fisherlady]

Watching your progress makes me more and more tempted to try something similar myself.... many evenings are spent in seemingly mundane activities and I used to do cross stitch many evenings to keep my hands busy.... to be able to make something so beautiful must be very rewarding. I just have never been able to get along well with a sewing machine.... if they see me coming they practice their snarling so they can get it right as soon as I hit the pedal!!

Research may be needed!

 

[speckledhen]

Watching your progress makes me more and more tempted to try something similar myself.... many evenings are spent in seemingly mundane activities and I used to do cross stitch many evenings to keep my hands busy.... to be able to make something so beautiful must be very rewarding. I just have never been able to get along well with a sewing machine.... if they see me coming they practice their snarling so they can get it right as soon as I hit the pedal!!

Research may be needed!

I hope you do try! Start with something smaller like a lap quilt and see how that goes. I had given up my quilting entirely after we moved here almost 13 years ago because of numbness and tingling in the fingers. I was piecing and quilting all by hand back then. When I got this little Brother, I had never learned to sew on a machine though I have one somewhere in the basement that my DH sewed the stripes on his uniforms with. This one was easy to learn on and all I do with it is piece my quilts and make an occasional chicken saddle when I have to.

 

[speckledhen]

As of this morning, I have quilted 7 blocks and started on an 8th. Slow going, had to stop a few days for a headache and just now had to quit because of back tensing up, but at least I did get a good start.








and I think I may have decided what to do with that cool rooster fabric I just got! A bed runner similar in size to the one that started this thread. It will be bittersweet because one of the roosters represented on it has passed away. RIP, sweet Rex. You are so missed. But, I think that will be the perfect project and may leave me some of the fabric for another smaller project like a table topper.

 

[speckledhen]

Cutting out my bed runner now to take small breaks from quilting the big bed quilt. I decided to do five 15" blocks called quatrefoil, the sample one printed out as a guide for me, then surround them with two or three borders of varying sizes, probably using the same rooster fabric for the largest outer border, but haven't decided on the latter yet. I have three yards of it and only cut 5 squares for the center piece of each block.

Had to draft my block since I couldnt find it in that 15" size. Not sure about the purple now with the black, so laying out a red I have that also has some gold in it to see if it would work better; may have just enough of that to substitute for the purple, however, I am going to use the red chickenwire fabric for one of the borders so it may be too much red if I do that.

See Isaac, Rex and Deacon in the blocks? I did one with just Rex as a tribute since I lost him just recently. Loved you, Rex. You'll have to really use your imagination here. I'm not sure how this will all work out, never know until I'm in the middle of one of my designs. I never use someone else's patterns, sort of a "design-as-you-go" girl.








Here is the chickenwire fabric I'm using for one of the borders, probably only a narrow one, but it's probably way too much red to put that other red inside the blocks, too, even if I used a purple border in there as a barrier. I don't want to "over-red" the whole piece. The rooster fabric has some subtle silvery-gray in it, but I don't have one that won't dull it down, plus, I don't like grays with golds.



My friend suggested a teal instead of the purple. How about this? I sort of like it. Sure brightens it up!



TEST BLOCK. I decided. Teal, it is.



Okay, done.

 

[fisherlady]

I love it with the teal! I agree that the red is a bit too overwhelming, though I do like that shade of red.

With the teal and black it really pops so well, creates a nice frame for your roosters!

 

[speckledhen]

I love it with the teal! I agree that the red is a bit too overwhelming, though I do like that shade of red.

With the teal and black it really pops so well, creates a nice frame for your roosters!

Glad you approve. I think the purple is out completely. It's just too blah in this setting. So, I think a 1" border of the blender gold I have and then the red chicken wire 3" border and I won't complicate it further than that. It should end up being about 83" long and 23" wide. I'm working with what I have on hand, other than the rooster fabric, which I bought especially because it looked like Isaac, Rex and Deacon. I got 3 yards of that so there will be table toppers, mug mats, etc, coming up soon. Maybe someone who knows my boys will want one of them.

 

[fisherlady]

I do like the gold between the square and the red border, it creates a nice break between the patterns in the fabrics....

I don't think you will have any problem finding folks to like them!

 

[speckledhen]

I do like the gold between the square and the red border, it creates a nice break between the patterns in the fabrics....

I don't think you will have any problem finding folks to like them!

Thanks! Appreciate the input. Sometimes, when I'm trying to use what I have on hand, it's not as easy as just buying the right thing. Sure does challenge me, but that's quilting, right?

 

[fisherlady]

Do you have a color wheel tool to help with matching?

 

[speckledhen]

Do you have a color wheel tool to help with matching?

I had a Pantone flip swatch thing, but no idea where it went since the fire back in 2013. I think DH has a color wheel somewhere, though, since he was an art major for a time.