supernova!

Last Saturday, the hubby asked me what I was going to do Sunday.  I thought about it a little and, knowing that I had most of my weekend chores done, I said "quilt a quilt."  It was kinda half-hearted, but I started thinking about it more during our dinner and decided maybe I would.

So we stopped for some batting before heading home.  A little more commitment there.

On the way home, I started thinking about which quilt I'd like to work on.  And then remembered that the quilty friend who fed our cats while we were on vacation last month had caught sight of one batch of quilts that are waiting to be quilted and shared with another quilty friend their existence.  And so I've been caught.  And teased.  More reason to get something done, right?

I decided I wanted to finish a quilt for ME, since last summer I made two while on vacation and just finished the Christmas Pickle, also for me, last week.  If I want these to be on my couch this fall, I'd better get them quilted, right?

Which one?  I settled on Supernova.

The journey started here, last June, when I went fabric shopping in preparation for our weeklong trip north:

You may remember these.

And then, in the middle of a very hot July, I sewed the whole top in just a few days - on vacation.  (A good vacation includes quilting, right?)

Quite a few months back, I purchased backing for the two quilt tops I completed on that vacation.  And I washed them.  And folded them.  And then they sat in various spots in my sewing room, causing trouble by being in the way.  I never did get them pieced to make backs, but the fact that I had the back and it was causing trouble helped make the decision to quilt this quilt a little easier even.

(Oh, look, the feathers are on the back, so I don't have to sew them, right?)

Sunday morning dawned and I was up and out of bed pretty early.  I got the last of my chores done and then stalled.  And stalled.  I searched the internet for ideas to quilt this thing.  Most of what others had done was straight lines and not much quilting.  And while this is a modern quilt, having a longarm means I should probably do more than quilt straight lines every 6 inches, right?

Lots of doodles and head-scratching later, I took a break.  Ate some lunch.  And it hit me.  This is a modern quilt.  The quilting should be modern!  And I had an idea and was off and running.  All the other stuff - out the window.

3pm I headed up to sew the back into a piece that would fit the quilt.  4pm I had the quilt loaded and was ready to start stitching.  Once I found the ruler for my longarm.  (Me and the longarm ruler are not such good friends, but on a quilt for me, it was a good time to practice, right?)

8pm and it comes off the longarm.  I think the is the longest I've ever spent on a quilt.  And this isn't the largest quilt I've ever done.  But between the ruler and the many times I had to move it less than the full width of the longarm opening, I should have known it was going to take a while.  (But I knew it had to be done before bedtime, or it would be the world's most expensive cat-hammock overnight and I might have to reload the whole thing in the morning...ugh!)

Are you ready to see it yet?

Supernova!

It's about 62x80, so a nice size for my couch.  But man, sewing on that binding these last few nights was pretty warm...not good planning there, but if I want to USE it when it's cold, I have to finish it when it's warm, right?

So how did I quilt it?

Straight lines, but echoing the lines of the pattern.  And I love how it turned out!  I can't wait for it to be cool enough to use it.

The only downside?  I have a white cat.  She sheds a lot.  All year round.  Of course, I also have two black cats and a grey cat, so I've got fur in every color so as to make sure no matter what you wear, there's always a contrasting cat to help you accessorize.  But I wouldn't trade them for the world, so I'll just wash the quilt when it gets too furry...just like all the others.

I've also been doing some work on the purple and grey fabrics I cut at retreat and cutting pieces from my science geek fabrics.  I've been feeling my quilting mojo this past week and I hope I can keep it up.  Life seems to just keep sucking it out of me, but maybe with this quilt newly finished that I love (even more than I loved the top) and some good projects to work on, I'll keep going.

Happy quilting,

Katie