We’re Back Baby + Tula’s Roseville Albumn
My last post was 6 solid years ago… and was mostly about how I hadn’t posted in a year. Look, life got crazy. A job, 2 kids, and life meant that Kathleen Quilts took a back seat. And maybe in 6 years I’ll have still posted nothing. But at the moment I’m feeling good. I have some energy for coming back. I’ve been quilting client quilts again, I’ve booked some teaching dates, and I’ve been planning new things. None of which I have done in the last 6 years.
6 years ago I was pregnant with my second child, puking every day, and generally miserable. COVID was settling in, I had a toddler who demanded a lot of attention, and quilting felt like work. And I already have a job, so I didn’t need that. I quilted a client quilt, and when it was done, I mailed it back and ghosted everyone on my waiting list. I just couldn’t make myself do it.
Look, I don’t recommend ghosting your own business. But sometimes you have to do what you have to do. But I stopped ignoring emails recently, and have managed a steady stream of custom quilting this year. And for long enough that it feels like I’m back.
So lets talk about Tula’s Roseville Album Quilt
Yeah, it’s good hey?
I mean, it came to me good, and I’m just glad I didn’t ruin it. When Tula emailed me asking if I would quilt this for her, I almost died. WHAT IF I RUINED IT. But also… what if I didn’t. So I said yes, and then had such a good time quilting it. I’m so proud of this one.
I thought I was really clever when I realized the “tiny dots” fabric that she used as the background for the applique block could be used in a dot-to-dot style to join each dot into a on-point grid. Oh man, it made me so happy. I love how it turned out.
I opted for bubbles in the long tall blocks because I wanted them to read differently than the square blocks (especially since they had a different background), and honestly, bubbles are just the easiest design to get to work around that pile of applique. It works in small weird spaces super easily.
I ditched each applique shape in invisible thread. This was I think the first time I had used invisible thread on a client quilt, and it felt like cheating, but worked exactly the way I wanted. I wanted each applique piece to be ditched, but didn’t want the ditching to make the applique look like it was done by machine. I then went into some of the larger applique shapes with matching thread to add details liek feathers on birds, vines in leaves, spots on cows, etc.
Anyway, that’s it for me for the moment. Stay tuned for hopefully more content coming your way! (Maybe the return of Free Motion Friday??)
Kathleen.