Aaaak!

I'm tired! Now I remember why I don't quilt a lot of my tops. I get bored, and it takes so long, and I don't like it when I'm done. Well, the last part of that statement is not true of the last two quilts I've worked on. I really like the quilting, but it's hard work and my shoulder hurts, and I'm only 5/8 done with the blocks on the top. How did I come up with that number you ask. Well, there are 8 rows of blocks and I have quilted 5 rows of them. That's 62.5 % completed with the blocks. I still have the borders to complete. Those don't tend to get to me as much because I'm not pushing the whole quilt around in the little bitty harp of my Bernina. It's not really tiny, just when I'm wrestling with a quilt that is 86x96 and backed with fleece. If you click on the picture you'll get a much larger image. You can see the swirls I'm doing. I really like the look of the ribbon swirls.

I've decided to stop for a bit and work on another project. I'm making a new banner for our church and I told the pastor I would work up a bit of the technique so he could see what it will be like. I'm going to do the actual banner in silk noil that I will dye myself, but I'm using some cottons just to show how it's going to go together. It is going to look something like this.

The mountain will be more purple (Pikes Peak...purple mountain majesty) and the banner background will be an ombre. It's meant to look like the color of the red rocks we have all around--only a bit toned down. I ordered the silk from Dharma and hope to receive it soon so I can see how it dyes. I'm going to follow the "recipe" on The Lazy Dyer and dye it just the way I do cotton. It should be interesting.

I don't plan to fuse it right now, but I might change my mind once I see the silk. It's going to be an adventure.

I just started drawing out the full size pattern. It will be 25" x 45". I'll see if it looks large enough when I have the drawing done.