The Albatross Takes Flight

I briefly thought of titling this post 'The SOB's Finished!' but that doesn't sound very nice.  Accurate, yes, but not nice.  Anyway, it's done, done, done!

What started out as this...

turned into this...

and finished up, thirteen months later, as this...

He nicely informed me he wouldn't be giving up the original quilt my mom made for him even though it's falling apart and she's been begging me to set it aflame just to put it out of its misery.  It's been well-loved.

I decided 'The Albatross' wasn't such a hot name for a quilt either so I opted for 'High Flight' after the poem of the same name by John G. Magee.  I love the poem and it fits with the theme since Magee was a pilot.

Here's the poem if you're curious.

HIGH FLIGHT

by John Magee

Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth

And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings:

Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth

Of sun-split clouds--and done a hundred things

You have not dreamed of--wheeled and soared and swung

High in the sunlit silence.  Hovering there,

I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung

My eager craft through footless halls of air.

Up, up the long delirious, burning blue

I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace

Where never lark, or even eagle flew.

And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod

The high untrespassed sanctity of space,

Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

Happy quilting, y'all!

A Dirty House Equals Quilting Fun



Although the castle is in desperate need of a good swabbing, a girl must have her priorities.  So in lieu of doing the whole dust/mop/vacuum routine, I did what any good housewife would've done.  I quilted.  Lucky for me, I married a man who cleaned his various college apartments one time each...when he moved out.

I finished a couple of rag quilts (photos to come once I get all that clipping done) and have blocks ready for another.  I had a few leftover blocks of the flannel to make The Diva a doll quilt for one of her Beanie Babies.  You'd've thought it was made of gold the way she carried on about it.  It's nice to know I still got it enough to impress at least one Co-Defendant.

The boy-toy (I'm really gonna have to come up with a good name for him) and I spent quite a bit of time together yesterday and in the wee hours of the morning working on Captain Studly's Albatross quilt.  No pictures of this one yet as Himself stole my camera so he could take pictures of his car engine.  Don't they all look alike?  Whatever... 

Charming, isn't he?

It's about 90% quilted and I am continually reminded of why I loathe quilting anything of significant size on a home sewing machine.  Geez, I hate rolling and scrunching all that fabric to get the darn thing finished!  But, as Captain Studly is so quick to remind me, it's for a worthy cause.  What a guy!

Happy quilting, y'all!

Pinning the Albatross

So, in an effort to be truer to the process pledge I took some time back, I'm gonna bore you to tears with info about the quilt that refuses to be quilted.  I blogged yesterday that I'd had serious thread breakage and batting issues after loading this baby onto my mom's quilt frame.  I swear, this'll be ready by the time Captain Studly walks down the aisle.  He's only 13, surely there's plenty of time!

 

Anyhoo, I managed to dodge a trip to a heretofore undisclosed destination...yes, I'm being evasive on purpose and was left to my own devices by Himself and the Co-Defendants.  YAY, peace and quiet!  I've never pinned a quilt on carpet, always on linoleum.  My knees are thanking me and it wasn't as difficult as I'd anticipated.  Thank heavens for small favors, eh?

 

Now, it's all pinned and ready for Lennie the Featherweight. 

 

I checked out a blog post over at The Amateur Quilter about quilting a big-ass quilt (his words) on a home sewing machine.  Considering the quilt he whipped out appears to dwarf mine, I'd say there's hope for getting this puppy done. 

 

Wish me luck!

 

(Not) Quilting The Albatross

Photo courtesy of bing

Apparently I'm not meant to quilt Captain Studly's airplane quilt as all my efforts at getting the #@*&% thing done have been twarted.

See, I got it on the frame...which only took me 45 minutes.  I sold my spleen to buy Masterpiece and The Bottom Line threads.  Actually, that's not true...I hijacked the Bottom Line thread from my mother.  Oopsies!  I prayed 'Please Lord help my shoulders relax, my stitches to be even and my thread to not break'.  If it didn't go against all my religious beliefs and good old-fashioned fear of what happened to those poor bastards in Pet Sematary, I'd've sacrificed something small and furry.  And yes, I know Pet Sematary was about burying a beloved pet in a cursed graveyard and having it come back as a killing machine...just work with me here, okay?!  Anything to get this damn thing finished!

I changed the needle, cleaned out the machine's innards and oiled it up like a Chippendales model before a calendar shoot...all this BEFORE I loaded the albatross onto the frame.  Did it work?  Hell, no!  Haven't you been reading?!  I got all the cloud fabric quilted (one pass on the frame) and encountered thread breakage three times before I decided 'screw it, I'm throwin' it on the Featherweight!'

So then it became a matter of removing it from the frame...funny how unloading it only took 5 minutes.  Damn quilting trolls!

Look what I discovered as I was unloading the top...

That's the batting literally shredding apart...like pulling apart a cotton ball!  I suppose now I should say 'thank you Lord' for not letting me get any farther into the whole tortuous process.  I've used this company before, just never this type of batting.  Never again, I tell you!

So, an hour of the frog stitch later and it's all unquilted, ready to be pinned (ick!) and loaded under the lead foot of Lennie the Featherweight.  She's gonna kick quilt butt!

Where's the wine?