It Won’t Take Long

So. This will be quick, because I need to get to work. Someone asked how I find time to write these. First of all, I write quickly. Second of all, I write about what I did the day before, and if I was really smart, I took pictures of it to remind me what to write about. Third, I don’t really edit what I’m writing. This drives some people nuts. Then they can go read someone else’s precise blog about exactly what they did in art yesterday. Walk On!

I did about 7 hours yesterday…started with finishing the spray baste…actually, no…first I had to drive to my parents’ house and raid my mom’s 505 stash. I finished the big one the night before, but I found the four smaller ones she had hidden around her studio. One was already almost empty, so really all it did was throw spray snot everywhere (who thought that was a good idea?)…

Then I emptied out the next one, which was probably a third full…

All I really had left were the arms and some edges where the batting wasn’t wide enough. I think I used half of the third small one and didn’t even touch her almost full one…so I’ll return those to her tonight. I’m not totally sold on this stuff, but I may try it again. Not sure how to make it so the stuff doesn’t clog and send snot trails everywhere. There’s probably a trick. And I still have some on my hands today. Couldn’t get it all off.

I wasn’t sure what to use for the backing. At first, I thought because of the way I WAS going to hang it to accommodate the group I was working with, that the only part of the backing that would show would be the backs of the arms. But then I realized the whole back would show so it couldn’t be a confusing mismatch of all my leftovers. My SIL had sent me a huge box of fabric from her house, and in it was about 10 yards or so of an upholstery fabric…this one…

But the green was way too busy. So I flipped it. It reads as mostly white on the back…or at least a toned-down version of this. So that’s OK.

Then I remembered I had to hang this this somehow and I started looking around at the ribbon I have stashed from doing crazy quilts, not thinking I would have enough of anything appropriate, until I remembered my friend Vickie had a friend who sent me a bag of those binding strips…bias tape. Holy hell, it’s the motherlode.

There was a dark blue that was unopened…I used it.

The green wasn’t wide enough at one hand…literally one and a half fingers not wide enough. So yes, most people would have pieced it, but I just pinned it (and I had to flip the pins later when I realized this was the back and now the seam was showing on the front). In the long run, I’m glad I did that, because it meant I had an opening in that hand…

It took two hours just to pin it down. I ironed at the same time I pinned, rather then iron ahead of time, so that was part of it, but it was just a lot of fussy work…trimmed too as part of that. Then I sewed…another hour…

I left an opening in the side to flip it, although I could have flipped it all through the hole in the belly if I’d thought about it. It flipped easily except for the fingers. The fingers were a bitch and a half. I trimmed the batting on the second hand before trying to flip and it was a little easier, but not a lot. I used a chopstick, pins, my teeth (seriously…I did), and my fingernails (which ache today). I think it took two hours just to pull all 10 fingers out. That’s how that hole in the one hand helped…easy access. The other hand, I had to shove my arm into the quilt arm, and it was too tight, so then pull the arm up onto my arm until I could reach the fingers. So it’s warm and I’m wearing a quilt. Plus I left about 10 pins in after I sewed, so I had to go around and find those inside the quilt.

So there it is, in a pile, all flipped. I have to iron it, stitch down the edges, hand sew the hand shut, machine sew the side and the hole shut, and then maybe quilt the three motifs that are in there. I don’t think it needs more quilting than that, although I have some ideas if I think it does…

And then I have to hang it tomorrow. I’m worried it’s not big enough for the space, but I originally designed it with the other group in mind and they were going to enclose the space slightly. So that’s a little annoying. I guess worst-case if it looks really small, I could go buy some more muslin and enclose the space the way they originally were going to. Sigh. I don’t have time for this! I’m installing tomorrow afternoon, so it will be done no matter what.

If I sound a little frustrated with the piece right now, I am. It’s OK. It will be fine. I just can’t visualize it in the space, so that’s freaking me out. Plus the dog is farting heinously in here so I think I’m a little light-headed. Ugh. Put dog out, eat something, make more tea (sleep? What is that?), and then iron and sew. Do I need to iron? Yes. I need to iron first. It won’t take long. (what SHE said)