Saturday, December 31, 2011

Proressing nicely

Well the quilt in my last post is progressing nicely.  I am quite pleased.  It started with one idea in mind and as it progressed it became a quilt more about what my mother taught me then anything else.  So while doing all the machine quilting, and yes there is quite a bit, I decided that the wording added next would have a purpose. 

If you know me or my family, you know my Mom is a strong women.  She raised us all to be strong, independent women.  I hope I have instilled half of what my Mom instilled in me, in my daughter, but that is another story.  So as I quilted, I thought of words that would be fitting to describe what my Mom taught me.  I came up with Confident, Proud and Passionate, but after looking at the words written down, I knew I wanted another word for Confident that began with a "P".  Without revealing the reason why, I asked both of my kids, separately, for another word for Confident.  Well believe it or not they both suggested Poised.  Robert said that one of his football mantras is "Poise is Confidence under Pressure".  Hmmm, I like that expression a lot.  Even if it had nothing to do with the piece, I thought it described both me and my Mom really well.  When I told him why I asked, he agreed (as did Raven) that Poised was the right word for their Nana!

While this photo does not show the lettering in their current position, it does show the font I used.  I have moved the words around to make them balanced, but don't you love how the curls of the "P"s resemble the curly ques in the quilting of the hair and the curls of the applique.  I think they are a perfect accent!

I stitched the letters in place 2 days ago.  Next, I have to determine what type and how much quilting I will add to the face.  I want to reduce some of the puffiness, without too much quilting.  Then I will make some piping to use as the binding.  I have to run out and get the right size cording, what I have is too thin to properly frame this piece.  The binding will be made out of the same Kona Black as the applique to frame the piece without adding a heavy boarder or binding.

Well Happy New Years everyone!  I hope 2012 is a great year for you all!!

Renee