Ready to quilt

A quilt top is not a quilt till it has been quilted.

Tuesday was the day to put the "papercut" quilt in the frame for quilting. There is lots of room down here in the basement to set a quilting frame up. Emily and Carol, both very experienced, drove up from Waterloo to help. In just 45 minutes, the quilt was all ready to go.

Wednesday, we had our guild meeting and I made sure I had lots of hand-outs with the directions to our place: today was the first day for quilting. We started of with only the three of us. Better to say two and a half: I have trouble with hand quilting. My back just won't let me do much of it.

This morning, I tried really hard, but did not get much done. In the afternoon, I tried the stab method. By having one hand on top and one on the bottom and stabbing the needle up and down, I managed to get more done with even stitches. So from now on this will be my(very awkward and slow) way.

Here are 2 expert quilters, Carol on the right and Florence on the left. They worked very well together with one being left handed, the other right handed. Tomorrow, I expect 6 ladies to come here. There is a lot of quilting on this quilt, but any less would not look right. Notice the 2 posters behind the quilters? That are two of the quilts done by the guild and the church, both sold at the Mennonite Relief Sale in New Hamburg. The one on the right was finished in 1999, and won an honorable mention in the group category in Houston. It sold in 2000 for $16,000. The one on the left was sold 6 years later. Made by the same groups, this one showed interpretations of the aerial photography by Carl Hiebert. It was purchased by Carl for $11,100. The quilt currently in the frame will be the 6th one to go to the Relief Sale.

The weather has turned again. It is wet and cold. The soybeans have been combined and the winter wheat planted, so we are not in too bad a shape. The corn has to be done yet, but that can wait a week or so. With weather like this, it is kind of cosy quilting downstairs!