Daisy Makes New Friends

This Dresden Plate quilt is my own that I brought from WA to quilt here

I have not posted as much about quilting as I thought I would when I started this blog. However, that is not a reflection of the amount of piecing or quilting I have actually done.  There have just been so many other interesting things to write about.

 

The back of  the Dresden Plate quilt

But quilting really is my passion. I belong to different FB quilting groups so that I can admire other people’s quilts, fabrics and quilting techniques as well as learn from others. I see quilt patterns everywhere  - even in the tile flooring in Italy.  I love all types of quilting fabrics and have even been known to ‘pet’ fabric. I believe all fabric should have a ‘home’ - a place to be used to bring comfort and warmth and even joy - and I cannot bear to throw a possibly-usable piece of scrap away, so I will even rescue fabric scraps that others want to throw away.  I do have a size limit though, so anything smaller than that, I will put into a bag for a woman I know in WA who rescues the tiniest pieces and sews them together into beautiful things. 

However, as much as I love fabric, I do not believe that all fabric is beautiful. Some fabric just is not. But I have been told that even ugly fabric can be likeable – if it’s cut small enough. 😊

I mostly enjoy traditional patterns, like stars and Log Cabins, although I admire different quilting techniques styles, like thread painting and landscapes and more ‘artistic’ types of quilting. I admire the creativity and the skill that has gone into those types, even though they are not what I enjoy for myself. 

Mike squeezing the air out of the plastic bags filled with fabric scraps
to make them fit in the suitcase underneath 

Being here in Scotland, though, I have been challenged to try some of these different types of quilting and found that I actually enjoyed some of them. I definitely learned from all of them.

You might recall that I moved to Scotland with a suitcase filled with 70 lbs of fabric scraps. I did that because I have been collecting leftover fabrics from past projects for years with a desire to use them, but always getting distracted by a new project that ‘required’ buying new fabric. 😊 

I knew before coming that the cost of fabric here was much higher than at home (add 30-40%) AND I knew there were not going to be very many shopping options, AND I truly thought I would have nothing but time on my hands once I got here. So I thought it would be clever of me to arrive in Scotland with those pesky fabric scraps/strips that I refused to throw away because I was ‘going to use them one day’. What a perfect opportunity this would be!

I figured if all I initially brought with me was the scraps, then I would be forced to use them while I waited for the rest of my fabric (because, yes, I brought the whole stash. I mean, why wouldn’t I?).  So, I brought the scraps with me and the rest of my ‘stash’ came in the shipment, which arrived 5 months later.

 

The 70 lbs of scraps I brought in a suitcase

While waiting for the stash to arrive, I did, indeed, use up a significant amount of the scrap strips I brought over. I made 7 scrappy lap-sized quilts and still have enough strips left to piece at least another 3. 

But I also met Isobel soon after arriving.  Isobel is the organizer of the Fat Quarter Quilters group that meets in Murkle (2 miles outside of Thurso). This is the quilting group I belong to. Isobel was about 2/3 through the piecing of the 365 Quilt Challenge when I arrived. The 365 Quilt Challenge was an online quilt challenge started by a (crazy) woman in Australia (who apparently had nothing better to do!). The idea was to piece 1 block a day for 365 days and end up with a giant quilt. The quilt is made up of 3 ½” squares and 6 ½” squares.

 

Some of the 3 1/2" blocks

When I first saw Isobel’s quilt, I thought it was complete craziness, but I was also intrigued. 
In spite of what 'they' say - it DOES hurt to look. 
Looking led to pausing to consider it, so LOOKING was my FIRST mistake. By the next month, I thought that might be a good way to use my scraps while I waited for my stash. STARTING it was my second mistake. 
The blocks started off easy enough and I could whip out 6-7 per day. But they quickly got harder. I actually pieced a 3 ½” block that has 52 pieces!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME??!  

This is the 52 piece block that measures 3 1/2 inches square

And THAT was when I knew it was going to be completely ridiculous. But I had already started it and was determined that I would finish it while I was here in Scotland so that I could say, “I made it in Scotland.”   That was a terrific idea, and I did finish the first 6 months of blocks. 
But by early spring, I realized the reality was that it would consume so much of my time to finish it, that I could either work on it (and probably not finish it anyway, with the combination of traveling and visitors) and at the expense of not having time to work on anything else, OR I could put it away and do other things, like make a summer wall hanging and like quilting on Daisy.  
It was a hard decision, but putting aside the 365 was what I decided to do. (And FYI – the 365 is now going home in a suitcase to be worked on this winter while I wait for the rest of the stash and Daisy to arrive home.) 

 

Mike assembling Daisy in her new room 

Daisy arrived at the end of October along with my stash. Daisy is my Handi Quilter Long Arm machine. She is called Daisy because when I bought her this song kept going around in my head- “Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer true. I’m half-crazy all for the love of you.” Mike quickly got her set up in her new room with a view of the Thurso River and the Scotland sky. And I quickly quilted the 7 scrappy strip quilts I had pieced. 
While doing that, I realized that 5 months without her meant I had lost some skills. I needed a way to practice because I just wouldn’t be able to make tops fast enough to quilt them. So, I thought I would do what I had done after I had been long arming for a year. I offered to quilt for my friends for the cost of thread.   This would be a win-win situation. People here would get their quilts quilted for a very low cost and I would get more practice and experience.

Cathy was the first to respond to my quilting offer. 

The back of Cathy's quilt

So, I posted the offer on my Fat Quarters Quilters group Facebook page, along with pictures of some of my past quilting that I was especially proud of, and I waited. That offer was quickly shared with the Caithness Quilters group in Wick and the first responses were from ladies I didn’t even know.  Before long, I had 7 responses and 8 quilts in the queue.  Each quilt was HUGE. Now, when I say large quilts, I mean like 100+ inches by 100+ inches.
Each woman was so relieved to have someone quilt for them that they all said, “I’ve had this quilt and just didn’t know how to quilt it.” 

Cathy's 2nd quilt with feathers inside all the light fabrics

up-close of the borders

I so understand why I got such large ones to quilt. There are very few quilting resources here. No local long arm quilters for hire. Well, there is someone in Inverness who long arms for hire, but that becomes difficult because Inverness is a 2+ hour drive away (each way) OR  it has to be sent through the post. Either way, you don’t get a lot of say in how it’s quilted.   Most women here either just make smaller quilts or manage to quilt simply on their domestic machines.  So, when given the opportunity to have a quilt quilted for a low cost, I, too, would have given my largest quilts. 

It was both a relief for them and a challenge for me.

 

Janet's quilt

This has an all-over pantograph design

The requirement for quilting, however, was that each woman had to sit with me and we had to plan the quilting pattern together. This was not easy because most ladies had no idea how they would quilt it, so they relied on my experience and suggestions as we played with options. I would lay my piece of plexiglass over the quilt top and draw designs with my dry erase marker to audition different patterns. Sometimes it was pretty clear what needed to be done, but sometimes the process took a very long time. But always by the end of our time, we would have a plan that we were both pleased with.

 

Joan's quilt

This is the one that I had to apply and use a chalk grid
AND make practice kimonos in order to quilt

For these new women I met through the Caithness Quilters, they would show up at my house with their quilts and we had to decide on a plan of action right then and there. No pressure there, huh? Later, as I quilted for my friends in the FQ Quilters, I could see the quilts while they were still working on them, so I had opportunity to think about them. 

Gwen's quilt

The back of Gwen's quilt

Two of these were intimidating to me. Even after days and weeks, I had NO IDEA how to quilt them. 
Did you know that quilts have personalities? They surely do. And if you listen, the quilt will tell you how it wants to be quilted. Now, this does not come naturally to me. I am learning how to listen.

Thankfully, I had months to think about these two particular quilts, so that by the time I actually received them, the quilts had spoken and I could proceed, no longer intimidated by them.

Isobel's quilt

Up-close of Isobel's quilt

Liz's quilt

the back of Liz's quilt

There was something to be learned from each quilt.  Sometimes it was something to learn about the thread tension. Sometimes it was learning how to mark a grid with chalk. Sometimes it was learning to do a particular design better and more consistently. Sometimes it was learning how to deal with a ‘bacon’ border (a border that does not lay flat, but instead, is wavy, like a piece of cooked bacon). One quilt required making up samples to practice on before starting on the actual quilt. Sometimes it was just learning to listen to the quilt. 

 

Norma's quilt with an all-over pantograph design

The back of Norma's quilt is an all-over pantograph design

A highlight for me was the Caithness Quilters’ Quilt Exhibition, which they hold at the end of July. I attended this show last year with Isobel and didn’t know anyone. This year, because of Daisy, I had so many new friends that I felt as though I belonged. AND I got to see 4 of the large quilts I had done hanging in their show!! It was quite a joy for me.

 

4 of the first 5 large quilts - all belonging to Caithness Quilters

A view of the Caithness Quilters' Quilt Exhibition in Wick

So that is how Daisy and I made some new friends in Scotland. She and I have quilted these quilts in between friends and family visits and travels this spring and summer.

 

Isobel's second quilt. This one is an all-over pantograph design. 

All of it was so wonderful, but now that most of the visiting and traveling is done, my sewing machine is back out. Her name is Brother Shirley because she is a Brother machine and I bought her from Shirley, a Caithness Quilter. She lives in the guest room upstairs, so she had to be put away for most of the summer as friends and family came and went.  But things are back to normal now. The room has been turned upside down once again, with fabric strips and pieces all over and the cutting mat on the floor in the middle of the landing (because I don’t have space for a table).  

 

This is Lis's Log Cabin quilt with my plexiglass board on top
 and the quilting design drawn on with dry erase marker.      It is next in the queue. 

I am currently in the middle of a quilted project for our church here as well as finishing the quilt tops I brought over from home. And Daisy and I are continuing to quilt for others until we leave at the end of November. I have 2 of my own and 4 from others in the queue and hope I have enough time to get them all done. 
I say that because life continues to go on every single day. And despite how it might seem, I do not get to sew every day. Or quilt every day. 
But I DO get to attend 2 long arm courses near Birmingham later in October. I am sure I will learn lots of new things there.

So, that is how Daisy came to Scotland and made new friends. What a blessing that has been!

 

Daisy in her new room with the practice piece.

Daisy's room. 

Daisy, with my own Jacob's Ladder quilt currently on the frame