Done With My Thirties

Done with My Thirties

51" x 51"

©2013 Sharon V. Rotz

The quilting has been stitched. The binding has been added. The quilt is complete and I am "done with my thirties" in more ways than one.

I realized that I had never showed you the back of this quilt.

Instead of a solid piece of backing, I used all of my partially completed projects. 

Apparently at one time, I was going to make miniature quilts. See how far that went!

Can you name all of these traditional blocks?

The blocks were joined together with borders and fill-in areas of 1-1/2" squares of my remaining fabrics. It reminded me of putting together a puzzle with the various sized blocks, but actually went quite smooth.

Did you remember the names? 

Dresden Plate, Hexagon Star, Old Maid's Puzzle, and Rob Peter to Pay Paul

I found blue borders that were cut exactly the size I needed. How did this happen when I didn't even know what I was going to do? Nor the size that it would end up?

And, I had just enough matching fabric for a rod pocket so I could hang this quilt on either side. Step back a bit, and the rod pocket blends in nicely.

It is now official, I am "Done With My Thirties".

Hanging Rods

The project of making hanging rods has so far been - well...... a project. But now that I have my wood, it will just be a few simple swipes of the brush and I will have the rods sealed and I will be back to my quilting.

After carrying things outside (to work in a well ventilated space) and to enjoy the beautiful spring day, I am set. Oops, forgot the paint can opener. Another trip. Maybe I should have a cloth or rag. Another trip. I'm thinking - it's all good exercise!

I open the can of sealer. Oh my, it appears there is a longevity issue going on here. If you don't use the product for a while, it forms a 'rubber' coating on the remainder of the sealer. Not a problem, I'll just use my stirring stick to push threw it.

Forgot the stirring stick, another trip. Hm... it appears that if you haven't used the product for a really long time, that coating becomes very thick. My stirring stick isn't working. Not wanting to make another trip - enough with the exercise-- I attack it with my paint can opener.

This finally does the trick but not without taking off the skin of my knuckle on the edge of the paint can. Another trip into the house to try to stop the bleeding. A little sympathy from my helper, and I am back to the job.
On goes my rubber glove to turn and handle the wet board, and I am sealing away. I'm feeling a little sticky and look down to see my glove is disintegrating (only the finger tips, mind you) and my fingers are gluing to the board. Apparently, rubber gloves covered with sealer also have an issue with longevity.

The end of the story is that I have persisted and finished the job, but next time just pass me the hammer and I am nailing those quilts right to the wall. Job done!

How do you hang your quilts?

On the excellent advice of a fellow art quilter, I started using flat wooden rods to hang my quilts. The flat boards hang nicely close to the wall and there are no rod bulges of the front of the quilt (like you may have from a round rod).

I use pine lattice strips, 2" wide x 1/4" thick, which I then seal with a wood sealer. These are cut about an 1" shorter than the top of the quilt and hanging holes are drilled in the ends.

I have always been able to get these easily at all the stores that stock lumber. I was running out so off I go to my usual store. Nothing! A second store, nothing! Suddenly, I've found I couldn't get my favorite 2" wide strips anymore. All they handled were narrower strips that seemed a little wimpy for my large quilts.

Was I the only one who needed this size? Weren't the 6 strips that I bought at once enough to keep them stocked? Was my contribution to the lumber business to be ignored?

Since the stores are a half-hour drive away from home, I did buy a few narrower ones anyway. I didn't want to miss the opportunity and have to travel back again because I couldn't get anything else.

Well, not to give up yet, the next day I traveled 30 minutes in the opposite direction. One more lumber store is in my sight. Success! Sort of success, anyway. At this store, I found some that were a compromise. They were not 2" wide but they were wider and less wimpy than the others I had found.

Now to seal them and get them cut for my quilts.

At this point, I am thinking that it would have been much easier just to nail my quilts, sans rods, right to the wall.