Jokers Jest

Jokers Jest is finally finished! Right now it is snuggly packed in my suitcase waiting to fly to MQS with me. Let me rewind just a a bit.

Jokers Jest - 35" x 35"

Back in January Gina Perkes asked me if I would be willing to donate a piece to the Machine Quilters Showcase (MQS) Audacious Auction as she was this years Mistress of Ceremonies. My answer, of course!  I didn't quite know what I would be donating -- possibly something old, possibly something new, but I definitely knew I wanted to participate.

So fast forward to last month.  I was sitting on the patio sipping on my coffee and doodled my piece.

I had a plan. I then put the mirrors up and saw the full view:

Ehhh... it was a plan, I saw a couple of things I didn't like so I erased, doodled a bit more and viola:

I'm usually great at naming quilts, but this one had me a little stumped. My hubby kept saying it looked like a joker card and said I should doodle some more to make it more joker-ish. I posted on Facebook and someone mentioned jester. And then, it hit me... Jokers Jest.

Now for the fabrics. Back at Houston I purchased this amazing yardage bundle from Cherrywood Hand Dyed Fabrics - it was the North Shore bundle. Isn't it beautiful?!! I decided it would be perfect for this project.

And on to tracing all the pieces -- it's just like making a big puzzle:

I finally decided on these six colors from the bundle:

Now to take all those foundation pieces and turn them into fabric beauties: 

What was I thinking?!! Look at the skinny point on that heart shape:

All went well, even better than I thought!

And there they are - all the pieces to the puzzle (well, except for the little circles):

Starting to look like a quilt!

Did I mention the circles?

I also decided to add a few elements on the taupy beige border. It was looking a little plain to me.

And then I spent a full Sunday doing invisible machine applique:

And more... 

Oh, and even more...

 It was time for the quilting. I used two layers of Quilters Dream wool (my absolute favorite) and started stitching away on the Gammill:

If you look closely you might just see something: 

And then on to blocking. Here comes a bit of a story. I always block my show quilts, always. I wasn't about to treat this piece any differently. I dipped it in the tub, soaked the foundation pieces soft, and pinned it flat, like always.

Well... I also posted the picture above on Facebook (like always). I received a message from Karla/Cherrywood telling me that perhaps I might want to throw the quilt in the dryer and not block the quilt. She explained that sometimes the fabrics, while drying slowly (as in blocking), had wicking occur.  What? I had never heard of wicking. So, I walked over to my quilt and, OMG!  This is wicking:

What to do?!! Karla suggested I put the entire quilt in some Synthrapol.  Okay good, go find the bottle... hmm... where did I put it? Can't find it anywhere.  I call my friend, Nancy, yep she's got some, but it was entirely too late for me to drive over. Could it wait until morning? Not sure, so I decided to take the quilt and soak it again (as it is still fairly wet) in some cold water. I swished and scrunched and swished some more and the wicking areas went back to normal - yay!!! Into the dryer it went. Not my top choice, but still okay. So after it was dry I then proceeded to steam it flat.

It looks okay, not as flat and smooth as when I block a quilt, but still good:

And then the binding and label - and yes, I'll share the label:

I totally can't wait until Thursday night - that is the auction. I can't wait to see all the other amazing pieces as well, from what Gina has been posting online it is going to be awesome! Oh, I can't forget, if you are unable to attend and would like to set up phone bidding, contact Gina to set up the arrangements at ginaperkesdesigns@gmail.com !!