New Back for the H Quilt

Last night I dreamed that Barack Obama and John McCain were in my sewing room each clutching spatulas and trying to flip the motifs on one of my crazy quilts. They just couldn't figure out how to do it....

I think I have been watching too much political coverage.

But I've had two days of solid hand sewing "busy work", preparing my H quilt for its trip to Houston. You see, the old backing I had put on it just did not cut it. The silk had gone ripply due to my using the wrong kind of interfacing on it (or something). Plus, the label looked a little crooked. We just can't have that...not for Houston!

So I took off the old back, put on a new one of some VERY nice black wool (it was Donna Karan, many bucks per yard, purchased 6 years ago when I thought I was going to sew an overall jumper out of it. You know, to wear with a crisp white silk shirt? Summerset, if you are reading this, don't laugh. Me and clothes...it is a sad story.)
Anyway, the wool looks great, very classy and I love the feel and weight of it.

Then of course I sewed the sleeve on to the side instead of the top and had to take that off and redo it.

Then I cut out my label from the old back and sewed it on--straight this time--to my new back. I squared it off and dressed it up a little, too.

Here is the new label. I got those punched brass corners at Lacis last winter.
There were three reasons I used that red lace as a border:
--I wouldn't have to turn under the edges of that brown silk damask. That would have been bulky and very hard to get straight. The lace covered the raw edges nicely.
--the little holes in the edges of the lace gave me a good stitching guide so that my stitches would be even
--Uncle Hal would appreciate the somewhat bordello aspect of the lace. He LOVED women.

I think that wool makes this more formal, as it should be. It is a memorial quilt, after all.

But H himself wasn't formal. This picture of him, taken the last time I went to visit him in Tucson, gives you an idea of his personality. He came up with this pose for me.

There he is enjoying his morning cigar and cup of coffee. His T shirt says "Freedom Is Not Free".

I guess H had politics figured out!!!