Coast to Coast Admiration

Nathan Lindsey has been spreading the word about the Scrabble quilt. Amazement even from the opposite side of the country. Now we just have to go international...

Success

He has now opened it. And he didn't even have to pretend to like it...or he's the best actor in the world and needs to change careers.

(it even fits on his bed just like it was supposed to)

Safely There

Uncle Nathan has his surprise wrapped in some rather festive paper in his apartment. It is now only waiting on the day to be revealed. At some point he'll call and then he'll be allowed to open it.

Shipped and Gone

It will arrive Thursday. And I will be obsessively tracking it until I know Nathan Lindsey has it.

Ta-Da

Here it is. I may post more pictures later when I have Nathan's help to take them.
There are a few things I especially like about how it turned out. One, the quilting along the squares meant that the white spaces essentially became a little channel. The quilting distance of the whites (each edge of the white) is only .5 inch apart, so the white is held down tight, while the squares themselves are not, making the squares seem more poofy. I like that they stand out and the way it gives the quilt dimension. I also like my little label. It was nearly the proudest moment of the whole thing once I got to "sign" it. This is on the back in a bottom corner. With its inspiration. I pulled out the board and Owen exclaimed, "it looks just like that!" I like the look of the quilting on the back. It makes it look like so much work. (I plan on wrapping it so that Nathan Lindsey sees the back first and realizes quilt before he turns it over and sees what it really entails.)

Here's a close up of the back, well closer.

It's Finished

Last night I did all the final sewing. The border is on and there is nothing left to sew. I have to take out the basting (the "garbage stitches" that hold it together while quilting) and I have to clean up any loose threads from the underside that are peeking up in my seams. But I think I can take care of all that during Sesame Street.
Pictures of the masterpiece will be coming soon; this afternoon maybe. I'm planning on taking a ridiculous amount of pictures. Mostly due to the fact that I don't feel like I have enough pictures of the flip flop quilt and all its little quilted designs.
Essentially I'm glad to be done with it. I have been working on it all year. And now, despite my previous machine, vacations, two kids, pregnancy, and a horribly misguided but well intentioned plan of piecing the triangles, it is finished.

More Progress

I got two sides pinned last night. I expect I could have done more in that same amount of time, but I was watching Harry Potter special features and kept actually watching them talk about special effects and things. So no special features tonight, just pinning.

Quilted, Trimmed, and Ready to Pin

This is what I did yesterday while Owen watched Muppet Treasure Island and Lily made Christmas cookies with Dad, and occasionally came to stand in very inconvenient spots.

Next Step, Done

I finished all the quilting the other night. Now I've just got to finish it and get it sent.

Almost!

There are only thirty unquilted squares. I will totally get this done. The kids are pretty good about not climbing on me or the quilt during Sesame Street. Between that and quilting at night it's been moving along. But only thirty left. That means also that I can take a little breather from quilting this weekend.
Once all the square are quilted, there is still the matter of finishing it. It shouldn't be too terrible, but it is a king (CA king as a matter of fact) size quilt. Just that length of the sides means it will take a while to actually finish. A couple nights at least. I have to trim the edges and then fold and pin it all. Then sew it. With my new machine that part will be a breeze. The hardest part will be finding room on my desk to maneuver it.
Expect more excited updates.

Coming Right Along

I haven't counted lately, but I'm approaching done with squares. I just needed more opportunities to work on it, so the other day I asked Owen if he thought he and Lily could handle it if I quilted by them during Sesame Street. He thought they could and he was right. So that's an extra hour a day that doesn't depend on Number Three and I staying up late.
There has been definite progress.

No More Books

Mom and Jenna loaned me a book. And since I'll be getting Christmas presents together before too long, I thought I should read it in order to return it. Well now I've read it.
And while I've read it I haven't been quilting. I'd read it for like thirty minutes telling myself that I was waiting for the kids to fall asleep so I could go upstairs and get all the quilting stuff without all the noise. But really, it's not all that much noise. I could totally go get it.
So, tonight I will not read. I will only quilt.
(I have been predominantly quilting. I've actually been watching the Jonas brother's disney channel show while I did it. The first episode I tried to watch was so bizarre I couldn't make it through it. But it's grown on me. I'm all out and I'm a little bummed. I'll have to find some more random stuff on instant netflix.)

Bit of a Standstill

I haven't made as much progress this week as I could have. A couple nights ago I took a break from quilting and read. A brother-in-law who shall remain nameless inspired me to reread twilight and new moon before the movie comes out.
The next night after that I was so tired that I went straight to bed. And again last night. Lily has been waking up around six. Sometimes before six. Not so great for a pregnant lady who sleeps about as comfortably as any pregnant lady. Really, it felt early when she was waking up at seven. So, until Lily's gut let's us sleep again, the quilting progress will be slowish.

And as far as the counter on the side: I've done more than it says. The deal is that counting them all is a pain, so essentially I'm forgoing counting. I may update occasionally, but I'm not counting every night. I think I've done over thirty, somewhere around forty maybe. I get nine squares in my giant hoop and I think I've moved it four or five times.

Quilting

Last night I quilted five squares. The more I do the faster they get, I get in a groove. It looks nice, I'm really satisfied with how well the thread blends in too. It's gonna loook great. So, five down two hundred and twenty to go.

(i added a countdown to track the quilted squares)

No More Triangles!

The triangles and I are finished. I will have no more direct interaction with them. I will be quilting very near them, but I will not be quilting on them. They are sewn and done.
Seriously the triangles were an ordeal.
Now I'm on to what will be much more fun; if for no other reason than because I'm not confined to my machine anymore, I can quilt downstairs, I can even watch a movie! I will be hand quilting. It's too big for my machine, and I like hand quilting, it's a little more homemade and I like the process. That being said, this is a king size quilt and perhaps I'll change my mind. Maybe this will be the last thing I ever hand quilt. I am only doing real quilting, not the embroidery type quilting I did on the flip flop quilt, I'm not that crazy, so it should go relatively fast. We'll see how long it all takes, hopefully it won't become a Happy 31 present. But really I think Christmas is reasonable.

Light Blue Triangles and Star...

Done

Nearly There

I ironed the final triangles on and the star. Once they are sewn it will be assembly time and then to the quilting. Finally.

Can We Dance On It?

Every time I get any part of this quilt out Owen asks me this very important question. Today I let them; nothing is just ironed on at the moment.

I'm totally going to put the star, it feels like it needs something as a focal point. I need to put the final triangles on the edge reds and light blues. The bordering light brown is a bit of an almost issue.

There's this cutter at JoAnn's, she's young, not quite as practiced as June and the other septuagenarians manning the cutting table. So far every time she's cut something for me it turns out to be a good couple inches short. The dark brown was short, Lily's drapes were short, and the light brown is short. The problem is that it doesn't line up. In some parts it's not a problems, but in one spot my foot border is only eight inches, well almost eight and a half. Maybe she just doesn't cut straight, something. I feel a little bad that I think of her as "the bad cutter," but that's really how it is.

So the almost issue needs to be resolved. Either I cut all the light brown to eight and a half and then make the dark brown binding (I'm doing a fold over binding, it's just easiest) a few inches wide to make up some of the difference. OR, I sew an add-piece to my light brown, which I think would look kinda dorky to have a seam a few inches from the edge instead of just a longer piece. Also, making this slightly more difficult: I have no king size bed to measure it all against. I have measurements for a king mattress, but I'm still doing this somewhat blindly.

I don't have to decide yet. I'll do the star and triangles and see what I think then.

Today's the Day

It's today, but the quilt is not done. I did however have a great time in the SW. I called to commemorate the day and tell him again that his present is coming in December. Upcoming schedules will give me plenty of time to get it done. I'm hoping to have made significant progress by the time my mom comes for her next visit.

Time to Decide

I'm fast approaching the moment of decision on a few things. First of: the star. Scrabble boards have a star in the middle the orients the board. I'm torn on this. If I do it the quilt then has a way that it "goes." If I leave it out any side could be the top. Next, if I do the star ought I to also do the Double Word Score type text? I think if I do the star I'll just embroider a label along the edges of it that no one will notice unless they know it's there. If I don't do the star I'll add a label to the back. As I am finishing assembly these become now or never decisions, once it's together I'll have missed the chance. SO, should I star or not? Double Word Score or not?

Triangles Are Finished!

The kids spent the last couple days at Grandma and Grandpa's. Owen spent the night then refused to leave so he and Lily stayed while I went and bought more thread (I ran out of light and dark blue the first day). Then as neither wanted to leave after that they stayed until Grandpa dropped them off on his way to work.

The end result was that Owen and Lily had a great time and I got the triangles finished.

The quilt top itself is nearly finished. I have to add the border, but considering everything else I've had to do I pretty much reached the no-brainer stage of assembly.

Last night I ironed the fabric for the backing (all 9 yards of it, yep, 27 feet) and the light brown for the border. Next step cutting.

(here's a pic of the back. you can see all the seams and how much sewing and ironing were involved.)

Anticipation

Tomorrow the kids are going to Grandma Cindy's house. She's even bringing them back for dinner, ribs. But that means I won't even have to go get them. My plan is to clean the downstairs bathroom (it's the one Owen uses all day, it needs to be cleaned) and then sew triangles all day. I'm curious how many I'll get done. Hopefully at least all the light blue.

I just remembered that I was supposed to post a picture, so here are two:

for some reason the pink looks really yellow; it's not, it's just the lighting.

see what I mean about the light blue, the thread is too dark now that it's sewn. It was the best match I could find though. Again the lighting is a little weird.

Progress

I have all the pink triangles sewn on. I'm onto the light blue now. Next post will have a picture. It looks pretty stinkin' good. The pink thread was a total match. The light blue doesn't look quite as light as the fabric. The dark blue won't blend like the pink does at all, and I don't remember how the red matched; it was a while ago in JoAnn's.

Containment

It has been brought to my attention that I don't know everyone looking at this, that some unknown (to me) individuals have even told Nathan Lindsey that they have seen his surprise. I would just like to point out that the key word is surprise. And, not that it needs to be said, but I'm saying it: if anyone tells Nathan Lindsey I will hold them responsible for ruining, that's right ruining, over nine months of planning and work to keep it secret. And they will have to live with knowing that they did it.

Triangles

They are going on pretty fast. I have to place them just right, which takes like three seconds. Last night I got all the pinks and a couple dark blues ironed on. I have to sew around them all once they're on, but my new machine will make that a breeze. (and I expect it to be really fun too, I'll get to use my zig zag stitch!)

Two Halves

I have to fix one spot and then I'm sewing the two halves together. Then the board part will be assembled. I've scaled it so that the gameplay area is the top of the mattress, I have to add border, like on the board, so that it hangs down on the sides. This thing is huge. Each square is five inches and the white is half an inch. It's big.

September 24th, December 25th

Technically I think September 24th could be possible. Less so for me seeing as I'm not a retired grandma. But this morning I realized that it's really not all that attainable for me at all. I had forgotten that Nathan is taking off a big chunk of September. Grand Canyon doesn't exactly say king sized quilt to me. I will still be working just as studiously, but I'm thinking that September will have come and gone when it's finished. Which, with the adjusted mentality concerning the timeframe, I have more time to consider Double Word Score and all that and decide if/how I want to do that. So the "delay" could just be making for a more extreme Scrabble Quilt.

Another Unforseen Bunch of Ironing

I was all set to sew the rows together with the white between, but I'm discovering that I'll have to iron the seams open before I can connect them. So now I'm sewing white to one side of each row so that after I iron I'll be able to finally put it together. If I didn't iron the seams open I'd end up sewing them to the white and the colors would show through. So, rather than using the next few nights to iron on triangles I'll be using it to sew together the board. But then it will be together! Finally! And it will start to really look like it will end!

I Couldn't Resist

I had the iron out for Owen's shirt and I did a triangle. Then I had to see what all three looked like; and I must say it defines fantabulous.

Triangles, Again

I now have all the triangles ironed to fusible web and cut out. I am ready to start ironing them onto the white spaces. We had theorized it would be easier to do the triangles a few rows at a time, but I'd have to keep changing my bobbin thread (and I only have two bobbins!) so I'm either going to buy more bobbins or I'm going to sew the entire top and do one color at a time. I'm excited to iron them onto the top. It will be super fun to see this thing coming together.

Soon

Well I've ironed all the seams and am ready to sew the white between the rows. After which the board itself will be together. Then I'll just have to do the triangles, which seeing as applique is essentially iron-on and then sewing around it, it shouldn't take too too long. And, with my new machine I can sew around it way fast, otherwise I had planned on hand sewing around the triangles. But soon the squares will be a single unit and that will be exciting.

He Came to Visit

Now that Uncle Nathan's gone I can pull everything out of hiding and get back to work.

Happy Anniversary to Me

Technically five years is still a couple weeks away, but Nathan gave me my present early; a Singer Esteem II. It's amazing. I sewed a row in half the time if not better. I keep bracing myself expecting the thread to break soon. It's still instinct to expect it, but I know it's not coming and that's very exciting. And it's so quiet! There's no thunk when I raise or lower the foot. It's really very exciting. One of Nathan's main reasons was that a non-quirky machine would make everything go so much faster and I could finally be done.
And now what will become of my old machine? We're thinking about pawning it off on Mary to take to BYU to have for fashion emergencies. Basically we eliminated everyone else based on three reasons:
1 you are either crafty enough that we figure you need a real machine some day
2 you are either so unmechanical that we figured you would some how disrupt the Earth's spin with that machine
or
3 you don't live anywhere near us and I'm sure not paying shipping

Almost There

There would be more but I ran out of pink. So I bought some. There would be more but I have to wash the pink. There would be more but my machine and I are on a break.

That's Half a Scrabble Board People

Technically it's more than half; it's 8/15ths.

Here We Go

So sans triangles this thing is sewing itself. I'm already nearly done with the third row and that took maybe two hours. It's happening.
Thing is though, my machine. It's all fine and good, but on a big project it can get aggravating. For some reason the tendency is for the thread to break. I've tried all the troubleshooting things, bobbin tension, thread tension, different needles, but to no avail. Usually it's not an issue, I just rethread and kept going. But right now it's bugging me, I'm fantasizing about the singer machines at Target. But really it's just a quirk and I'm not in the mood for quirks right now.
It doesn't in anyway diminish the quality of the finished product or anything. In fact the only way anyone but myself would ever know would be to take the entire thing apart and look at the seams on the back of the quilt top; which would be crazy so I think I'm safe.
But it's coming along. I'll have to post pictures soon. It's even starting to look like a Scrabble board.

Applique

Personally I find it a little distasteful to switch to applique-just sewing some stinking triangles over the white stripes. But it may come to that. I showed Nathan my triangles a week or so ago and it surprised him. I showed my mom and she compared it to the Winchester lady who was crazy and thought she had to keep building to stay alive. In my case it was that I'd have to keep sewing triangles. It looks that bad. For some undetermined reason my triangle halves are not consistent height, which is some serious wrench action. It will really mess me up. So I am contemplating applique. I would be able to just bust it out. I have the white and the squares all cut. I could sew them together with very little effort and then come back to the triangles feeling like I've made progress rather than being up against a wall. Thing is though, I think piecing would look amazing and be so awesome and fantastic. But applique would speed up the process...I'm seriously thinking about it. It would go much faster and I would be able to really do some sewing. And this monstrosity could then be reasonably finished by Christmas at the latest, it makes September twenty-fourth seem like it might be almost attainable.

Slow Going, But Progress Nonetheless

Last night I cut triangles for over two hours, like two and a half really. And I have the right sides of the pink triangles cut. Just the right sides. I'm thinking another two plus hours and I could have the left sides cut too. Of the pink that is. I haven't started any other color yet. But it's progress.

Current Thoughts

I would still like to have this done by September 24, but it may not happen. But really I still would kinda like that. I've been cutting out the triangles and man is it obnoxious. They are just so small and so numerous. I really dread doing it.
Also, after a recent mutual, I discovered that I've got some skill with puff paint. My instinctual puff paint reaction was essentially "ugh," but being significantly older than my last encounter with puff paint the result was pretty impressive. Trying to make a wide line with puff paint is never very easy, but I'm now more open to the possibility of fabric paints for the lettering, 'cause really if it said "Double Letter Score" it would just be awesome.

Motivation

So September is fast approaching. I commented to Nathan that I really need to get with it or this will be Christmas rather than birthday. His expression gave the impression that he thought even Christmas was a stretch. Consequently I stayed up late last night prepping triangles. My goal tonight is to get to the point where I can sew a stinkin' triangle. So essentially I have learned that proving I can do something is a big motivator for me, I can only imagine what my textbooks would say about that; some kind of little sister complex probably.

Tick Tock

This morning I was thinking about the fact that Owen is almost three. With that however came the realization that June is not far from September. And with that came the holy cow I'd better get on it with the scrabble quilt feeling. So tonight I was all ready. I have more strips to sew, I had run out of white. But I am almost to the cutting of the triangles. It's really pathetic how slowly this is going I seriously blame netflix among other things. Tonight however as I was just starting out Lily started to cry. She puts herself back to sleep, but when she cries I practically hold my breath, so I did not sew. I crept downstairs, wishing I was wearing shorts and not pants as my jeans were making that walking in jeans noise. Tomorrow they are going to hang out with Grandma, Owen is even going to spend the night. Which means, I will come home and mop like the wind and vacuum like the wind and fold laundry like the wind so I can sew like a meticulous nut.

Sewing at Night

I finally tried it. And no one woke up. Total success. So, here we go. The only thing stopping me now is the fact that I have two Alias dvds coming today from netflix.

So Where Are These Fabulous Triangles?

I'm getting all the strips together for the triangles. It's taking a long time as I'm hesitant to sew at night. I shouldn't be worried, but it feels loud. Owen sleeps through it, I'm so not worried about him. But Lily is a light sleeper and I live in fear of waking her. Sometimes I literally tip toe past her door. She sleeps deeper than she use to, but old habits die hard as they say. So the triangles are progressing but not like lightning fast or anything. I may try it tonight just to see if it's really an issue. The other thing about the triangles is that I have to iron every seam after I sew it. I can't let it go even two seams. And it's a bit tiresome to be going back and forth all the time. But I'll see what I can do tonight.

I'll Have to Think About This More, But...

I may have solved the letter conundrum. (What conundrum? Think for a minute about the logistics of putting Double Letter Score and the like on the squares, to scale too.) I was looking at a JoAnn's ad, I get them in the mail, and apparently iron on letters are on sale. Excuse Me? Iron on letters!!! Wonder of Wonders, Miracle of Miracles!
Then of course I googled 'em and seeing as I'm not in the market for metallic or fuzzy the options are rather limited and not to my scale. Then my little eyes beheld what just may be the solution. There was a sidebar HP ad. And how you may ask is Hewlett Packard going to solve this?
I can print my own iron on letters. I've done it before, a la Julie Veroff. So I am currently thinking iron-on and I'll embroider around them to finish it nicely, but for now that's the plan. Maybe on further analysis I'll find some gaping hole in this proposition, but let's hope not. I'll just have to tell Nathan Lindsey not to wash it on a daily basis, but seeing as it's a quilt I don't imagine that will be an issue.
I'll have to test this method though, I don't want it to tackify my endeavor.

In Theory and Actuality

I tried my triangle theory. I only got one side of the triangles. So when I do this with the real fabric I'll essentially have to do it twice; cutting one set at 60 degrees and the other set at the opposite 60. So that will be rather time consuming, but seeing as I'll already have some sewn it will also skip a step.

So here are the strips (made with leftovers from the flip flop quilt), an inch and a quarter wide.
I used my pincushion as a standard so the size was evident. (I have enough biology to know that pics "in the field" need something to give a sense of size.)Cutting at sixty degrees, notice the acrylic ruler, I seriously adore it.One strip, three quarters inch wide-ish.One half of a triangle. In the actual I'll have to cut mirror images as well and hook 'em together. These are little by the way. The squares on the ruler are an inch.
And for those who missed it: the flip flop quilt. The flip flops have ribbon straps and really fit Jenna's feet. The best part though is the quilting, if I do say so myself.

The Triangles

On a Scrabble board there are triangles across the white surrounding the colored squares. I've been... dreading is probably the best word, the task of cutting out the triangles, seriously they're small. Last night I finished cutting all the white stripes out and starting brainstorming on the triangles. I think I can presew strips of white red white blue white etc and then just bias cut at sixty degrees and have the squares of triangles if you will. (I don't expect that to make sense to everyone.) The issue once again is seam allowances. The white and colors will already be sewn, but I'll need seam allowances on all the other sides. Last night I couldn't quite think my way around it, especially as it needs to be just under 3/4 inch. But I'm thinking this is totally the way to do it. I may have to pick up some more white but I'm heading into Thornton tomorrow anyway, the kidos are playing with Grandma and Grandpa. And being as I am on JoAnn's mailing list I get coupons emailed to me all the time.

As Promised

And that's just the squares. 225 to be exact. And the stack is four and a half inches high. I still have to cut the triangle parts that go in the white around the colored squares and I'm working on my pile of white strips. But, the squares themselves are all cut. I think I could be to piecing within a week or two, it really just depends on how motivated I am once the kids are in bed. Honestly sometimes I'm not all that super motivated.

Resolved

So double meaning here: the white issue is resolved. Essentially I'm just going with half an inch, really one tenth of an inch is not a huge deal, that's what I'm telling myself, maybe when I'm poised to cut I'll decide that it needs to be .416 of an inch, but let's hope I can handle the difference.
And the second resolved meaning: I'm finishing Lily's drapes tonight so I will be all cleared to go scrabble crazy and consequently I will have pictures to post. Right now I could take a picture of my huge stack of squares, but I'm thinking that I'll hold off on that 'til I have the extra 20 brown ones cut; just so it's more ridiculous looking. Because really it's a lot of squares.
So essentially, exciting pictures to come. (cause honestly, how boring is a blog of quilting progress with no quilting progress to show.)

Fractions and Shark Tents Don't Mix

I got all my squares cut last night. I cut while watching Monster-in-law of all things, an old recommendation of Aunt Ann's. It had it's moments, but all in all, I'd have been fine missing that one. Anyway, next up was the white for the betweens. But it was late-ish for me and I didn't trust myself to cut this one; the measurements got cloudy and I was thinking that I must have done the math wrong. So I'm now trying again and still having no luck. Part of the issue is that I'm trying to figure this all next to two kids having a great time in the shark tent laughing hysterically. Nothing so terrible in and of itself, but coupled with the fact that I'm trying to convert measurements in sixteenths of inches to twelfths so that I can multiple it all by a factor of six and two-thirds and then add half an inch, it all gets muddled. I'm having unit trouble I suppose. I will likely have to go metric. It really is easier for figuring, being ten based and all that, 'cause really twelve is just weird enough to cause me all sorts of problems, actually I think it may be the sixteenths. So, if anyone wants to help out...
the border is 1/16 and the squares and 12/16 (notice how I'm trying to simplify with the 16 not 3/4). I need to keep the same ratio, the square finished will be 5 inches visible, with an additional 1/2 for the seam allowances. The border needs the same extra half inch seam allowance.
I expect I'm just overthinking it, but really, unless I can get a moment to actually think this through Nathan is going to have to do it when he gets home, and I'd feel a bit like a dork. I can get as far as it's just one twelfth of five inches and then add half an inch, but .4166of an inch before seam allowances is as far as I can get before someone starts shouting and it's really frustrating me.

Here We Go

I'm all washed and ready to cut. Last night I cut the pink and had enough. That means I'll also have enough of the light blue as they are the same measurements. The red and dark blue remain to be seen. Basically it's all just squares except for the little triangles that flare out from the colored squares, but those shouldn't be too tricky really, I'll just have to pay more attention to make sure I don't cut them backwards or something. That'd be lame. But before too long I will be cut and ready to piece it together.

Three Days In, and Already a Problem

So I had planned on getting eight squares across, but am only getting seven when I cut. Which doesn't sound so awful, but it throws off all my figuring. I cut all the brown and I'm twenty short. I have 154 and need 174. Who realized a scrabble board had so many brown squares. Anyway, not the end of the world just a little annoyance seeing as all my fabric could be off. And then there's the debate do I cut them all and go once, it is thirty minutes away, or do I go as I finish a color and know how much more I need, lessening the chance that JoAnns will no longer carry my color. So that's where it stands now. In other news, I've washed the pink and am ready to cut it next.

I Heart My Acrylic Ruler

For my bday I got a rotary cutter, a mat, and an acrylic ruler. I am busting out the brown squares. I had been using the grid on my mat until it dawned on me that I can just use the grid on my ruler. It has totally changed the way I'm cutting. I don't preticularly expect anyone to understand this, but believe me, it's love. This will go so much faster.

Stinkin' Red

So I was all set to start cutting tonight, Nathan's working, and then in talking to Jenna I realized that I need to prewash it all. And, get this, I have to prewash it all separately. I don't want the red to bleed on the other colors. Really I spent enough time matching that I won't even wash the pink with the red. So, rather than cutting I'm washing the brown and the cream, 'cause really, has anyone ever heard of brown bleeding.

It Starts

Lily and I went to JoAnns. We took the Scrabble board and stood there in the solids comparing bolts to our board and debating. Seeing as only one of us is technically verbal I'm sure we were quite a sight. I'm super satisfied with how we matched, the darker teal blue isn't quite as teal-y as the board, but that's really only going to bother me when I'm holding a board next to it under flourescent lights. We even got it all on sale and it cost about a third of what I had feared, including the batting even! I will have to buy more later, like border and backing, but the actual board is upstairs waiting to be cut and assembled.