Saturday, October 31, 2009

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.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

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)

Saturday, October 10, 2009

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.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

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.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

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.