Quilting Afoot

Good morning, my friends. When I wrote yesterday's post, I was thinking about quilting those straight lines on Grandpa's Bridges, and I was worrying I'd make my hands and wrists hurt. My plan was to use this Line Tamer ruler, which I love. It fits around the foot of my machine, making it easier for me to quilt a straight line. The quilt was waiting for me, needle down, and the ruler was in place. I'd already used it to quilt the first line across the first side of the first block.

There were a couple of items on my to-do list, and I got in a Bowflex workout. Then, somewhere during the morning, my brain kicked into gear. (Must have been the coffee.) Suddenly, I remembered I had some specialty feet for my machine that would make this job a whole lot easier. 

You might remember when I used a specialty foot to finish off the Strips and Stripes quilt a few years back.

My machine is the Babylock Tiara II, but it is identical to HandiQuilter's Sweet 16. Any feet that can be used on the HandiQuilter machine can also be used on my machine.

Getting that out, I realized it was the exact width I needed for quilting a line down the middle of the block borders.

Not only that, it fits exactly in the corners, meaning I wouldn't need to rotate the quilt. I could stitch in any direction, and the foot would be an accurate guide.

So, I installed the foot on the machine, and then left them alone. It seemed a good idea to let them get acquainted before I started any serious quilting.

From there, I returned to my comfy chair and worked on my slow-stitching. When it was this far, I decided to move my hoop to the right.

Here's what I have for this piece so far...still a long way to go.

So, it's hooped up for the next section, and I'll start there this morning.

All righty then. It was time to get back to my quilting. It might surprise you to know that Smitty has a side hustle as a Mewteorologist. He kept watch for any bad storms headed our way...you know hurricanes, cyclones, droughts, typhoons, tornadoes...the list goes on at this time of year. Knowing he'd sound the alarm if I needed to evacuate, I felt comfortable settling into my quilting.

With the square foot attached, it was an easy job to quilt all 12 block borders. Here's how it's looking so far.

Here's a little closer look.

And here's a peek at the back, for what it's worth. Hard to see anything there.

Okay, and I'll use that same thread color to quilt the inner border. For that, I'll use a motif Lori Kennedy calls "Greek Key." It's an easy motif. I've used it before. Since I always have a hard time turning corners, I've adopted a new strategy of doing something different there. For this quilt, I'll use a dot-to-dot triangle in the corners, and continue with the Greek Key in the straightaways. I quilted just a few inches and I'll work at making my way around the rest of this border for today's assignment.

Next, I made two more blocks for the Zebra. These are the third and fourth blocks for the fifth of six rows. I'll make one more for this row today, and then I'll be able to sew the fifth row to the fourth and lay it out for a picture.

The fifth block for this row is laid out, and I'll sew that together first thing today.

With five of six rows of blocks completed for this, I'm feeling confident I can finish it with my sanity intact.

As always, there's plenty to keep me busy today. It'll look a lot like yesterday. With the Zebra coming down the home stretch, I'm kind of excited to add the fifth row of blocks by day's end. It's been fun watching it all come together. 

So with that, I'll leave you to your day, and I'll get on with mine. Our weather has been seasonably crappy. Heavy rain started up last night, and we’re expecting rain for most of the day. It’s good sewing weather.

Lotsa Blocks

Good morning, my friends. It was a crazy day grocery shopping. It seemed everyone in town was there to collect on those quadruple fuel points. We grabbed everything we needed and made our escape as quickly as possible. We made two more stops in town, but then we were home just after noon. We had our lunch and we each took naps, and then I could get back to my sewing. As I've said many times, life seems to be a series of obstacles getting between me and my sewing.

Smitty was my helper cat yesterday.

With his help, I quilted the remaining three blocks for Grandpa’s Bridges.

Before quitting for the day, I changed out my thread to a different color.

Then, I checked my tension and stitched the first of many straight lines. I’ll endeavor to get the block borders stitched today. My body only allows me to quilt for one hour at a time, and so it’ll depend on how long that takes. I might have to take two (or more) days to do that.

And then, I made my daily alottment of two blocks for the Zebra. These are the first two blocks for the fifth of six rows. 

There was some happy mail today. First, I received the backing fabric for the Zebra quilt.

Also, my quilting fairy godmother, Ila, sent me a care package. There were some embroidery kits included. The one is cross-stitch on linen. Floss was included with this.

Here’s the pattern…it’s a little easier to see.

Also, a couple of Aunt Martha’s…one for kitties, one for bears. Cute.

And then these cats to cut out and sew. I need to take this apart and study it a little more. Thank you, Ila.

So that was a good day of sewing and mail. There’s one easy to-do on my list for today, but otherwise, it’ll be a mostly sewing day. Happily, we still have some leftovers for dinner, and so it should be an easy-going day. 

Negotiating with the Zebra

Good morning, my friends. It was an easy-going day yesterday. Y'all talked me into taking a break from the Zebra quilt. I was tempted to work on it anyway, but we negotiated a plan for finishing the blocks. There are ten blocks left to finish the top. The zebra and I agreed I would aim to make two blocks per day. If I stick with that schedule, I should have it finished in five days. It's a good plan. Two blocks is doable, and I can maintain my sanity at the same time.

As for yesterday’s comings and goings, I got an early start baking the Jumbo Breakfast Cookies.

After that, I went to work quilting three more blocks for Grandpa's Bridges. This row and the one I'll quilt today are at the top of the quilt, and so I've turned the quilt upside down to keep the bulk on the table, rather than in my lap. Happily, these blocks can be quilted in either direction.

There's just one more row of blocks for this quilt. After that, I'll switch to a different thread color and devote my time to the block borders and the inner border.

After that, I was tempted to break my agreement with the Zebra and make two Zebra blocks, but I stuck to my guns and took a break from it. Instead, I spent the remainder of the day on slow-stitching, filling in my hoop.

This is a large piece, and it's going to take some time to make my way from left to right. For now, I've moved my hoop up to capture the top portion, and I'll pick it up there this morning.

So, it was good to take a day off from the Zebra. I'll return to it today with renewed energy, and limiting myself to two blocks will take off some of the self-imposed pressure. There's no hurry to finish it. The backing fabric is scheduled to arrive today, but I needed to order some batting before I'll be able to sandwich any quilts. And so, there's no hurry to finish the top until I have those two things in my possession. I’ll admit I’m excited to see it when it’s all sewn together.

Today is a grocery shopping day. We like going on Friday because we earn quadruple fuel points on our purchases. It amounts to a good savings at today's gas prices. Our list is mercifully short, and so there should be plenty of time for sewing this afternoon. And with that, I’ll be on my way. Those breakfast cookies aren’t going to eat themselves.

Lots of Sewing

Good morning, my friends. All my to-do's were finished early yesterday, and so there was lots of time for sewing. Three more blocks were quilted on Grandpa's Bridges. I'm just adding quilty details to the embroidery.

Here's another peek at the back.

That completes the two bottom rows of blocks. I'll start on the top two rows today.

After that, I moved to the sewing room and finished the fourth of six rows for the Zebra project.

Here's what I have for this quilt so far. I won't sew the bottom three rows to the top until they're all finished. It'll help with the bulk. 

The only other noteworthy thing to happen yesterday was the appearance of the deer. No sign of his family this time. He was at the far end of our field, and so I was zoomed way in to capture this image.

Probably, I’ll be spending some time in the kitchen today. We’re out of our breakfast goodies, and so I’m going to make some Jumbo Breakfast Cookies. Usually, I only make those when we travel, but since it says “breakfast” right in the name, I figure they’re fair game. 

There should still be plenty of time for quilting. As I’m writing this, I’m not sure I’m going to work on the Zebra today, even if there’s time. It’s been my focus for several days running. As much as I want to finish it, I’m also wanting a break from it. It might be good to take a day off. So, yeah…you guys just talked me into it. Maybe I’ll just spend any extra time on my slow-stitching. That always helps me relax. It’s like taking a little vacation in my chair with my feet up. If I’m really lucky, I might get a cat in my lap.

Snow Day Complete

Good morning, my friends. It was a fairly relaxed day of sewing. There were no to-do's on my list, although I did go for a walk on the treadmill. From there, it was sewing, sewing, and more sewing. Our weather is still pretty crappy, but it should be a little improved today...temporarily, at least.

There was just one more snowflake to stitch on the Snow Day piece, and I finished that easily. It still needed to have the Sticky Fabri-Solvy rinsed out. When it was dry, it was picture ready.

It still needs borders, quilting, and binding. So I'll set that aside for a bit. Finishing the embroidery was my goal for November's

And so I'll link up there when the party starts at the end of the month.

There was still time in the morning for some slow-stitching, and so I took the first stitches on the top scene for Over the River and Through the Woods. This one is going to take a while.

My next stop was to start quilting the embroidered blocks for Grandpa's Bridges. I'm sticking with a sort of rock wall motif at the bottom, clouds in the sky, and then some of the siding on the bridge structure.

Same thing here, except I did more of a leafy vine toward the bottom.

Pretty much the same thing here, except I did some trees and branches above the roof of the bridge.

Here's a peek at the back. Probably I'll stitched a single line around those block borders just to separate them on the quilt back.

So, that was a good amount of quilting for a day. I'll stick with doing a row of blocks for the next several days, and then I'll get started on the block borders and the quilt's inner border.

Moving into the sewing room, Smitty was there to help.

We laid out the first block for the fourth row.

And then I made the second block and sewed them together.

I might have had time for a third block except that I noticed I'd used the wrong color in the spot circled below. It's already fixed in this image, but that took whatever time I had left in the day. It's sometimes hard to distinguish those creamy brown colors when I'm looking at the pattern picture. It's easy to see errors, though, because the colors follow a diagonal path.

So, I laid out the third block, and I'll sew that one together today. There should be time today to finish this fourth row.

And since finishing this quilt has become a mission, I've already ordered fabric for the back. It hasn't arrived yet, but it should be here before I finish the quilt top. Zebra...of course. Probably I'll give this a black binding, but I might opt to give it a zebra binding too. I might consult Matthew about which he would prefer.

There is one other quilt for quilting that has not yet been sandwiched. You might remember the Stair Steps quilt top I finished back in July. This too is a large quilt.

If I'm going to be sandwiching quilts, I wanted to get a back for this one. I ended up selecting a 108-inch wide backing for it. Might as well make it easy on myself, right? And that arrived in yesterday's mail. I think this will work out just fine. Probably I can use that for the binding too.

So that was my day of sewing. Today will look a lot like yesterday. I'm kind of excited to be more than halfway with the Zebra. Matthew is also excited to see the whole thing sewn together.

All right then. I have just one to-do on my list, and I want to get in a Bowflex workout today. Mercifully, we've been having leftovers for dinner, and so there's not much standing between me and my sewing.