Prep Work

Have you ever noticed that it takes as long to get ready for hand sewing as it does to actually do the hand sewing? That was yesterday's task. I sewed the binding onto the Blushing Aspens table runner in preparation for hand sewing the big finish.

I'm glad I chose the green-blue for the binding. It kind of needed that touch of color at the edge I think. Before finishing with it yesterday, I'd sewn a couple of lengths of thread and turned the first corner.

Next came the prep of Tyler's block for the Live, Love, Teach quilt. I've been gnashing my teeth over this one practically from the day I started this project. This is Tyler's original block:

Yesterday, I prepared the reverse applique rainbow. The arc wasn't quite right in that "hurricane" fabric, and so I added some free motion machine embroidery to emphasize the shape more and to bring in more of the aqua and pink colors. (It'll help reinforce the applique as well.)

After that, I traced in the sections for hand embroidery. Then I was ready to begin this morning. 

I'm using a variegated DMC 4250 floss for the "Rainbow Words" at the top. It seems to be a good match for the various colors that Tyler used.

Then, to get even more color variation, I separated out two of the six strands of floss, then turned them so that the colors ran in opposite directions, and then added one strand of black floss for a three strand length of floss.

Not a bad color match, if I do say so myself.

By the time I stopped this morning, I had it almost all finished. My knuckle was starting to hurt, and so I needed to quit.

Today I'm getting my monthly pedicure, which should be a good remedy for my aching knuckle. It's a good remedy for most things that ail me. After that, I need to make a quick trip to the grocery store. We have a dinner guest coming tonight. I'm not making anything fancy, but I still need to pick up a few things. I'm hoping I'll have time to get a start on Smitty's portrait this afternoon, but I'm not really counting on it. If not today...then tomorrow.