6/16/17

Ready for Binding

It gives me great pleasure to tell you that the quilting is finished for Snips and Snails. Today I'll sew on the binding and start on the hand-stitching. Yesterday's task was to quilt the background. I'm using Tracey Russell's design called "Snakes." Tracey has a series of free motion quilting tutorials on YouTube at Whirls 'n Swirls Quilting. It's worth subscribing to her channel. Her designs are easy enough even for us novice free motion quilters. The off-white sections were done with a natural YLI thread.


Things were going along swimmingly until I flipped it to the back to check my tension and discovered I'd caught a little corner of the quilt. Doh!


Fortunately, it was just a little bit of stitching, and it was pretty easy to fix. When the interior off-white portions were finished, I switched off to a light green Superior thread to quilt the border.


When it was finished, it looked like this.


You can see that Sadie didn't waste even a second getting to work on the snugglability test.


And the, um, "spa" test.


Smitty, who's the real expurrt in quilt testing, was somewhat appalled at this breach of quilt inspector etiquette. Obviously, she needs more coaching. Amateurs. What's a cat to do?


Here's how it looks from the back.


Before I started quilting yesterday, I finished stitching across the bottom of the Hocuspocusville block. It's a little hard to see the unstitched parts on this block, but there's just a little bit to do to finish off the top portion. I'm hoping to have this finished before the weekend is over.


Today I'm getting a badly needed haircut and picking up my glasses from the optician. Recently I spent a tidy sum having new lenses put in my glasses and my prescription sunglasses. The sunglasses were about four prescriptions old. When I couldn't read a map on our last trip, I knew it was time to update them. My regular glasses were two prescriptions behind.

There are things I hate spending money on and glasses are one of them. The other is new tires for my car. So much money, so little satisfaction. There's no reward in standing back with a good friend and saying, "Check out the new tires on my car! Snazzy, huh?" Yeah...not nearly as much fun as a new sewing machine. There are advantages to being able to see, however, and so I'll try not to think about the $$$. Actually, two pairs of glasses counts as $$$$$.

Hopefully I will have turned a few corners by the next time we talk. For now, I'll just lick my financial wounds and call it a morning.

22 comments:

Dorothy said...

I hope you send a pic to Ann Shaw. She will love what you have accomplished. (I feel the same way about glasses & tires) :-)

Vroomans' Quilts said...

I just love this piece! Wonderful technique, super inspiration, fabulous quilting. I need to go for an eye exam - been a very long time. I don't feel my eyesight has changed, but glasses have been thru two car accidents and rather beat up. I see new tires come the next winter season - hopefully Val's piggy bank challenge has enough in that barrel of change/bills.

Quilting Babcia said...

That is one amazing quilt. I like that snake quilting motif a lot, and it's so perfect for this quilt. Yes, I think socks and underwear also fall in that category of 'no reward' expenditures, and we're also suffering the new tires on the visa bill syndrome this month.

claudia said...

I hated spending money on washers, dryers and ranges! OMG! I got so excited when I got new ones though...I acknowledged the fact that I was feeling kind of blue because I was so excited over such a necessity! New car! New front room furniture...Yea! Not a washing machine!
Smitty looks down right appalled at Sadie's inspection methods. Each to her own...right?
It's so cool that you've come this far on Snips and Snails! I love the quilting you did on it. The backing is perfect!!!

Goofin' Off Around the Block said...

Barbara, I have loved watching you work on Snips and Snails. I'll be sad when you're finished (although eagerly awaiting to see what's next). You do such beautiful embroidery work. Glad I was able to find your blog. --Andrea

gpc said...

A lovely quilt, a lovely tribute and, I suspect, a lovely meditation, too, as memories of your brother must have accompanied every stitch.

Sandra W said...

You did a lovely job on the "snakes" quilting. I watched the video you linked to and found it very confusing.
So, again you did a great job on it.
Re: grocery store road rage--I've never experienced this. Maybe it doesn't exist in Canada--because as stereotypes have it--we are so polite and do what we're told.

There is a joke in Canada. Here goes.
"How do you get a bunch of Canadians out of the pool?"

"Okay. Everybody out."

crazy quilter said...

Fabulous quilting on Snips and snails! I laughed out loud at Smitty's face! Kitty etiquette indeed... I need new glasses as well but I am trying to hold off a little longer, you are right it is highway robbery for new glasses, and new tires too.

Gretchen Weaver said...

Your quilt is wonderful! What a great remembrance of your brother. I don't mind spending one my glasses. They're what makes it possible for me to still sew and applique and read books!

Debbie said...

perfect quilting motif on this one and the backing is just perfect too. A job well done and I know you will enjoy all the memories of it.

Dana Gaffney said...

I've been known to brag about my pretty new tires, the gorgeous black with that weird blue color on the white part and how smooth the drive is, that much money and time has to be bragged about, LOL.

piecefulwendy said...

The quilt is fantastic! How fun to be making such good progress on it. A squirrel just buzzed past on my deck as I was typing this. He paused for a moment, asking that I greet his cousins in your neck of the woods. Haha! My glasses are so scratched up they are hardly worth wearing. Thankfully my sunglasses are up to speed and almost new. No need to worry if you meet me on the road, at least from a vision standpoint. Tires are a necessary thing, but $$$. Enjoy your day!

Janarama said...

You deserve much more credit than calling yourself a novice free-motion quilter. Looking forward to seeing the quilt finished. I also hate spending megabucks on eyeglasses. Why do they cost so much anyway? Highway robbery if you ask me. I haven't spent megabucks on prescription eyeglasses for around 10 years now. The eye clinic I go to has Jonathan Paul Fitovers. They are great sunglasses that fit over your prescription glasses and aren't at all like those big, old, ugly sunglasses that they used to sell at Walgreen's many years ago.

Cheryl's Teapots2Quilting said...

Your brothers quilt turned out great! Yes, new tires are the pits, but, at least the tire store is across the street from the thrift store, and I can visit that, while they rotate my tires.

Ioleen said...

Beautiful quilt, love the quilting. Lots are memories there. I had cataract surgery on both eyes March and April last year. Just wear cheap drug store glasses now but did spend an arm and a leg on sun glasses.

Angie in SoCal said...

What a great quilt! Thank you for sharing that quilting link. I've gone over and subscribed.

Susan said...

It looks to me like Sadie was going to test to see if the snake was fur real and when she figured out if wasn't decided it might be wise to wash off the snake cooties. I think she furgot she was on camera and so Smitty was rightly appalled.

Californianativedaughter said...

I agree with you on the tires, but not the glasses. The last time I went to the eye doctor, he was extremely helpful as I had reached the point where I could no longer thread a needle. He adjusted my subscription so that I now can thread a needle and do hand embroidery(threading the needle). I was about to buy a new self threading sewing machine, but he made it possible for me to go on using my old mechanical workhorse and for that I am grateful.

Kate said...

Congrats on finishing all the quilting on Snips and Snails. It turned out beautifully! We are off to buy a washer in just a bit. So I completely understand the sentiment about glasses and tires. However, I have discovered it's pretty expensive to use a laundromat these days (like 2.5 times more than when I was in college). The washer will pay for itself quickly!

Auntiepatch said...

Snips and Snails looks great! And it's cat approved!

Brown Family said...

The quilt is looking great. It is probably bound by now. I hate it when we have no internet or slow intermittent internet. I get so far behind on blogs and emails!

Smitty is enjoying his Dad being home!

quiltzyx said...

I think Sadie & Smitty both approve of S&S, even if Smitty did NOT approve of Sadie's spa work on the quilt! lol I love that tennis shoe fabric on the back too.

I don't mind so much buying tires, but I do have "a guy" to get mine from. I need to get some new, non-scratched glasses one of these days. When I had my eyes checked last the Dr. only changed my computer glasses Rx. Unfortunately, while I can see the computer at work more clearly with them, I get a headache trying to read the bids I'm inputting from! Oh well. Since I couldn't get used to multi-focal glasses, I have 3 pairs - reading, computer & distance/driving. The driving ones have magnetic sunglasses that snap onto to them. Getting them at Walmart isn't such a hit to the wallet.