More Quilting

Well, I'm happy to say the day went more smoothly yesterday. We had grocery shopping to do in the morning, but we were home before lunch. Grocery shopping usually means we need more coffee when we get home...and then naps, because we're old and lazy. I believe we're more lazy than old, but I could be wrong about that. When I finally got around to the fun part of the day, I went to work quilting the Snowflakes quilt. Here's a picture of the finished quilt top for reference.

There are 18 quilt blocks. Then setting triangles and borders. It's important to pace myself when I'm quilting so that I don't develop tendonitis. I decided to start with six blocks. If I do six blocks per day, I can have the blocks finished in three days, and then I can spread the rest out over a few more days. Fortunately, I've pretty well settled on how to quilt it. Now I just need to get a start on it.

If you've been following for a while, you might remember I stitched these blocks on one of our trips. The embroidered snowflakes are from Mary Corbet's Needle and Thread. If memory serves, they came in three sizes. I knew I would be making mine into a quilt, and so I made them the largest size. There's a considerable amount of beading on each snowflake. The pieced snowflakes were some I saw on Pinterest, and the setting for this quilt is my own design. What I'll always remember about this quilt is that it was the first sewing I attempted after breaking my shoulder and my thumb back in December of 2020.

Okay, so let's get sewing, shall we? I considered using the same thread I used on the Snowman quilt, but then I decided the embroidery with metallic floss and the beads gave it enough sparkle. Besides, I've reached the end of my patience with metallic thread and monofilament. One can only use that combination once per year or less. Instead, I'm using a Bottom Line thread in my bobbin.

There are plenty of quilters who swear by Bottom Line thread. The first time I used it, I had all kinds of tension problems. Instead of swearing by it, I ended up swearing at it. I also swore I'd never use it again. But then I got a TOWA bobbin tension gauge, and my tension headaches mostly disappeared. Now I've discovered its appeal, and I really like it.

On the top, I'm using a YLI white cotton thread. I've used this successfully before.

Now here's something. I've been quilting with Eliza for 8 years, almost to the day. It uses these Groz-Beckert needles, and they come in all sizes. This 110/18 is the largest size I have, but they range down to 80/12, and maybe even smaller. 80/12 is the smallest I've used.

Unlike domestic sewing machine needles, there are no color coding marks on them to help determine what size they are. Certainly, I can't tell just by looking at them. And so when I start a new quilting project with a new needle, I'm never sure what size I was using on my previous project. Here's how they look off the machine. This is the back side, where there is a "scarf." There's a groove on the other side.

But yesterday I noticed for the first time, the size is etched onto the shank. Holy sh*t! Who knew?!?

I have to use a magnifying glass to see it, but sheesh. This makes things a lot easier. It'll mean a lot less trial and error when I save an older needle for future use. It just goes to show...you're never too old to learn something new. You might be too lazy, but never too old.

Okay, well, that was the most exciting thing to happen all day. From there, I got on with my quilting. In the pieced snowflakes, I quilted a little pinwheel motif. It's a little hard to see on the top.

It looks pretty on the back.

It was hard to decide how to quilt the embroidered snowflakes. They're all different, but I wanted to quilt something consistent on all of them. I didn't really want to stitch over the embroidery, and certainly I wanted to avoid the beading. It meant the only way to quilt it was to quilt around the outer edge. Of course, I chose one that was still retaining a crease from having been folded and stacked for the past year.

Here's a better example. Be sure and notice the difference in the snowflakes though. The one below is open to the center. The one above is solidly stitched all around the outer edges. There's no way to quilt into the center without quilting over the embroidery. And there are a lot of beads getting in the way.

Here's how it looks from the back.

I think I should quilt something in the center, but I haven't figured out what I can do that would be consistent from snowflake to snowflake. And maybe it doesn't matter. I could do something different in each one, making it work for the individual snowflake. And, hey...every snowflake is different, right? So I'm still mulling this over. Suggestions are welcome.

The kitties were no help at all with this. It rained most of the day, but it cleared for a while in the afternoon. They got out to do a little hunting. Most furry critters have made their escape for the season.

And I like this time of the year kitty-wise. They never stay out very long because it's too cold and wet. They were only out for a few minutes, and then came back inside to warm up.

When I'd quilted six blocks, I moved on to my slow-stitching and worked on that while we watched the evening news. I filled my hoop and moved it to the next position.

Okay, so there's plenty happening today. I'm getting my eyes checked, and then I'm meeting up with Matthew for some tea in the afternoon. A place opened near him in a converted caboose. Sounds like fun. Here's a picture I found online.

(Image credit: Joey Paysinger)

Also, the workers are coming today. At the very least they'll be replacing the baseboards and rehanging shelves and doors that were removed for the carpet installation. If there's time left in the day (doubtful), they'll start moving furniture back inside. HOORAY!!!! I'm keeping my expectations low, and I'll be gone for a good part of the day. We'll all be surprised when I return home this afternoon to see how far along they are. It looks as if the long saga of the basement leak might finally be coming to an end. 

Okay, so I'm not going to make the same mistake I made on Tuesday. It's time to get going and get out the door to my eye appointment. The rest of the day will take shape from there.