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.