Last week I discovered a slight warp in my quilt frame which brought my machine quilting to a halt.  Not that this is great FMQ quilting, but see where the arrow is pointing…that’s where my machine was hanging up on the frame.  Although I haven’t tested it yet since I had pulled the quilt off the frame, I think I’ve solved the mystery.

That red lever is supposed to be flipped up when I’m doing free motion quilting.  When that lever is flipped up, the carriage does not rub the frame, so I’m 99% certain this will resolve my issues an the ‘warp’ is in tolerance.

Since I wasn’t on the long arm, piecing continued on Cascades.  It’s now ready for borders. They didn’t get done as I went to a 2 day quilt retreat with Quilters By Heart’s Desire.

I was able to pack everything in the large Tutto case I purchased at the guild auction a few months ago.  I’ve got my large Brother sewing machine, an electrical cord reel, power strip, phone charger, light, 2 spray bottles, mini iron, notions rollup bag, wool pressing mat, spinner cutting mat, assorted rulers (all smaller than 12″), Gypsy pop up bin, jelly roll, 16 napkins, and my main project “Sheryl”.  There was room to spare. The only issue is loading it into my car.  It gets hung up on the seats, but as I’m writing this, I think I’ll be able to put it in horizontally across the back of the car, then turn it so I can see out the back.  I’ll try that when I go to the overnight retreat in September.

Sheryl was my main project.  It’s a Villa Rosa pattern.  As I had a layer cake, I decided to make it larger, using 40 squares.  I precut my fabric so I was ready to sew once I got set up. Before I left for the evening I was able to layout the quilt to know what square went where.  The next day I had the top put together. I was even able to start on some of the napkins I had with me.

I found this floral print with a black background in my stash, but I only have 4 yards. Then I realized the fabric is directional.

So, instead of running the seam across the width of the quilt, I need to run it vertically and need 20″ of length on each strip. Not perfect, but perfectly acceptable, I will extend each panel with the binding fabric, which is the lavender.

I did not work on the KTS Christmas Sampler so I have fallen behind.  It’s one of my goals this month to keep up with this sampler.  I’ll work on the sampler blocks while Sheryl is quilting, then when I put my customer quilt on the frame I’ll put the borders on Cascades. Once Cascades is getting quilted, I’ll rip out the quilting on the auction quilt so I can load it.

Wait — totally forgot. I’m expecting fabric on Tuesday or Wednesday for a quilt which needs to be done by August 15th!  I guess I better get to it.