Day 2 I finished the bonus blocks and quilted the top border and the first sashing strip. These feathers remind me of the first feathers I quilted years ago. No improvement. But that’s what happens if you don’t practice.
This is a section of my first feathers from 16 years ago.
I am participating in an on-line longarming quilt along – Nine Patch-Along 7.0 taught by Natalia Bonner of Piece N Quilt. In the ideal world, I would have finished this top and had it loaded sometime last week. Instead, I was scrambling to finish the top Monday morning. But all in fine. The class runs 9 day – one 9-patch a day starting yesterday.
All fabric is from my stash. I found a piece of backing 44″ x 88″. The quilt is 50″ x 60″ – So John Flynn’s Diagonal Pieced backing to the rescue. I had exactly enough backing fabric for this quilt. In a lucky happenstance, I set the second piece of fabric down so I could measure and it turned out to be exactly where I needed it to be.
I love a wide back without seams, but the diagonal seam works well and doesn’t create bulk. The hard part is cutting the diagonal.
I’ve recently had a couple of quilts which were 68″ wide. A couple of those cutoffs allowed me to make a frankenbatt. I zig-zaged with a 7.0 stitch width and I think 1.4 length. When making frankenbatts, be sure the ‘grain’ is aligned.
I finally got the quilt loaded and basted, so it was time to stitch.
There is supposed to be a feather border. I got the vine in OK. After about 2 loops which were supposed to be feathers, I stopped and ripped them out. I’ll circle back the border in a the next day or two.
These are the first 4 bonus blocks. My free-motion needs practice – although the flowers in the green square aren’t too bad. I need to find my dry erase marker and doodle some feathers before I do the next couple of squares.
I wrote out my list earlier this week and thought it needed to be shortened. Somehow it’s longer. But I will be going to a quilt retreat this month, so there is that. The items are in the order in which I’d like to finish them.
This is Nine Patch 7.0. It’s a practice quilt for an on-line class starting Monday. It’s slightly further along than this. I need to have it loaded by Monday, but before I can do that I have 2 client quilts which need to be quilted.
This stack of fabric needs to become key fobs by the 16th. I either need to sort the fabric by color or find a good color which blends well on all the fabric since I’ll be top stitching them. I’m pretty sure it will go fast as I’ll be able to do them in an assembly line.
This skirt now has a waist band, but I ran into 2 issues. #1 the elastic I’m using is softer/stretchier than I expected, so I’m having issues pulling it through the waistband, and #2 a little disappointed in the amount of gathers around the waist. I need to just sit down and finish it. Again, it’s not that hard, so just do it!
I’m taking the Waves of Glory class by Annette Ornelas next week. I have experience with her dimensional curves, so I do not expect this to take long to complete.
Roll the Dice 1 – this needs quilted and bound. It’s not a very big quilt, but I do need to add leaders to the backing fabric I want to use. It would make my life simpler if I picked something else, but ‘I don’t wanna’. I’ll load this after I finish the on-line class and possibly after I get Waves of Glory quilted.
I really want to finish the Riviana quilt top. I plan to take this to the retreat. I have over half the 9-patches made already.
These red, white, and blue napkins have been in the works for over a year. It’s time to finish them. I’m taking them to the reteat.
Roll the Dice #2. I was digging in my UFOs looking for something and I found the blue string blocks. I think they go well with my HST top which is also a UFO waiting for a border. I think they’ll look smashing together. I do however need to make 4 more string blocks. Taking this to the retreat.
Kid’s Roman Holiday is really a PIG, as I’ve not cut into the fabric. This has been a project on my list all year. I’m taking this to the reteat.
99 Strips #1. This is for another on-line longarming class. I need 4 total, but I’m starting with this one. If I don’t have the rows stitched together before I leave for the retreat, I’ll take it with me. I’ll start the class after the retreat.
Now if I can just not start anything not on my list.
Labor Day the NinePatch-Along 7.0 starts. This is an online long-arm quilting class taught by Natalia Bonner. The class is free, but I did need to buy the rulers and patterns. Although she does have a panel you can buy, I’m making mine. Black is a questionable choice for the background, but I’m working from my stash. I plan to use Glide in the color Storm so I can see to pick it out if necessary. I considered Cool Grey 7 as well. Of course, I’m not past going for something wild like a neon green. Nothing like seeing ALL my stitches. The finished quilt will be 50 x 60.
There are 3 more rulers/tools that I need and I just got notice that they are out for delivery. The took a 3 day weekend in Indianapolis before arriving in Jackson three days ago.
This is my lunar eclipse pic taken last night at 11 PM CDT.
