Zip It Progress

Did a layout of my Zip It quilt this early morning before everyone was up.  Looks like I counted one of the rows incorrectly and need ten more block sets.  Whew... easy fix.  I have the perfect Civil War fabric for that spot that wasn't used at all in the quilt top.

While I'm at it, I may even add just one more row to make it a tad wider.  I counted the pieces that I have left from my guestimate of how many to cut and it wouldn't take much to make just one more row.  Use 'em up.  Zip It is a sew along with Emma Jean Jansen on facebook here.

Linking at Quilting is more fun that housework for Oh Scrap!

Temecula Quilt Company QA

Do you follow Temecula Quilt Company?  They are having a FREE quilt along!  Here are the details from their blog post today:

 Woven || Scrap Happy Stitch Along
Finished Quilt 56" x 67"

Next month I will be starting a new free stitch along here on the blog. 
What you will need to participate is simple. 
A large variety of dark prints and 5 yards of light print. 
Light print yardage is generous to be sure you have plenty. 

Come back on the third Monday of each month for 
each step and free printable pattern.

I'm marking my calendar now to motivate myself to finish the Zip It quilt top.  I may or may not have that quilted by the time the QA starts, but if it's a top, I will probably jump in.

I'm posting this so that I have a good reference for it.

https://temeculaquiltco.blogspot.com/2026/01/tqc-journal-issue-147.html

Rosebud Embroidery on the Frame

With the completion of the Cameo Rose quilt, I loaded and started the quilting in hopes of a "snow day" on Tuesday due to the feels like temps that are predicted of about 10 below zero.  We have today off school for MLK day, but that is a day that we utilize to make appointments. 

Because of the negative space at the top and bottom of the design, I decided to use the Marmalade design board from Urban Elementz.  The quilting of this one may take a little longer.  I am pretty sure it will work out in the center of the wreaths.  This quilt top was also stitched by my grandma around 1973.  She passed away in 1975.  Yes, it is a 50-year-old UFO.  I'm sure she would be thrilled that it is being finished.  Oh the conversations we would have about all the "modern" stuff quilters have now.  I know she would jump right in and play with all of them--yet I also bet she would have convinced me to set up her old quilting frame and we would have hand quilted this together if she was still here.  I can only smile as I typed this.

Slow Sunday Stitching -- Cameo Rose is Complete

The Cameo Rose quilt top was finished by my grandma around 1973.  I worked on the binding in front of the tv this week.  I finished it on Tuesday and got a pic before the snow came.  It measures 90" x 103".  The backing and binding are the same print pink fabric.  I longarm quilted it using the Circle Lord giant template board called Clam Shells.  I love the neat spacing between her stitches and the binding edge.

I did put a special label on the back that included my grandma's name along with mine.  (No photo.). Obvisouly I finished this quilt early in the week.  By Thursday the ground was covered in snow AND our son got a snow day home from school on Thursday.  I, on the other hand, worked in a district that had school.  Five out of 18 students reported off that day.  Four of them were "walkers" that walked to school and one had the flu.  It was definitely an easy day and dismissal went super fast.  It was 11 degrees in the morning, but the feels like temperature was negative 3.  Typically if the feels like temperature is negative 6, school is cancelled in our county.  BUT NOPE... Not negative 6...

I finished the binding on the Noel quilt on my lunches and planning periods this week at school.  It is crib sized and didn't take long to stitch the soft binding and fabrics.  The longarm quilting on this quilt was done when I was experimenting with my Circle Lord giant template board called Wanders.

My kwandi project also went to school with me.  I marked more rows and stitched a few.  I am using random scraps of different green embroidery floss that I found together in a bag.  I found that I like using two pieces.  I marked more lines.  I will stitch on the lines and between them.  Both projects are very relaxing.

I'm linking up with Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching here.

 

2026 finishes -- 5

Here's my Fall 2025 Ravelry UFO Club Projects:

1.  Bit Con quilt -- Needs more rows of strips sewn together -- size yet to be determined

2.   Rail Fence 3.5" RSC block -- 900 blocks needed/need arranged

3.  Piccadilly Circle -- Need a few more circle blocks

4.  Kite Girl -- Needs sashing sewn and put together

5.  Folk Art Birds -- Need more birds and alternate blocks

6.  Hourglass Mini -- Needs sashing

7.  Maroon Sampler -- Needs two more blocks

8.  Dicey -- Blocks need sewn together with sashing and cornerstones

9.  Fireflies Wall Hanging -- Blocks need appliqued

10.  Tall Shoofly Block Lotto Win -- blocks need sewn together

11.  Sail Away crib quilt -- Blocks need sewn

12.  Aqua/Brown HST -- quilted, binding attached -- being stitched on lunch and planning periods

13.  Aqua/Brown arrow crib quilt -- quilted, binding attached -- needs binding sewn by hand

14.  Fish -- a 12-block RSC26 project -- 2 fish sewn

15. Scarborough Fair -- Needs more blocks made

16.  Random Blue Blocks -- Hand Quilting -- In the hoop

17.  Acorn Harvest -- Quilt top needs assembled

18.  Bubble Gum Pink/Blue Quilt -- Binding being stitched this week in front of the tv in the evenings

19.  Green king-sized quilt -- quilted, binding attached -- needs binding sewn by hand

20.  Green king-sized quilt #2 (problem child won't lay flat) -- finished 1/10/26, 3rd finish

21.  Lupine and Laughter (Bonnie Hunter 2025 mystery quilt) -- in the piecing process

22.  Christmas Memories 4-patches sewn, need more

23.  Noel -- finished 1/15/26, 4th finish

24.   Zip It Sew Along -- all pieces cut in navy and cream.  Some blocks sewn but not in rows yet

25.  True Blue Sew Along (starts 1/15/26) -- all blocks made except for the block corners that are strip pieced.  All strips cut; some sewn.

26.  Kawandi 17.5" x 22" -- backing and batting sewn together.  Rows are being stitched

27.  Cameo Rose embroidery quilt -- finished 1/18/26, 5th finish

28.  King Rosebud embroidery quilt (flimsy completed by my grandma around 1973) on the frame

29.  Kathleen Tracy Mini #1 (pinwheels)

30.  Kathleen Tracy Mini #2 (squares)

31.  Kathleen Tracy Mini #2 (HST and a Square)

32.  Classic Meets Modern QA from 2014 -- block complete, need sashing

33.  RSC UFO (six blocks for a crib-sized quilt)--finished 1/8/26, 2nd finish

34.  Betty House #1 -- finished 1/7/26 -- 1st finish

35.  Betty House #2 -- some stitches done

RSC26 True Blue Sew Along

I fluffed through more navy and neutral scraps to make the third set of blocks for the True Blue Sew Along.  These are just the centers of the blocks.  They will be set on point in the quilt with scrappy neutral and blue strips.  True Blue Sew Along--American Patchwork and Quilting --you can get the details here.

The original pattern called for a 4-patch center of smaller blue blocks.  I didn't really like that look so I used a single block of that size.  

All of the corners require four strips that are strip pieced.  All pieces are cut.  Only a few are sewn together.  This project is moving right along.

Here are all the strips covered with the blue and cream Zip It Sew Along blocks in progress:

I chain pieced along and five rows are made.  I'll probably do 10 or 12 rows.  We shall see.  This is not necessarily the order the rows will go.  The fourth row needs a block taken off the top and one added to the bottom so that the pieces land correctly.  Easy fix.  No school for me or our kid on Friday due to teacher personal development day.  I got busy on sewing rows together.

And yes, you can tell through the dirty window that all that white stuff is on the ground outside.  The feels like is negative 3 during this pic on Thursday after school.  A few cold days are predicted during the next five days or so.  We shall see.  Looks like good sewing weather to me.

I'm linking up at Angela's blog, SoScrappy, for the RSC26 here.

Noel Quilt Finish

This little Noel panel quilt was the right size to take with me to school to finish the binding.  This measures 34" x 43.5".

I love this red dot binding.  I also found a great piece of fabric for the backing.

I think Circle Lord giant template board Wanders was a good choice for this one.  It quilts quickly.

2026 finishes -- 4

Here's my Fall 2025 Ravelry UFO Club Projects:

1.  Bit Con quilt -- Needs more rows of strips sewn together -- size yet to be determined

2.   Rail Fence 3.5" RSC block -- 900 blocks needed/need arranged

3.  Piccadilly Circle -- Need a few more circle blocks

4.  Kite Girl -- Needs sashing sewn and put together

5.  Folk Art Birds -- Need more birds and alternate blocks

6.  Hourglass Mini -- Needs sashing

7.  Maroon Sampler -- Needs two more blocks

8.  Dicey -- Blocks need sewn together with sashing and cornerstones

9.  Fireflies Wall Hanging -- Blocks need appliqued

10.  Tall Shoofly Block Lotto Win -- blocks need sewn together

11.  Sail Away crib quilt -- Blocks need sewn

12.  Aqua/Brown HST -- quilted, binding attached -- needs binding sewn by hand

13.  Aqua/Brown arrow crib quilt -- quilted, binding attached -- needs binding sewn by hand

14.  Fish -- a 12-block RSC26 project -- 2 fish sewn

15. Scarborough Fair -- Needs more blocks made

16.  Random Blue Blocks -- Hand Quilting -- In the hoop

17.  Acorn Harvest -- Quilt top needs assembled

18.  Bubble Gum Pink/Blue Quilt -- quilted, binding attached -- needs binding sewn by hand

19.  Green king-sized quilt -- quilted, binding attached -- needs binding sewn by hand

20.  Green king-sized quilt #2 (problem child won't lay flat) -- finished 1/10/26, 3rd finish

21.  Lupine and Laughter (Bonnie Hunter 2025 mystery quilt) -- in the piecing process

22.  Christmas Memories 4-patches sewn, need more

23.  Noel -- finished 1/15/26, 4th finish

24.   Zip It Sew Along (started sewing blocks together)25.  True Blue Sew Along (starts 1/15/26) -- 9 blocks made

26.  Kawandi 17.5" x 22" -- backing and batting sewn together.  Rows are being stitched

27.  Cameo Rose embroidery quilt quilted, binding attached -- needs binding sewn by hand

28.  King Rosebud embroidery quilt (flimsy completed by my grandma around 1973) on the frame

29.  Kathleen Tracy Mini #1 (pinwheels)

30.  Kathleen Tracy Mini #2 (squares)

31.  Kathleen Tracy Mini #2 (HST and a Square)

32.  Classic Meets Modern QA from 2014 -- block complete, need sashing

33.  RSC UFO (six blocks for a crib-sized quilt)--finished 1/8/26, 2nd finish

34.  Betty House #1 -- finished 1/7/26 -- 1st finish

35.  Betty House #2 -- some stitches done

Mindless Blue Sewing

 This year I plan to continue some of my RSC (Rainbow Scrap Challenge) at SoScrappy.  But instead of starting too many new "rainbow" projects, I'm trying to do whole quilts in the color of the month.  I don't have any blue/white quilts in my collection.  I got a little ambitious with the blues and I'm working on two different quilts:  True Blue, and Zip It.  Both are quilt alongs that started in January of 2026.

Yesterday as the winter yuck was going on outside (sleet and cold stuff) I was busy with my Accuquilt dies cutting 2.5" squares and strips for Zip It quilt along (on Facebook).  I also cut tons of blue and neutral 1.5" strips for my corners of blocks in the True Blue quilt along (starts officially on January 15th.) Now I'm all set up for some mindless sewing in the mornings before school and after I pick the kid up from bowling practice.  I'm just using scraps, and stitching them together for the Zip It.  They will find their way into the quilt at the perfect spot.

True Blue Sew Along--American Patchwork and Quilting --you can get the details here.

Zip It is a facebook group with Emma Jean Jansen here.

I'm linking up at Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!

Slow Sunday Stitching -- Noel Quilt & Green Problem Child Quilt Complete

 I took the Noel Quilt Panel project in my school bag this week.  Here it is in a kindergarten class.

Then it went with me to a 2nd/3rd & 4th grade gifted class.  Wow, some kids are really smart cookies.

At home in front of the tv I stitched and stitched the binding on this big green problem child quilt.  It is finished!  The fullness worked out and I think it looks great.  It will be a nice comfort quilt for someone.  I love the striped binding.  It measures 94.5" x 95".  It was purrrrfect to sit under and stitch.

The backing is fun.  I used a few holiday panels and neutral holiday scraps.

Inspector Candy and the striped cat walked through the frost-tipped grass to the check it out.

Candy instantly approved the tree-skirt panel on the back.

This colorful crib quilt got to go to 3rd grade this week.  I love the way the desks are arranged in this classroom.  There's plenty of room to walk around and help students.  There was a lot of participation during class discussions.

I finished it on Thursday:

I'm linking up with Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching here.

 

2026 finishes -- 3

Here's my Fall 2025 Ravelry UFO Club Projects:

1.  Bit Con quilt -- Needs more rows of strips sewn together -- size yet to be determined

2.   Rail Fence 3.5" RSC block -- 900 blocks needed/need arranged

3.  Piccadilly Circle -- Need a few more circle blocks

4.  Kite Girl -- Needs sashing sewn and put together

5.  Folk Art Birds -- Need more birds and alternate blocks

6.  Hourglass Mini -- Needs sashing

7.  Maroon Sampler -- Needs two more blocks

8.  Dicey -- Blocks need sewn together with sashing and cornerstones

9.  Fireflies Wall Hanging -- Blocks need appliqued

10.  Tall Shoofly Block Lotto Win -- blocks need sewn together

11.  Sail Away crib quilt -- Blocks need sewn

12.  Aqua/Brown HST -- quilted, binding attached -- needs binding sewn by hand

13.  Aqua/Brown arrow crib quilt -- quilted, binding attached -- needs binding sewn by hand

14.  Fish -- a 12-block RSC26 project -- 2 fish sewn

15. Scarborough Fair -- Needs more blocks made

16.  Random Blue Blocks -- Hand Quilting -- In the hoop

17.  Acorn Harvest -- Quilt top needs assembled

18.  Bubble Gum Pink/Blue Quilt -- quilted, binding attached -- needs binding sewn by hand

19.  Green king-sized quilt -- quilted, binding attached -- needs binding sewn by hand

20.  Green king-sized quilt #2 (problem child won't lay flat) -- finished 1/10/26, 3rd finish

21.  Lupine and Laughter (Bonnie Hunter 2025 mystery quilt) -- in the piecing process

22.  Christmas Memories 4-patches sewn, need more

23.  Noel -- quilted, needs binding hand stitched -- binding half way done

24.   Zip It Sew Along (started sewing blocks together)25.  True Blue Sew Along (starts 1/15/26) -- 9 blocks made

26.  Kawandi 17.5" x 22" -- backing and batting sewn together.  Rows are being stitched

27.  Cameo Rose embroidery quilt quilted, binding attached -- needs binding sewn by hand

28.  King Rosebud embroidery quilt (flimsy completed by my grandma around 1973) on the frame

29.  Kathleen Tracy Mini #1 (pinwheels)

30.  Kathleen Tracy Mini #2 (squares)

31.  Kathleen Tracy Mini #2 (HST and a Square)

32.  Classic Meets Modern QA from 2014 -- block complete, need sashing

33.  RSC UFO (six blocks for a crib-sized quilt)--finished 1/8/26, 2nd finish

34.  Betty House #1 -- finished 1/7/26 -- 1st finish

35.  Betty House #2 -- some stitches done

RSC26 -- True Blue Sew Along Blocks & Zip It

I had fun fluffing through these navy scraps to make blocks for the True Blue Sew Along.  I don't think I've made a blue/white scrappy quilt before this.  These are just the centers of the blocks.  They will be set on point in the quilt with scrappy neutral strips.  True Blue Sew Along--American Patchwork and Quilting --you can get the details here.

I was also productive on the next block (minus the scrappy neutral strips to set them on point)

 American Patchwork and Quilting is hosting this quilt along that starts 1/15/2026.  It's called True Blue.  You can get the details here.

Zip It Sew Along--Cutting pieces in blues and cream as part of the RSC26.  Started 1/2/26.

I finished an RSC project that I lost interest in a while back.  I had six blocks that were big enough to make it a crib quilt.  I forgot the name of the block.  You can read the full post here (yesterday).

I'm linking up at Angela's blog, SoScrappy, for the RSC26 here.

RSC Crib Quilt Complete

 I finished binding this RSC (Rainbow Scrap Challenge @ SoScrappy) quilt yesterday.

It measures 32" x 46".  I don't remember the name of the block.  It was an RSC block that I lost interest in a while back.  It will make a sweet donation quilt.  I think it's bright and cheery.

I backed it with a "baby" fabric found in my stash that seemed perfect for it.

2026 finishes -- 2

Here's my Fall 2025 Ravelry UFO Club Projects:

1.  Bit Con quilt -- Needs more rows of strips sewn together -- size yet to be determined

2.   Rail Fence 3.5" RSC block -- 900 blocks needed/need arranged

3.  Piccadilly Circle -- Need a few more circle blocks

4.  Kite Girl -- Needs sashing sewn and put together

5.  Folk Art Birds -- Need more birds and alternate blocks

6.  Hourglass Mini -- Needs sashing

7.  Maroon Sampler -- Needs two more blocks

8.  Dicey -- Blocks need sewn together with sashing and cornerstones

9.  Fireflies Wall Hanging -- Blocks need appliqued

10.  Tall Shoofly Block Lotto Win -- blocks need sewn together

11.  Sail Away crib quilt -- Blocks need sewn

12.  Aqua/Brown HST -- quilted, binding attached -- needs binding sewn by hand

13.  Aqua/Brown arrow crib quilt -- quilted, binding attached -- needs binding sewn by hand

14.  Fish -- a 12-block RSC26 project -- 2 fish sewn

15. Scarborough Fair -- Needs more blocks made

16.  Random Blue Blocks -- Hand Quilting -- In the hoop

17.  Acorn Harvest -- Quilt top needs assembled

18.  Bubble Gum Pink/Blue Quilt -- quilted, binding attached -- needs binding sewn by hand

19.  Green king-sized quilt -- quilted, binding attached -- needs binding sewn by hand

20.  Green king-sized quilt #2 (problem child won't lay flat) -- quilted, binding attached -- needs binding sewn by hand

21.  Lupine and Laughter (Bonnie Hunter 2025 mystery quilt) -- in the piecing process

22.  Christmas Memories 4-patches sewn, need more

23.  Noel -- quilted, needs binding hand stitched -- binding half way done

24.   Zip It Sew Along (started sewing blocks together)25.  True Blue Sew Along (starts 1/15/26) -- 9 blocks made

26.  Kawandi 17.5" x 22" -- backing and batting sewn together.  Rows are being stitched

27.  Cameo Rose embroidery quilt quilted, binding attached -- needs binding sewn by hand

28.  King Rosebud embroidery quilt (flimsy completed by my grandma around 1973) on the frame

29.  Kathleen Tracy Mini #1 (pinwheels)

30.  Kathleen Tracy Mini #2 (squares)

31.  Kathleen Tracy Mini #2 (HST and a Square)

32.  Classic Meets Modern QA from 2014 -- block complete, need sashing

33.  RSC UFO (six blocks for a crib-sized quilt)--finished 1/8/26, 2nd finish

34.  Betty House #1 -- finished 1/7/26 -- 1st finish

35.  Betty House #2 -- some stitches done

First Mini Finish of 2026

I took this little mini to school with me yesterday.  I knew I would be in a special classroom with students that appreciate calm to focus.  They would have some computer time and center time during which I had extra time to stitch.

A lady I used to swim with in water aerobics (Betty) gave these to me.  She had been working on them when she and her husband traveled exciting adventures in the US in their rv.  Her husband took ill and passed awaw shortly thereafter.  Betty no longer wished to continue the projects.  Sha gave them to me in hopes that I would enjoy them.  I didn't hand quilt at the time so I threw them in the UFO bin.  Betty passed away a few years ago.  I am confident to finish them now.  Betty House #1 & Betty House #2 are on the list to be finished this year.  It's interesting that the quote on the hearts in the corner say, "When this you see remember me."  Awww.  I stitched the first one to completion.

Here's the back where you can see a lot of the beautiful stitching that Betty did.

It measures 19" square.  I love the feel of the texture and can't wait to work on the other one in the set.

2026 finishes -- 1

Here's my Fall 2025 Ravelry UFO Club Projects:

1.  Bit Con quilt -- Needs more rows of strips sewn together -- size yet to be determined

2.   Rail Fence 3.5" RSC block -- 900 blocks needed/need arranged

3.  Piccadilly Circle -- Need a few more circle blocks

4.  Kite Girl -- Needs sashing sewn and put together

5.  Folk Art Birds -- Need more birds and alternate blocks

6.  Hourglass Mini -- Needs sashing

7.  Maroon Sampler -- Needs two more blocks

8.  Dicey -- Blocks need sewn together with sashing and cornerstones

9.  Fireflies Wall Hanging -- Blocks need appliqued

10.  Tall Shoofly Block Lotto Win -- blocks need sewn together

11.  Sail Away crib quilt -- Blocks need sewn

12.  Aqua/Brown HST -- quilted, binding attached -- needs binding sewn by hand

13.  Aqua/Brown arrow crib quilt -- quilted, binding attached -- needs binding sewn by hand

14.  Fish -- a 12-block RSC26 project -- 2 fish sewn

15. Scarborough Fair -- Needs more blocks made

16.  Random Blue Blocks -- Hand Quilting -- In the hoop

17.  Acorn Harvest -- Quilt top needs assembled

18.  Bubble Gum Pink/Blue Quilt -- quilted, binding attached -- needs binding sewn by hand

19.  Green king-sized quilt -- quilted, binding attached -- needs binding sewn by hand

20.  Green king-sized quilt #2 (problem child won't lay flat) -- quilted, binding attached -- needs binding sewn by hand

21.  Lupine and Laughter (Bonnie Hunter 2025 mystery quilt) -- in the piecing process

22.  Christmas Memories 4-patches sewn, need more

23.  Noel -- quilted, needs binding hand stitched -- binding half way done

24.   Zip It Sew Along (started sewing blocks together)25.  True Blue Sew Along (starts 1/15/26) -- 9 blocks made

26.  Kawandi 17.5" x 22" -- backing and batting sewn together.  Rows are being stitched

27.  Cameo Rose embroidery quilt quilted, binding attached -- needs binding sewn by hand

28.  King Rosebud embroidery quilt (flimsy completed by my grandma around 1973) on the frame

29.  Kathleen Tracy Mini #1 (pinwheels)

30.  Kathleen Tracy Mini #2 (squares)

31.  Kathleen Tracy Mini #2 (HST and a Square)

32.  Classic Meets Modern QA from 2014 -- block complete, need sashing

33.  RSC UFO (six blocks for a crib-sized quilt) binding half way done

34.  Betty House #1 -- finished 1/7/26 -- first finish

35.  Betty House #2 -- some stitches done

 

Binding Time

Binding time for this little Noel panel quilt.  It will be a simple project to take in my school bag.  

When I picked this red dot fabric in the quilt room, I didn't realize that I had already used this fabric for binding in the past.  Actually I bound TWO other quilts with it.  There were two different pieces in my binding bin.  It is a great fabric to stich through and lays really flat.

I also finished the quilting on the bubble gum pink/blue quilt.  This one is way too big (77" x 104") to take to school.  It will be a good one to stitch in the living room while watching TV.  This seems to be one of my new winter hobbies.  

I also sewed a binding for my little RSC UFO.

Yes!  Hand stitching bindings and finishes are ahead.  I had a very productive longarm quilting marathon over the holiday break.  More quilt bindings AND FINISHES to come.

Two Aqua/Brown Quilts to the Longarm

I am off work today because our son had an afternoon appointment.  I'm going to continue my longarm quilting marathon.  I got busy this morning and loaded this crib quilt onto the frame. I love the colors in it.

I haven't used this quilting template board very much.  I'm not very steady on the curves/corners yet.

The board is from Urban Elementz.  It is called modern squares.

I finished the above and loaded it's "sister" square quilt.  Ahh it's smooth sailing so far on this one.  It'll be quilted in no time.

I'm quilting the aqua/brown square quilt with an Urban Elementz design board called Marmalade.  I really like how this design quilts smoothly.  The beige thread is sinking into the quilt.  You can barely see the quilting in the photo, but it has a nice texture in person.  The backing is the same fabric as the border.

I'm thinking ahead that I will be using the Marmalade design board on my next project -- a quilt that my grandma embroidered in 1973ish.  This is good practice to get the design back into my brain muscle memory.  I think it will look nice in the little bit of negative space on that quilt and not take over the embroidery.  Stay tuned for that one.  I'm starting to run out of flimsies to longarm.  It'll be back to the sewing machine to piece for a while, just in time for the winter cold.

Here's a pic that I posted previously of that quilt:

Problem Child Quilt on the Frame -- Green King-Sized Quilt #2

Here's the quilt I posted about binding yesterday.  I quilted it this week during my longarm marathon session.  It's Green King-Sized Quilt #2. (Quilt top made by someone in our guild left in the to-be quilted bin).  I had no idea how I would get it to lay flat and quilt it.  The guild president gave this to me and said someday finish it and donate it.

I recently read on someone's blog that her longarm quilter had two main rules:

1.  Quilt must lay flat

2.  Quilt back must be big enough

Well this quilt had both problems.  I knew about the part about it not laying flat.  That's most likey why this quilt landed in the quilt guild's to-be-quilted and donated bin.

Here's the back that I made during the snow day in early December:

It has novelty quilt panels and some holiday themed novelty neutrals all around to make it big enough.  I figured it was big enough as it was on my design floor because it looks like it is covering the quilt top.  I loaded it onto the longarm and it was just a tad too short on the sides.  (The quilt top is square.) I removed it from the frame and found a piece of side cut from trimming another project and sewed it to the side--so I thought.  

I loaded the quilt again.  UGH!!!  I sewed the strip to the bottom instead of the side!  Time to unload the quilt from the frame, rip off the "bottom" strip and attach it to the correct side.  Finally, the quilt is loaded and I can stitch with about 2.5" of play on each side.

Now we can see that this quilt is breaking rule #1.  It is not laying flat.  I'll have to work in the play as I go.  Ugh.  Look at these blocks:

This quilt will take a little longer to quilt.  These blocks will need a little TLC as I get to each one.  I end up going slow and placing my hand on the fabric to manipulate it as I stitch.  It's all throughout the quilt.  It will all work out, hopefully.  I can see why it landed in the donation box.  It will make a nice compassion quilt.

I finished quilting this on Saturday.  It's was able to work through a lot of the fullness.  There's a pucker or two here and there, but it will still make a beautiful, large, quilt for someone.  It's only fitting that the quilted ended with only a half of an inch of batting in the margin on the bottom.  Whew, that was close!  I thought I took a pic of it, but apparently not.  I may have just been happy that it was quilted.  This will be a nice quilt to sit under and hand stitch the binding during the winter months.  Yeah!  

What a great longarming quilt marathon I had during Christmas break!  I'm certainly proud of what I accomplished.  I'm thankful I had good health during that time.  I even noticed a great amount of improvment in my bad knee to the point of almost no pain at all unless I'm on very uneven surfaces such as a hill or ditch.