Rip it real good

I picked up my grandfather's quilt last night to work on the quilting. It had been pushed to the bottom of the pile while I was working on my sister's quilt and xplusalong. I'm really pumped to quilt Sunshine Daydream, but I really need to finish this one first.

So I started a while ago quilting with gray Konfetti in the top and the bobbin, but realized too late that I should have used red in the bobbin, to match the backing. So when I picked it up again, I did that. I started quilting and about 30 seconds in, I realized that the red was *juuuuust* peeking through the top, so I adjusted the tension and kept going for a few more seconds. Not bad, but it really bugged me. I need to fiddle with the new machine's settings for a bit before I try to quilt with drastically different colors like this. So I pulled the quilt out, and changed the bobbin again. Then I realized that if the back had four square inches of red thread and the rest was gray, it would really bug me.

So that's how 45 seconds of quilting became an hour of seam ripping. But hey, that's one of the reasons I put a tv in the studio, right?

You'll see in the pictures that I started with stippling, but decided to do some pebbling after I ripped that out. So I guess it's a good thing, right?

I love this backing, I scoured for it online with no luck and then happened to find it at one of my LQSs. It has little planes on it - my Grandfather is a retired AF pilot. It was tough finding an airplane print that wasn't cartoony!

Sunshine Daydream

I finished my xplusalong quilt top! I even basted it! I try to baste as soon as I finish a new top because I HATE pressing and don't want to fold it up and put it away just to have to press it again later to baste it. Now it's on my pile of things waiting to be quilted!

See all these pretty open seams? I don't like them as much as I did a few days ago... I hate pressing... Except when it's cold in the studio. Then I love it - I like to put my hands on the hot ironing board :-)

I only had to move one piece of furniture to baste this thing. Score.

Yes, I stood on the arm of my sofa to take this picture. This thing turned out much more orange-y than I wanted. Oh well, it's like sunshine. Hence the name, Sunshine Daydream. It's a line from a Grateful Dead song.

Oh, look, I like open pressed seams again. So flat and pretty...

Best Instagram day ever!

So this happened today:

Yep. Kate Spain and Katy Jones on the same day. I feel so special :-P

So close...

I can almost taste it! I wanted to have the top done tonight, but it's not going to happen. Having been up for almost 30 hours straight means that I had to stop with only TWO seams left to sew. Hopefully tomorrow I can finish it up and get it basted too!

Blocks are done!

I finished all the xplusalong blocks! All 42 of them... it kinda felt like it would take forever, but it wasn't too bad. I'm really tired of looking at some of these prints though, lol.

I arranged them on the design wall and have three rows put together as of right now. I already have my batting and backing ready, so I'm hoping this will finish out quickly so I can put it on my bed and have a little early spring :-)

Coming along!

My xplus blocks are done! Except not really... I finished the ones I had cut out already and then decided that I wanted to do one more row, to make it fit my bed a little better. This thing is turning out to be a beast! So I did 9 more blocks yesterday and started cutting out the extras. A couple more days and the top will be done!


Empty plates = finished blocks!

Just keep cutting, just keep cutting...

Happy scraps!

Some of the finished blocks - in the daylight for once! This is not the final layout, I've just been throwing them up there as I've finished them. It's turning out more orange than I'd like, so the new blocks I'm doing are going to be lighter, and I'll mix them around in there.

Insomnia....

I really need to stop staying up all night sewing.... 25 blocks done though!