Final stage -

For those of you who have been patiently following my progress on this monster -

THANKS!! - your encouragement has kept me going - and "on task" -

Except for that one Squirrel the other day - LOL -

And I know that it has taken me a while - because I'm so slow -

But I think you'll like today's post - ;))

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So to continue the saga -

Today I pinned and sewed the second side seam -

Then trimmed both side seams at 1/2" - before tackling the center seam -

That was a monster - but I found the ends of the two side seams - made them "meet in the middle" - and then pinned out to the fold on the right end -

Then came back and pinned toward the fold on the left end - left a "gap" for turning it inside out - and drew my chalk lines for sewing like I did on the side seams -

Sewed and trimmed again at 1/2" - because I thought 1/4" would be too skinny if I had a problem - and I plan to sew completely around the entire top about 1/2" away from the new "edges" - like on a potholder. It won't need a binding - but if the edges begin to fray - I can always bind it later -

Then it was time to turn it inside out -

And - Oh, crap! -

I was afraid this was going to happen - should have basted it better - but it's too late now - LOL - I just have to cross my fingers that the opening that I left is big enough to get my arm in there if I need to straighten this out later -

Part way through - I had second thoughts -

Oh, dear - what have I gotten myself into? - LOL - ;))

OK - found one corner -

The rest of them are in there somewhere - LOL -

Found the second one -

And then I found the rest of them -

Flattened it out a bit -

And laid it out on the floor -

It's bigger than the floor space -

So the left side is folded over a bit -

But it worked!! -

Ta Dah!! -

The opening is in the lower left corner - and should be easy enough to hide -

I like how the center on this side came together - totally by accident -

I flipped over one corner to see what the other side looked like -

But couldn't really tell -

So I flipped the whole thing over to see the other side -

And again - the left side is folded over a bit because it's so big -

But I LIKE IT!! -

Tomorrow I'll mess with flattening it out - checking that the batting isn't scrunched up or folded anywhere - give it a good pressing to "fuse" the batting where it should be - and stabilize it for quilting - then play with hiding that opening - and removing the basting thread - ;))

To refresh your memory -

This is what it looked like BEFORE I started messing with it -

King-size plus -

WAAAAAAY too big to quilt by myself -

OR send out to be professionally quilted -

Now it's about half the size - two-sided - and a much more manageable size -

I sure wish I could remember where I saw this technique in the first place - so I could give the person credit. Somebody somewhere thought of it first - and it wasn't me. I just tried to recreate something I thought I remembered. I've been quilting for over forty years and have hundreds if not thousands of books and magazines that I have read from cover to cover. I have not been able to find the source of this particular technique yet. It's not like somebody showed me how to do it yesterday. It's something I saw a long time ago and tucked away in my brain until I "needed" it. I looked through some of my older books and spent some time these past few days searching the internet but still haven't found it.

Anyway - THANK YOU!! - whoever you are - it's an awesome technique that I will surely use again - ;))

And I already know how I'm going to quilt it. I have a favorite "pattern" that I've used several times on older quilts. I think you'll like it - so stay tuned - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -