A beginning -

 

 

At long last - 

 

I decided to go with the LIGHT GRAY thread - 

It should be easy enough to see if I'm "up close and personal" - 

And it should hide any boo-boos - 

 

I want to practice my "swirls" - 

 

So we'll see how it goes - ;))

 

 

 

Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew - 

 

More decisions -

 

 

This time I'm looking at my thread choices - 

 

First I thought that I would use BLACK thread - 

 

But then I found these two GRAYS - 

 

The LIGHT GRAY blends right in with everything except the BLACK fabrics - 

So I thought that I would use that - 

 

To hide all of my boo-boos - 

But now I'm thinking that I might actually want to SEE what I'm doing - 

So I'm leaning more to the darker one instead  -

 

I know I'm stalling - 

 

But this isn't a race - 

 

Or a competition - 

 

And I'm having FUN - 

 

So it's all good - ;))

 

 

 

Talk to you later -gotta go - gotta sew - 

 

More -

 

 

Quilting video watching - 

 

Or RESEARCH - as Gene calls it - LOL - 

 

And I'm still undecided as to how I want to quilt my next quilt - 

 

Below are two options that I sketched out on a printout of one block - 

 

Curvy spirals -

 

Or straight lines - 

 

I could have quilted the dang thing already - 

If I could have decided what to quilt - 

Any thoughts or suggestions? -

 

For my Simply Woven -

 

The whole top looks like this - 

 

 

It's so busy - nothing much will show anyway - 

 

Whether I do "custom quilting" - 

 

Or curvy lines - or straight -  

So I'm really not sure why I'm so worried about it - LOL - ;))

Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew - 

More puzzling -

 

 

And no sewing - 

 

 

After I watched a bunch of quilting videos today - 

 

Trying to decide how I want to quilt my quilts - 

 

Guess I'll try again tomorrow - ;))

Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew - 

Moving along -

 

 

At a snail's pace - 

 

But I'm moving - LOL - 

 

I got the backing rolled up on the front bar - 

 

 

And - if you're wondering what happens to the extra "zipper" -

 

When the backing is shorter than the full 90" (in my case) length - 

 

Because the backing is basted to the zipper - 

 

From the center out to each side - 

 

The backing just stops -

 

While the zipper itself keeps on going to the end of the leader cloth - 

 

On the batting front - 

 

I still have to cut it down to size (width-wise) -

 

And open it all out - 

 

To let it "breathe" and/or "relax" - 

And I still have to piece it together to make it long enough for two quilts - 

But one thing at a time - 

It will all get done - 

When it gets done - ;))

Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew - 

Side-tracked -

 

 

With a new puzzle today - 

 

A Purrfect Holiday -

CEACO - 2000 pieces -  

 

That photo is "glare-y" - 

 

So here's the bottom left corner - 

 

And the bottom right corner -

My daughter did 99% of the work so far -

And I didn't want to move any of it to stitch together some batting - 

I'd rather play with my teeny little 1% of the pieces - LOL -

 

Maybe I'll sew tomorrow -

 

Oh - almost forgot - 

 

She finished the Yoda puzzle - 1000 pieces - all by herself - 

I was of NO help whatsoever - the color shading was too difficult for me -

 

She is MUCH better at distinguishing between the various shades -

 

But her major complaint on that one -

Was that the poster colors were not TRUE to the puzzle itself - 

Which made it VERY difficult to put together - 

But I think she did a FANTASTIC job despite the difficulty - ;))

Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew - 

The backing -

 

 

For my Simply Woven - 

 

 

And Halloweenie Interweave - 

 

Was sewn today - 

 

 

I inserted a BLACK panel near the top of the backing - 

 

To make it longer to accommodate both quilts -

 

And - since I'm loading both quilts sideways - 

 

One right after the other - with the same backing - 

 

This BLACK panel will be a little off-center - 

 

In the back of Simply Woven - 

 

 

I didn't realize how "stripey" those GRAY branches look - 

 

Until I took this photo - 

 

Good thing I cut it straight - LOL - 

 

 

I was on a roll - 

 

And added the zippers to both the top and the bottom - 

 

And then zipped the backing to the leader cloths - 

 

Because it's loaded with the WRONG side UP - 

 

You can really see the "blobs" of branches in this photo - 

 

 

 

Tomorrow I'll roll the backing onto the rails - 

 

Then play with adding a piece to the batting to make it longer as well -

 

I still haven't decided how I want to quilt either one - 

 

But I want to quilt Simply Woven first -

 

Simply because it is the larger of the two - 

And - if you're wondering how I like the "zippers" - 

I LOVE them!! - 

It takes a little time to baste them to the top and the bottom of the backing - 

And then to "unbaste" them - 

But that little bit of time is SO worth it - 

 

It's so much easier for me - 

 

And my back -  

To just "zip" them on - and off -

Rather than having to stand/bend/reach/sit - 

 

To pin the backing to both leader cloths -

 

Plus - I don't get "stuck" when I smooth out the backing - 

 

And I don't have to poke anything into any "groove" - 

 

My leader cloths are attached to the rails with velcro - 

 

And the "other" half of each zipper is basted to the leader cloths - 

 

So it works for me - ;))

 

 

 

Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew - 

Lazy day -

 

 

Today was a lazy day - 

 

With no sewing at all - 

 

I didn't even THINK of sewing anything -

 

Except for writing up this post - 

 

So tomorrow it's back to doing some "chores" - 

 

And playing with my new machine and frame - 

 

After I make the center panel for the backing for these two - 

 

Simply Woven - 

 

 

And Halloweenie Interweave - 

I think I should be able to get them both done by Halloween - 

If I could just stop procrastinating - LOL - ;))

Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew - 

The treasure hunt -

 

 

For the scraps for my old UFO has been put on hold - 

 

I don't dare run the risk of finding more UFOs or Squirrels - 

 

Before I finish my "mission" of quilting these tops - 

 

 

Every hanger in the above photo has a quilt top on it - 

 

And only three or four of the hangers in the photo below are empty - 

That's quite a few tops that need to be quilted - 

And I haven't made much progress lately - 

So I better get moving - ;))

Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -

More maybes -

 

 

I found the scraps for Scrap Cards and Hearts - 

 

For my Upstairs/Downstairs - Wild Things - 

 

And my Antique Squirrel -  BIG BROTHER version - 

 

They were in plastic bins behind the sewing machine - 

 

 

And some of the ones for my old UFO were in the dining room - 

 

 

I'm sure there are even more of those UFO scraps around here - 

 

Somewhere -

 

Maybe I should go on a "treasure hunt" for them - LOL - ;))

 

 

 

Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew - 

Maybe -

 

 

While I'm playing with the backing for my two new quilts - 

 

I should also play with catching up - 

On making some Scrap Cards and Hearts - 

That might be fun - ;))

Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew - 

More of the same -

 

 

I found the extra BLACK piece from my last quilt - 

And the leftovers for Simply Woven and Halloweenie Interweave - 

 

But I got caught up in doing "chores' again - 

 

And didn't sew a stitch - 

 

Maybe tomorrow - ;))

 

 

 

Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew - 

 

About the same -

 

 

As yesterday - 

 

I straightened the backing fabric today - 

But I didn't get any sewing done - 

 

Maybe tomorrow - ;))

 

 

 

Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew - 

 

Staging -

 

 

I am SO glad that I opted for the table inserts - 

 

When I upgraded my frame - 

 

They SURE come in handy when I need a LONG flat surface - 

 

To "stage" my projects - 

 

 

My tops are -

 

Simply Woven - 60" x 60" - 

 

Halloweenie Interweave - 48" x 56" - 

 

And my backing was 108" x 108" -

 

So I tore it down to 70" x 108" - 

 

And folded it - right sides together - to check the 70" width again - 

 

The right side has a couple of extra inches - so that's good -

 

The left side needs to be straightened - 

 

But it also has a couple of extra inches - so it's good, too - 

 

 

The photo I showed yesterday makes the backing look GRAY - 

 

 

But it really is BLACK with GRAY branches here and there - 

 

And it looks good with all of the GRAY in Simply Woven - 

 

And it's mostly BLACK -

 

So it looks good with Halloweenie Interweave, too - 

 

The plan is to load the backing sideways -

 

And to add a vertical spacer strip to make it long enough to handle both quilts - 

One right after the other - 

Without me having to "reload" a new backing for the second one - 

I have an "extra" piece of BLACK from my Upstairs/Downstairs - Wild Things -

 

And I have leftovers from Simply Woven - 

 

So I'm going to add strips to the sides of the "extra" BLACK piece -

And make a vertical panel and insert it into the backing before I "load" it - 

I also have an extra piece of batting from my Upstairs/Downstairs - Wild Things -

So I can stitch that to a new batting to make that longer, too - 

I haven't decided which one I want to quilt first - 

But the "spacer" will be in the section for the Simply Woven quilt - 

The Halloweenie Interweave is all strips and squares - 

And would probably look better if the backing was one solid piece of fabric -

 

Any backing seams would be really noticeable if they weren't perfectly straight - 

 

So - I have my plan - 

 

Now I just have to DO it - LOL - ;))

 

 

 

Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew - 

 

Not much -

 

 

I didn't make much progress today - 

 

But I did choose the backing fabric - 

 

For Simply Woven - 

 

 

And Halloweenie Interweave - 

I think I have enough for both tops - 

 

If I insert an off-center panel for one of them -  

So we'll see - ;))

Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew - 

Bound -

 

 

My Upstairs/Downstairs - Wild Things is bound - 

 

Ta Dah! - ;))

 

 

Middle - 

 

Top left - 

 

Top right - 

 

Middle left - 

 

Middle right - 

 

Bottom left - 

 

Bottom right - 

 

Upside down - 

 

Back - 

 

The center panel fabric was used for the binding - 

 

So - one more down - 

 

A bunch more to go - LOL - ;))

 

 

 

Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -