feng shui in purple and grey

I know I promised a reveal and should have done this sooner, but, well...

First the thread took more than a week to get here.  I ran out of thread on the 4th of July.  I got notification the following Thursday that it was FINALLY shipped.  It didn't arrive until Monday, July 11th!  The delay I'm sure was in part due to a sale on the thread I'd ordered - I'm sure they were swamped and placing my order on the last day of the sale didn't help matters...okay, well, the sale ended on the 5th, but I'm fairly certain they were not open on the 4th.

So Monday night, after work, making dinner, washing dishes and all that nonsense, I fired up the longarm and finished that last pass.  It didn't take long, but it sure did take a long time to get there!

Let's take the journey again!

layout on the living room floor - room not big enough!

ready to longarm - deep breaths!
(and no stitch regulator again!)

first motif in a block - and some border work!
(oh look - starting to reveal things!)

out of thread?!?!

after the final pass was FINALLY completed!
(I never did use the extra bobbin...)

let's go outside for photos - first with the sun at my back

and now with the sun in my face (ooch! - bright!)

a little closeup of the quilting
(thanks for the inspiration Angela Walters!)

and some borders while looking into the bright, hot sun
(probably not the best of them, but I couldn't see what I was photographing!)

quilting from the back
(looks a little pokey, but really, it's just sunlight coming through the needle holes!)
fabric is a purple and black herringbone flannel
it really pops and I love it!

back inside - ready for binding!

So my new quilt for my bed is done.

Stats:

about 86"x100"

weight: 8 lbs (yes, I weighed it)

front: Cherrywood

back: garment flannel (heavier and fluffier than quilting flannel)

quilting: freemotion, no stitch regulator, done by me!

thread: Smoke, SoFine from Superior Threads - 1 spool plus some

It's rather hot lately and very humid and though the air conditioner is running like mad in the window, I'm fairly certain the binding part of this quilt can wait a few more weeks.  It's not like I need it on my bed to keep me warm any time soon!  (And truly, I'm a little worried about my Emma who regurgitates me presents quite regularly on the bed while I sleep...her white fur is okay, the regurgitated kind, not so much...)

In my last post, I neglected to mention that part of the family time involved the annual book sale.  I decided not to go so early this year and maybe be there late enough for the "bag sale".  (You purchase a paper grocery sack for whatever their deemed cost and can take home anything you can fit in there - let me tell you how packed you can get one of those sacks if you just take the time!)  My dad and I headed out - no one else wanted to go - and we got there just in time for the bag sale!  (Now this is a game - some years they don't even have the sale because they feel enough has been sold already, other years it's really late...just depends on who volunteered to be in charge that year, so you shop a bit and see how things are looking - sometimes you have to pay full price ($1 per paperback!), sometimes you hit it right...)  We hit it just right!  The bag was $10 this year - up from $5 last year, but seriously, look at the cost of a SINGLE paperback and with just ONE book you've done well - and my dad and I shared it.  We could both probably have filled a bag on our own, but we didn't.

It looks fuller than it would if packed properly - my dad pulled his out and then the bag fell over on the way home - maybe should have seatbelted it in the back seat instead of heaving it in the trunk?

Fun times.  I got a little sun (it was hot and sunny and a perfect day for the local 4th celebrations) and a pile of books.  Now I just have to read through the stack left from years before.

But I did work on that some this past week!  It was our annual trip to Drummond Island.  Where the hubby fishes all day and I quilt and read all day!  It was hot there, too, but not as hot as at home.  We had rain a few days, but the hubby managed to fish every single day but Friday (boat problems - his ran out of juice, so he planned to fish with a buddy the last day, then the starter on his buddy's boat decided it was ready for the 4th and started sparking everywhere...a little late, but also a little dangerous!).  I sewed every single day, but forgot my camera and my phone takes lousy photos, so not so many photos of what I did accomplish.

I took four projects, I worked on one.

Remember these fabrics that I bought for the Bonnie Hunter 2015 mystery quilt?  These were my final choices and they stayed that way, though that pink...I hope it tones down a bit in the final project because those blocks with pink in them got REALLY pink REALLY fast when I started sewing units together!

The pattern is no longer available (at least I don't think so?), but I'd printed and saved it way back last year when she had it up and just waited.

I came home with all 50 blocks completed!

30 of the blocks on the left, 20 of the blocks on the right.  They alternate.  I have to finish putting together the setting triangles, as this quilt is on point.  And I sure hope when it's all together they look better.  Right now it looks to me like they're two different projects!

This took a LOT of work.  The first step is something like 294 half square triangles.  Yeah.

I tried a few new rulers to make the "headless geese" units as well as the half square triangles.  I'm not sure I'll ever make a "headless goose" unit again, but I'm not fond of the ruler technique to make the half square triangles.  I know it takes longer to make and square them with a more traditional method, but I had a lot of trouble with accuracy using the rulers (probably partly me being new to them), but I think it's worth the trouble to do it the way I have been for years.  But I TRIED it!  There are a LOT of missing points here - not just the intentional ones.  But from a distance, it's not too bad and I have no idea where this quilt is going to end up, but it's sure not going to be a judged show!

So that's what I've been up to.  My suitcase of quilting stuff is still only halfway unpacked, but you know how it is when you come home from vacation...laundry, dishes, groceries all take up your time.  I took today off work to have a little extra to catch up and the hubby has the rest of the week off, so while he's out fishing, I'm relaxing a bit - and catching up on the stuff he rolls his eyes at - like blogging!

Happy quilting,

katie