retro finish

Check another UFO off the list - Retro is done!

It all started with a kit, purchased on sort-of impulse at an AQS show about a year and a half ago.  (What?  This UFO is that new?  Go me!)  I don't think I have a photo of the kit, so you'll just have to trust me.

I started cutting (fun!) the triangles at a retreat in January of 2016.

There are two sizes, so some got framed in by that green to make them all the same size.  Kinda monotonous, but I got to look at all those prints up close again!

I got to this point and knew all those blocks needing arranging...not exactly room for that at retreat, right?

But the next Saturday sewing day for my guild, I decided to have the fun job of arranging them on the design floor.  Floor.  (I'm sure my friends enjoyed seeing my backside up in the air that afternoon...)

Sew blocks into rows...

As I got the rows sewn, I hung them over the door in my sewing room.  That was fun to just walk by and see all those awesome fabrics again!

Eventually, I had to sew the dreaded long seams and make a top.

This photo is dated just over a year ago.  (I thought it was an even more recent top-finish than that, but thanks to technology, I have file names that include dates!)

Then it sat.  I didn't know how to quilt it.  I didn't have a back.  I knew I needed to trim the wonky sides, but wasn't sure if I should do it before or after quilting.

Put it on the UFO list!

And thus began the journey for a backing fabric.  As I said earlier this month, for some reason I thought this back needed to be red.  In my head, it was red.  Not an exact print or anything, just red.

After searching one of my local quilt shops from front to back to front, I finally settled on this print - it was in the middle of the store...

It kinda looks like stuffed olives, right?

And then I had to piece it...ack...long seams again...

And then quilt it.  How to quilt it?

The day I purchased this back, I was starting with what would to out to be a doozy of a sinus cold.  First the left side of my face turned into a snot-faucet, then the right.  It was short-lived, but I actually called in sick to work - I haven't done that in probably two years - it took that much out of me.

But, in my bubble-headed-ness, I came up with a brilliant way to quilt this.

The back looks like olives, right?  And the front...well, when hanging not-sideways, as in the photo above, could kinda look like martini glasses, right?

So maybe, as the quilting moves from top to bottom. those martinis are getting the better of the quilter...or quilt?

At the top, nice crisp corners in a squared loopy pattern...

...and then a little more relaxed toward the middle...

...and a little drunk at the bottom...

I feel a little guilty like I cheated this quilt out of some fancy quilting or something with this silly effort, but I also like the cleverness, so either way, I was going to question my decision.  I'm not picking this out, so it is what it is.

I even came up with a clever way of making sure I did the quilt in approximately thirds!

I looped some yarn over the lightbar and let it hang down so I knew approximately where to get more loose with the current design.  Other than making sure it didn't get caught in the thread path when the machine went under it, it was easy.

And then I had to trim those wonky edges...

The hubby was kind enough to set up a couple of the tables I purchased pre-longarm for basting and it went better than anticipated.  I've never trimmed something this large, but had a pretty good idea how to do it, and knew it wasn't going to trim itself...

(Now I have a pile of wonky triangles to add to my stash of scraps...oh dear...)

And then wrestle the binding onto the quilt (another of my least favorite parts)...

I'm thankful to myself for having made this binding when I made the top.  I don't really mind making the binding, but it's super nice to have it ready to go when I am.  (This is something Judy, as in the host of the UFO challenge Judy, talked about on her blog years ago and I read it and the idea stuck.  I try to do it every time, but I'm not always as diligent as I could be.)

I started working on the hand-sewing portion of the binding weekend before last, but got about one thread worth of stitching in and the hubby decided I needed to go to Taco Bell.  He does this a lot - he waits until I'm sitting down and settled in to whatever I'm doing (reading, sewing, Netflix) and then decides he NEEDS something.  Something that only I can provide.  Like cookies or dinner.  Okay, things he THINKS only I can provide.  I swear it's like a sixth sense of his, this knowing when I really don't want to get up for a while.  Kinda like my bladder!

Anyways, I sorta realized yesterday that this month is nearly over.  Yes, it's short a few days from the other months, but it kinda snuck by, too.  But the quilt isn't all that large (50x70, I think), so finishing the binding didn't take long.  I did the rest of it last night, between hopping up a few times to get the hubby what he needed.  (Thankfully, tomorrow afternoon should be the end of his decreased mobility that started Saturday and he can get his own bottles of water, glasses of juice, cookies, phone that he left upstairs, etc. and I can maybe get more of my own stuff done!  I love him, but we're both tired of this situation!)

So here it is, Retro.  Or perhaps Drunk Martinis?

(yep, sideways again...my clothesline is only so tall!)

Three for three on the UFO challenge (because I am counting my December bonus).

I'm ready for next month!!!

Happy quilting,

Katie