no finishes, but lots of progress!

Last week I decided it was time to put on the big girl panties again and load up the graduation quilt for my niece.  I was so stressed about my machine and how it may or may not behave, I took zero photos in progress.

The quilting went fairly well.  A few snafus and thread breaks, but not much more than I would expect on a "good" day, and by the time I got to the last pass, the machine and I seemed to have come to an understanding.

I made a lot of thread changes, but it was not very exciting to look at:

The worst part was that I had to change every time I rolled.  And mid-rolls.  And I had to do half-rolls because there were so many pieces and changes and I was using the ruler base and that limits my quilting area even further.  But I got it done.

Then I made binding and sewed that on.  And set it aside...

...I plan to work on this eventually, but the hardest part(s) is (are) done.  My guild has a "meeting" once a month on Monday mid-day, and last time I went and took my iron, I learned the hard way that anything requiring power will be difficult.  This should be easier.  And at 60x60, it should give me plenty to do in the 4 or so hours we meet.

You can see what I chose for the back a bit here, too.  It's hard to see in this tiny space, but the purple background has a faint woodgrain to it.  It seemed barn-y and I love purple, so win!

Once that was done, I moved back to the Rise Above blocks.  Or maybe before.  Who knows.  It's all a blur and one week seems to run into another.

These seemed to take forever, but I think it's because I cut them and then got sidetracked by the Project Quilting challenge and then the horse.  And work.  Stupid work.

The last blocks were finally cut and sewn in short order.

These were the hardest and I knew they would be.  Not one of those inner black points is where it should be, but I wasn't going to rip it out and try again.  I knew they were going to give me the hardest time, being constructed as they are.  It's good enough.

After I ran the vacuum over the design floor (Finn, the orange kitty, sheds about a whole cat a day right now, and I've bought a de-shedding brush/comb thing, which I think might make it worse?  Never mind that he doesn't want to sit still and insists on trying to eat the pile of fur I've made, which means I have to keep moving that, too...) and quickly laid out the blocks and picked them back up before too much fur gathered again.

It's tilted 90 degrees from the pattern photo, but I had limited options to get high enough to get a whole-quilt photo.

Freddie, hearing last week that he was missing out on opportunities to be on my blog, decided to help.  I had to move him about four times while placing the second half of the blocks (he was late to the party), and then he decided to be an added feature in the final layout.  (Can you spot him?  Being black is working against him here!)

Once they were picked up, he wandered off and had a good altercation with his nemesis, the pink glove...

...I was putting the blocks together when it finally ended.  I'm not sure who won here - he is sleeping, though, so maybe he did?

(I had this pair of gloves and left them laying on a bench by the door, using them in the mornings to feed the barn cats quick-like.  He stole one and then the other.  I have found and reclaimed them probably a dozen times, even washing them, thinking there may have been a smell.  Nope.  These are HIS and he will seek them out, even hidden for the summer in a cubby in the coat closet, and tear through the house with them as though they are chasing him.  He carries them around.  He talks to them.  And the only thing I can figure is that the threads can fairly easily get caught in his claws (that he is not entirely adept with), so they "follow" him, making him think they really are alive?  Then again, he also found and stole a bacteria a friend knitted for me and still sometimes carries that around...

...so maybe it's something about the fibers in these things versus cat toys?  But look how tiny he was!  He is probably 10 pounds bigger now!)

Anyways, a few days of serious work and I had the top together yesterday afternoon!

The hubby grumbled at me about holding this up for a photo, but it was faster and easier than the clothesline.  Still 90 degrees rotated from the pattern photo, but I wasn't going to nitpick if he was standing out there in the 24 degrees (sunny, though!) holding it still for me.

I don't have a back yet.  When I got the top fabrics, I did look.  And I almost bought one.  But I changed my mind at the last minute, so now that is on the list of things to do.  That and figure out how to quilt all that negative space!  (Here's to hoping the longarm and I can come to a consensus again...)

Now maybe it's time to get back to the three quilts I started at/for retreat last month?

But...

A coworker is going to be a grandma for the first time.  Not the best timing for her daughter, but THIS is why I started making quilts, so you know that gal needs to get something special from me.  (I'm thinking Preppy the Whale if it's a boy.  Or girl maybe.  I've got time - she's due in early October.)

So I might squirrel sooner than anticipated for this project.  Today, though?  Probably back to the retreat projects.  One is all the blocks, but the design floor is in need of vacuuming again and I've done about 100 chores already this morning, so I need to reward myself with some sewing.  I guess that means the curved blocks?  They aren't hard.  There are just a billion of them.

Happy quilting,

Katie