another quilt on the longarm!

With the relative success of longarming the niece baby quilt, I decided it was time to do another - get that pile whittled down while the confidence is high!

This one has been nagging me for a while, but I stalled out on it because I just couldn't figure out how to quilt it.  I felt like I had to do something special or custom within the blocks, but just couldn't figure out what.

(Never mind that if I used dark thread to blend with the background and back, it would show terribly in the lighter parts of the block, or if I used lighter thread to match the lighter parts, the background and back would scream with contrast.  And changing threads...ugh...)

But finally, I decided I just needed to get it done.  An overall motif would be just fine and down the road, when I'm using it, I'll be happier.  So I loaded it up.

I quilted using the same woodgrain-ish motif as on the baby quilt.  I did it larger and instead of marking, used points on the quilt to determine my marking stitches.  I wish I had done it a bit smaller and have an idea how to make that measurement even easier to figure out next time, but it's a hard one to eyeball just how large it will be.  Oops!

After the initial argument (thread breaks) in the first pass, the machine and I settled into a nice routine.

I thought I might actually get to eat lunch at lunchtime.

The machine had other ideas, as it decided to break threads three times in the last pass before the last roll.

But I was going to persevere.

Are.

You.

Kidding.

Me?

There was literally enough for the back, but not enough to hold it onto the frame.

I had loaded the top a bit generously, but not much.

So.

I took the whole thing off, trimmed the excess from the top and sewed it to the bottom.  Reload.

It took just two passes more to get it done (one pass isn't the entire width of my open space, just the width of the motif) and the machine decided it would keep all the thread in one piece this time.

Of course, it (and I) got a lunch break first.  (I needed to regroup and get less mad at myself for a bit.)

And when I trimmed the quilt, sure enough there was enough fabric for the back.  Not by much, but I'd rather have that than a half inch of fabric before the binding.  That just looks silly.  (But I've done it.)

Of all the quilts in my pile, I think this was one of about two that didn't have binding made yet.  Because of the scrappy nature, I hadn't done it yet.  But there was plenty of one of the dark blue fabrics in the quilt, so I used that and sewed it on.  It's not completely hand-sewn down yet (heck, I haven't even turned a corner yet!), but it's in progress.

Toby helped me bind the baby quilt first, though.

The blue is the baby quilt, the red is the back of the other quilt I was sitting under.  Toby is between the two and happy as can be.

It has been super cold here this past week, though I think we're coming out of the worst of it now.  As a result, I've had extra quilts on the bed - and I even used a Christmas one!  Gabby snuggled, but made sure to give me the side-eye for a photo.

She is leaning on my legs there while I read.  She is so expressive, but so cute, too.  (You might also notice she has TWO poof beds there sitting on my bed...Finn, the one cat who never slept in a poof bed before it was on my bed, kept stealing hers...so now we have a poof bed for both of them.  On my bed.  No, my cats are not spoiled, why do you ask?!)

I didn't manage any more photos this week, but I assure you the blue quilt above was quilted and is in the process of binding.  The baby quilt is finished, but no photo yet.  Christmas was postponed for that side of the family due to illness, but it worked out well because the roads were AWFUL and we would have been even more unhappy to cancel at the last minute.

Today the hubby is off work (their observation of the holiday), and the roads still aren't great (if it would just warm up a few more degrees, that salt would work much better!), so I'm not sure what today will hold, but other than my trip to the grocery store, whatever things happen will be happening at home!

Happy quilting!
Katie