Not liking this quilt......

I ran out of backing-so off to Verna's (no complaints there) got the backing, decided on how to quilt it, decided to not use the variegated King Tut thread (have NO clue what to use that on now), had to buy white thread, loaded it on the frame got 1/2 through to learn that I was running out of batting!! UGH! Decided that I didn't want to run all the way to Williamsport for batting so I trekked to Wal Mart thinking that they had to have a packaged cotton batt-NOPE only polyester. Darn-all is on hold until tomorrow when I will have to visit Williamsport. I think I will buy a twin batt just to tuck away in case of emergencies.

All was not lost, I opened my Jo Ann Fabrics Bohemian block of the month and cut out the other 4 block pieces. I like the "Sunflower" block so I bought 1 kit and fat quarters of all the colors to make 3 more blocks for a simple wall hanging. Then I hit my ruler with the rotary cutter, chipped the blade and the ruler-set everything down and took a nap! I could not get a head today!

I hope everyone elses sewing went better today!

Next weekend is the Quilt Extravaganza in Hershey-SOOOO excited!

***I FOUND A PIECE OF BATTING THAT WORKS-BARELY!! NO ROOM FOR SHIFTING ON THIS BUGGER!!!

Don't you hate that??!!

Don't you just hate it when you buy what you need for a project only to get to a point and realize that you don't have enough fabric!! UGH!

I was asked to make a baby quilt as a gift. So we decided on a pattern (see a post in April about a Gazillion 1/2 square triangles) and away I went-construction was delayed due to the Boy Scout quilt but all was together this weekend. It took me HOURS to pick the triangle paper off the back so that it would press nice and flat. An off note-for picking the paper off the back-the Triangle Paper was much easier than the Thangles Paper.

Yesterday I came home from work ready to load everything on the quilt frame only to find that I did NOT have enough backing! UGH-kick scream cuss.....Daggone it. What I think happened because the one thing with quilting that I am really good at is the Math-is that I did not count for the 8 extra inches I need on all sides to load it on the frame. Right now if I chose to quilt it on my machine, not on the frame, I would have enough backing, but not enough to load it on the frame.

The bright side is that I now have a reason to treck out to Verna's on Saturday! I love Verna's and need to justify a reason for going otherwise I go without focus and BUY just randomly! Which is great but I am trying to stick to finishing what I have stuff for already.

Hopefully Saturday I can get this loaded and quilted. Part of my crazy thread purchase was a pastel variegated one that is intended for this-I want the quilting to be subtle so that the blocks stand out. I am thinking ABC's We will see. In the mean time I have some thangle BOM's to catch up on and the Debbie Mumm BOM to do-I just got the next 3 blocks on Monday. I am really liking these colors.

This is a random picture I took while in Chicago-I am standing inside "The Bean" looking up-very cool.

99% Finished

My disclaimer: I said that my goal was too ambitious on the Boy Scout quilt for my Dad. I had good intentions-enough said-here is the tale....

Saturday as I was packing the Hubby and the Son for Boy Scout camp I realized that the son has been wearing the same 3 pairs of shorts because nothing else fits or is "dress", the sweatpants were 3" too short (I swear I JUST bought those!) and we needed bug spray and toothpaste. So off we went-how hard in June will it be to find pull on shorts in size 8-PLAIN....Just about impossible! JCPenny, Sears, Macy's, WalMart, The BonTon, Dick's Sporting goods, Old Navy, etc....na da! I avoided The Gap because of the price but as we were walking buy I popped in quick expecting to still be empty handed....would not be the case-there they were-plain, not denim, pull on shorts-they were perfect Rip Stop Nylon, drawstring everything-then I looked at the tag-$18 a PAIR!! Daggone-oh well. We bought 3 pairs - never did find a pair of sweat pants but we did get packed finally!

Essentially there was no sewing on Saturday-still a border to add, quilting to be done, binding to be bought and cut and then sewn....already behind the 8 ball.

The boys had to meet the rest of the Pack at 2 so we spent a lazy morning together and at 2 off they went-I was alone! Just me and the dog. I hated to head home and just sit when I had 2 days alone (hubby came and went from camp-alternated with Poppa) so off to JoAnn's I went. I never get to just wander and look-I always have people in the car waiting for me to get exactly what is on my list and leave! It was nice-they carry the BSA fabric and had one that would do for the binding. $100 later (after coupons!) I left for Wegman's grocery store and dinner-love their grilled veggies!

That night I got the borders on the quilt and the backing loaded on the frame. At 11PM I gave up and went to bed. Monday night I got everything loaded and started quilting. Did not go well....the thread coming off the cone got caught on something pulling the needle off center and it chipped my free motion foot causing a burr which the thread got caught in as I was stippling. I fixed the thread-modified it's path and used a paring knife to fix the burr because I could not find a file-which resulted in me putting said paring knife into my finger tip-YES there was swearing....Eventually I had it figured out and away I went. At 1 AM with about 3-4 passes left, I went to bed.

Tuesday night I finished the quilting and got the binding cut and sewn on-not hand sewn over to the back. I was able to hand sew about 1/4 of this that night. So although it is not done done, it is together and awaiting hand attention. I took it with me to show Dad-he likes it and was not expecting it.

The matching quilt for Zach is still in single blocks and will need to wait until after the pastel 1/2 square triangle and a potential wall hanging wedding gift-not part of the 6 year gift previously mentioned.