Taa Dah!

Making progress on the Monster Quilt . . . batting is off the floor.

The take up roll is running into the machine head... must mean more is getting done!

Batting moving up . . .

Oops... that's all the batting that is left after finishing the quilting. Phew. One good reason we didn't want a lot of quilting on this quilt.

It's DONE!

I'm going to let it "age" on the rollers for a few days -- I don't need Ruthie for a while.

Now, it is time to get on to baking cookies for two swaps. Tomorrow night I need 5 dozen bagged by the dozen and ready to go. Next Wednesday I think I need 9 dozen bagged in half dozens. I've already planned the recipe and the trial run of it turned out great. So tomorrow I'm doing cookies (probably 3 batches.) And, then I want to dress up the bags I am putting them in so they are "cute". Any spare time I think I will sew the rows of the last Mystery for Relay quilt which is all over the bed in a guest room. Hum, need to clear that off as Kevin and Aimee will be up for Christmas as will Jenny and Brian. So we're looking forward to a full house.

Time to make dinner . . . or at least my part of it.

Happy Quilting All!

Monster Day 2

The monster quilt is on Ruthie and the quilting has been started.

I am using a ruler to guide the machine. It takes a bit of getting used to but it does give nice oval shapes around the squares. This isn't the ruler I should be using. I found a ruler on the internet that is an oval with lines on it and that would have been perfect. But this ruler is on loan and you can't beat the price! I need to acquire the oval as I like this look on squares. I think I need to try the other rulers that were loaned to me. FYI the rather blue looking thing in this picture of me working is the ruler.

Here's the plan to get this thing done. And, wow, if I stick with it I'll be done before I know it. The quilt is basically made up of 4 squares with in square units surrounded by red sashing. Today I got one row within the red sashing done. (hum 6 of these big blocks per row and 6 rows = 36 units.) Ruthie is a petite little gal and I can only do half of the block on each pass. My plan is to get two of the red sections done each day which means only 4 passes. Should take 3 more days. Of course, I might get a wild hair and just keep working on it and get it all done faster. Nothing will get done on Sunday as we have commitments all day long.

Ta dah! A finished section! You can't tell but the same curved shape is on the inside of each square too. Black thread on the black fabric. By the time I am done with this I think I just might be an expert on this ruler. We newbies are always amazed when we see folks whipping around their rulers! (string is hanging off the one of the circles in the right hand pic.)

So, Jenny, when you have time make up your binding cause this thing will be done by the time you come up. And, I am knotting and burying some of the threads but I will probably leave some for you to do also. You can cuddle under this and tie away one day while you are here. Once you get this on the bed no one is going to be able to move as it weighs a ton!

I also got the third Christmas stocking done. I'm making stockings for the kids so Santa Claus can leave them some presents. I'll be putting the names on later by hand (or I'll pin the names written on paper on the cuff if I run out of time!) One more and I can go back to doing other things like sewing mystery #11 from Mysteries for Relay together. The blocks are sewn in rows I just need to press seams and put it together.

Happy Quilting All! Snow is forecasted for tomorrow so a great excuse to stay in an quilt!

Loading Up the Monster Quilt

If you've been following my blog you know I am going to quilt a monsterously big quilt for Jenny. It's about 117" on all sides. Heck, Ruthie only has 122" of leader so this is really pushing it! So it began today. This is the quilt top with its zipper on ready to roll on to the top bar. Next, rolled up on the top bar. It sure doesn't seem all that big but wait until I start rolling the finished quilt onto the take up bar. I may have to turn this baby to finish it all.

Raggs wanted to help by stealing the end of the zipper but I convinced him not to. So he's decided to be in charge of quality control.

I'm pinning the zipper to one end of the backing. Ugh -- Miss Jenny needs to prepare her backings a bit better... but she was about to go on vacation when she got all this stuff together. (I told her she'd be charged extra for the squaring up of the backing and removing the selvedges. 8-) )
UGH! The backing had to be ironed -- all 15,876 square inches of it. (sounds more that way, doesn't it!)

It is now hanging over the upstairs bannister waiting for me to put it on Ruthie tomorrow. I was too tired this evening after my library volunteer time.

For those of you who might be awaiting the photo of the finished Inchie ornament I'm sorry to disappoint you. I was in such a hurry to finish it and get it in the mail before pick up I forgot to take a picture. So, maybe I will make the extra little pieces into a matching ornament and show a photo of that. Don't hold your breath. I've got a zillion other things to do before that gets tackled.

I'm off to bed and dreaming about the fantastic quilting that will be going all over the monster quilt!

Happy Quilting All!