Tuesday, December 4, 2012

This and that

Something I have been meaning to update everyone on is my home made snap system for attaching quilts to the longarm frame.  It's working nicely for me.  It is still a little difficult to snap some of the pieces onto the leaders, but that's because they aren't really 'broke in' yet.  I notice that some of the coping strips that I have used more than others are easier to snap on.  That's okay, I'm sure they will all be broke in soon enough!  And it's not a major deal, just takes a little more pressure to get the pieces together correctly.

You may remember that I attached six tape measures to my rollers.  Two on each roller, starting in the middle and going out to the ends.  I did this months ago and have to say it has really really helped me to line things up properly and load quilts onto the frame straighter.  I just find the center of the backing or top, start at the middle of the roller and snap it on, then work out to the edge.  I know that if I go so many inches in one direction, that's what I should have in the other direction!  Helps a LOT with distortion and stretching.  Yes, I tend to manipulate my material into submission...  Is that passive aggression?  haha.

These lap quilts for the nursing home have become fantastic stash busters for me!  Woohoo!  I'm getting rid of a lot of material that just wasn't my taste.  It isn't that the material is ugly, it's just not something I would normally buy.  Most of this was gifted to me, and some was bought in the heat of the moment, later to be deemed a 'what was I thinking?' moment!  For instance, tonight I intend to seam together some material for backing the double slice quilts.  This material is a pinky peach color and has a smallish shell design all over it.  It's not a bad material, just not a 'me' fabric.

Last night, when I was in marathon mode for quilting I had a real nice little break when my daughter came downstairs with a glass of tea for me, a glass of milk for her, and an apricot danish cut in half for the two of us to share!  It was a much needed breather and after sitting with her for a few minutes and enjoying the treats, I had just enough energy to complete the quilting on the second top!

Tonight I would again like to get two tops quilted.  The only other thing I need to get done tonight is to make some Italian Sausages and hash brown potatoes for dinner.  That won't take too long, and I can get a few little things done at the same time as that stuff is cooking.  But, if I don't get two tops done, I do have the bonus time of being home tomorrow to get more done.  We are having a new furnace installed tomorrow and since Ev is supposed to go in to work at 11 a.m. to cover someone's shift, I need to be home.  Oh darn...  haha.

The new furnace is of course going in the basement, so I'm not real sure how much I will want to be down there quilting while that is going on, but if I don't/can't be on the longarm, I can hopefully be upstairs putting the binding on the tops that are already quilted.  Going to make the day as productive as I can.

Since I'm using a lot of batting for these lap quilts, do you think Santa would bring me another roll?  Maybe if I asked real nice and said pretty please?  lol

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