Well Begun is Half Done & Humming Right Along

Easy for Mary Poppins to say......

On Sunday I remarked my whole quilt.  I didn't want to take any chances with the second half.  A stitch in time, saves nine and all that.

The Crayola markers were the best.  They even showed on the darker browns.

I laid the quilt on my table, smoothed the backing and pulled back the top to expose where I had cut the batting.  I slid my travel pressing surface underneath.

I matched the batting exactly where I had cut it away.

This is my favorite way to join the two pieces of batting.   (look at my marked up hand from the markers!!)

Plain soap and water and like magic it's gone!

I worked my way across the quilt pressing the bonding tape.

Thank goodness Coco was there to support me~ doesn't she look guilty?

I secure the finished side to my table, then smooth the backing.

I clip the backing down keeping is nice and square, being careful not to pull it out of shape.

The measuring tape is showing where the battings have been joined.  I picked a spot mid-block so it will be good and quilted.

After a gajillion pins I was back in business and back to machine quilting the second half.

I felt there a little too much un-quilted space at the outer edges of the cable.  I filled it in by marking a point then quilting in the ditch and then hitting that mark.  I sort of makes an outer cable echo.

I marked it here to show you the line, but usually I eyeball it and just hit the dot I've made.  I think it is a good solution.

The craziest thing happened last week while I was quilting.   A hummingbird flew in the front door and up and into my sewing room!

The poor thing!  I took the screens out and finally caught her in my hand and released her.  A few minutes later I saw her at the feeder.  I'm sure she need a drink after that ordeal! here she is just taking off.  It is so hard to photograph them as they move soooo fast.

This is the second time I've had a hummer in my house, you can see the other time here.

The next post will have the finished King George Quilt!

Needs Must......

Happy Friday - Nine Patch Swappers are welcome to send their packages anytime.  I'm excited to see your patches and send them back to you.  Deadline is still Oct. 1st.

here is a little quilt i made ages ago with 4 orphan nine patches

Thank you all for your encouragement while I'm tackling the King sized  George quilt.  I have worked on it every day this week.

I am sad to report that many of your concerns about my marking choice was well founded!!  Many of the lines have worn off before I got to them :(
boo hoo boo hoo boo hoo   and also ^@#(* and also   $#%@&%^&^!!!!!!!

Needs Must - Right?  So while sitting at the machine I am remarking some sections.  You can see to the left where few lines are visible.

Sometimes I have are mark the ENTIRE CABLE -  now you might think me crazy for using the chalk here, but it's the fastest and best way with the batting and backing behind it.

Oh, the humanity, unpinning all the pins, marking, then pinning again before continuing......

Thank goodness Pride and Prejudice was on demand.  I like to watch movies that I've seen before.  I can just listen until it's time to watch the ending or a great scene.

I'm back in the "cockpit" - here is my set up.  The quilt is being held up by my big ironing board which I lower to match the sewing cabinet height.

I'm even employing my quilt filing drawer to hold the pin bucket, the all important REMOTE CONTROL, lol.  What my big scissors are doing there, I can't say.

I sewed between 5 and 6 hours 5 days this week and finished 7 out of the 13 columns of quilting.   Whew!

I'm loving how it looks and feels.

Now to prep the second half for quilting.  I'll start that tomorrow, in the meantime I'm off to the movies for a treat.

Fun For Friday:

What's better than my daughter finding a clearance dress for $10.00 at the outlet mall?

Hanna realizing the houndstooth print is CATS - She is an unapologetic Cat Lady.

Happy Labor Day to my US readers and Happy Weekend to everyone else!

Making My Mark

Thank you so much for all of your kind comments about my Mother's Garden Quilt.  Quilters have been so important to me, offering me many surrogate mothers.  It seems so many of us are united in loss and this time of year certainly makes us miss our loved ones even more.

Thank you to all of the "non-reply" comments as well, I wish I could send you a note to thank you for visiting, I certainly appreciate your comments too!

after much of this;

And some of this;

and with the 3 hour Masterpiece presentation of David Copperfield (my favorite Dickens' story), my quilt top was marked.

I am going to quilt a 3/4" cross hatch in the center section with 3/4" diagonal lines on the surrounding borders.  I'm filling in circles and leaves where I can on the vines.

I'm going to use pink quilting thread on top of the applique; pieces, and white for the all of the outlining and background quilting.  I had started with pink, but you literally could not see it, so I "un-quilted", ouch! and I'll use white.

I hope you are all finding a little time for yourself during this hectic season.  Today I'm hoping to start 2 small projects for Christmas gifts, so Mother's Garden will probably have to wait.