Friday, July 15, 2016

I have NO BUSINESS joining a Quilt-Along!!

I need to turn in my entry for the quilt show in TEN DAYS, and I'm only 1/4 done hand quilting it.  But did that stop me from starting a new project?  Of course not!  Here's how it happened:

After Guild meeting on Saturday, a friend brought by a bag of donated fabric.  I didn't get a chance to go through it until this morning, at which point I separated it all by color or genre and put it away with the other donated fabric that I use for classes.  Some of it was Christmas fabric, so I stuffed it into the overflowing Christmas fabric bag that I have at the shop.

Then, at lunch time, I decided to visit some quilt blogs while I ate because I haven't been keeping up with blogs the way I'd like.  Somehow, I came across a Christmas In July QAL at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.  It got me to thinking about that overflowing bag of Christmas fabric, and when I read that an hour a day for 12 days would yield a 76" quilt, I thought, "why not?"  The blocks are big, (which is not how I usually operate; most of my quilts are built from blocks anywhere from 1.5" to 3", and the smallest piece I cut for this QAL is 4.5") and I'm only using 3 fabrics (which is REALLY out of character for me, the consummate scrap quilter!).  However, the fabric is cut, and I am all caught up with the first step - these fussy cut snowmen will be the centers of the four big blocks that make up the quilt.

Back to the quilt I am finishing up for the fair...I had seen a basting technique using boards that eliminated the need to crawl around on the floor while basting so I gave it a try on this quilt. OMG!!! I'll be doing this on EVERY QUILT from now on!  I sat in a chair at my dining room table to baste and it was a breeze!  And the backing is the smoothest I've ever achieved while basting any quilt.  And the whole process was quick, to boot!  I encourage you to give it a try!  The link I used was for Color Me Quilty.

Well, gotta get some Zzzzs tonight.  This week has been exhausting, teaching at Summer FAIR at 8 AM each day, and staying up past midnight quilting each night.  This week I taught the kids how to weave circular rugs on hula hoops using old t-shirts.  They did a fabulous job!

And I was thrilled that I had 6 boys and 3 girls in my class - how's that for thumbing our noses at traditional gender roles?