Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Did you ever feel like you're putting together a puzzle when quilting?

often I do!

This was my status last night before throwing my hands up...no longer motivated because I didn't know how to "finish this puzzle"...((Back-pedaling)) Yesterday found me by-passing Chunky Churndash because I was suddenly motivated and inspired to finish up Lucidity. And although this quilt LOOKS simple, for those of you that aren't border-making lovers, this would be a monkey on your back with all those lonnnnng blasted sashing strips!!! Really---it was like putting 11 borders on one quilt! As stated, this was my status as of 8:00 last night....backing ALLLLMOST pieced, and I simply didn't have any passion left after being 6 INCHES short!!!!!!! Bad calculation?? No, I just crossed my fingers and hoped it would fit...... sadly, it didn't...

...so, after tucking Candace into bed last night (and seeing what I had done with HER pieced backing), I was inspired this morning to throw in a strip of left over blocks. CrazyMom throws these dandies into her backings quite often too. I'm growing quite fond of them myself. This decision meant that I needed to rip out the seam I made last night and spent a good hour piecing (and cutting) the extra strip for the backing...
But my puzzle play wasn't through...noooooooooo. Next, I went to my roll of batting, not really knowing how much I had left on the roll. 20 inches SHORT across the entire width!!!!!! Scrounging in my storage cabinet, I found one package of 60x60 batting, but didn't want to cut into that yet. Hmpf.... I should have taken a picture of the what the downstairs looks like right now, because I dug (DEEP) into my bag(s) of leftover batting, tossing batting all over the place in hopes to organize it somehow.... All sizes; some large, some long strips, you name it. I ended up piecing 8 total long/little/stubby pieces together to have enough batting.

Back to work....
...with my Princess helper. Caitlyn prepped my basting pins for me and even helped me put a few in. She was so proud.
Nothing fancy with the quilting. I chose one of my decorative stitches and travelled the length of each sashing strip in purple thread...
...and Lucidity sees a finish! Binding-n-all (just no label YET).
Plans for this one??? Not sure, but it's wrapped around me as I type. The colors are lovely, lines are crisp and clean.

And tomorrow---Goal: Finish Christmas Lights I'm ALMOST done with that one too (worked on it yesterday). I only have binding left on it. SO, I'm doing well on my goals I posted about last week:
1) Finish Chunky Churndash (We'll see how close I get to that, because I'll work on that tomorrow as well, EVEN if I need to stay up until Midnight!!! Oh, wait! I'll probably be doing that anyway!)
2) Finish Lucidity. CHECK!
3) Finish Christmas Lights . CHECK! (Almost) I'll only need a couple of hours to check this one off my list.
4) Start Carolina Christmas. CHECK! I'm doing the last part of step #1 as a leader-ender right now.

Nice way to finish off 2009....stayed tuned for a final '09 post tomorrow evening!

Happy Wednesday!

6 comments:

Linda said...

Wow, I'm impressed...you were serious about the finishes for 2009. You go girl. Your quilt looks great! I'm looking forward to seeing your other finishes too.

Your little helper is so cute. Why don't you wrap her up and send her to me to help me. I have some grandkids that she can play with too. Hugs, Linda

Jane said...

Everything always seems to be at the bottom when you are desperate to find something. It looks good and the little helper seems to like it

Amanda said...

The thing that impresses me most about this is that you managed to stitch so many pieces of wadding together and KEEP THEM FLAT!

Andee said...

LOL I have been there with the six inches short thing...love your creative solution. I need to do that, makes the back suddenly way more interesting! Also can't wait to see Christmas Lights all done, mine is still waiting to go to a longarmer and I can't stand it!

BitnByAQuiltingBug said...

Beautiful! I've been there with the piecing batting, short on backing, you name it. Isn't it wonderful that you're so creative that you can find a way to make it all work and turn out so beautifully? Happy New Year!

Julie said...

Amy, you scare me with all these finishes. I am starting to doubt that you are really a human. Are you some sort of robot or alien force? LOL. I hope you and your family have a happy New Year!