Birthday fabric One Block Wonder – 5 -Final

Started off very enthusiastically trying to quilt with metallic thread but after 6 thread breakages in the span of 14 inches I gave up.  Some wars are simply best left alone, so I did what I said I’ll do in the previous post and opted for a bright yellow.

I tried to use my “non-hopping” ruler foot for all-over quilting and this worked like a breeze and in future I might only use this instead of switching feet when not doing ruler work (not as if I have used rulers before).

So with the last sentence in mind I tried my hand a ruler work and I guess for a first try I should have gone with a thread colour less contrasting to the fabric as this combination showed up every little flaw.

Fortunately unpicking the contrasting thread was not that hard and after all the trials and errors I opted to make it easier on myself and chose a large scale all-over meandering covering the 3 borders.

Another one bites the dust!

Birthday fabric One Block Wonder – 4

Before going to bed on Sunday eve, I had my top assembled thus achieving my goal for the weekend. And if you are looking for the mistake I mentioned in my previous post….. I fixed it (irrespective of what I may look like from behind, my conscience is still bigger than my butt)!

Monday was a little rougher in that after work, I had to clean the birds’ room (another one of hubby’s chores that I had to take over, this week) and run some errands for the office before I could even think of quilting but I still managed to add two borders to my quilt top.

Tuesday I had to wash carpets.  Having 3 huge dogs, each having a couple of favourite spots on which to chew their juiciest bone, our carpets never stay clean for long.  I however noticed we tend to make a cleaning job a much bigger issue than it really is.  Got home, spot sprayed two rooms and let the cleaning agent sit.  Went to my sewing room, started doing either cutting, pinning, single seam stitching or whatever was next on the agenda and then returned to room 1 to wash the carpet, break to quilt, spray room 3 and this went on and before long I not only had a house with clean carpets but the third and final border sewn onto my quilt.

Wednesday off to my favourite Pfaff dealer to get backing and backing and then I sat behind my Pfaff Grand Quilter to practise my overall free-motion pattern…… wait for it….. with metallic thread.  Lots of prayers need to be sent my way, please.

Then it was time to go outside to my newly discovered (but actually old) quilt basting table and before any cat could become annoying on this blanket mom put outside, I had the basting done.

Now I am disappearing from the blogging world for a while as I have to focus on SLOW and painfully patient quilting hoping to become good friends with the metallic thread…. Otherwise I’ll just quilt the thing in yellow thread and pretend it is gold. Oh and I am trying out my new ruler foot without the hopping motion.  I just figured I paid a fortune for it, if I can only use one foot instead of changing all the time, I might as well do it, so wish me luck.

Birthday fabric One Block Wonder – 3

With hubby away on a golf break for a week, I’ve set way too many quilting goals for myself.  With all I planned, a day should have twice as many hours and I forgot that I still had to go to the office daily (couldn’t also take off), has to take over all hubby’s chores, so walking the dogs twice a day and checking on the garden too has to fit into a single day.

I however set this weekend out to make good progress on my Birthday OBW which I did.  Started joining the half hexes in strips and all went just fine, then started joining strips in pairs when I saw THIS BIG BOOBOO!

The worst part is that I already saw this as I put the half hexes up on the design wall and eliminated this hexagon seeing that I had 3 that wouldn’t be put to use.  Somehow, somewhere it must have crept back into the final layout.  Bummer!  Not a good mood-setter for the rest of the week.  I am still contemplating whether to unpick and fix or just let it be.

Birthday fabric One Block Wonder – 2

Friend Karin came over for an all-night quilt session of Friday and after the men treated us with barbequed pork belly served with salad and Bovril potatoes, we set off to my sewing room.  Karin started cutting her fabric, also purchased in Port Elizabeth, while at the festival for her One Block Wonder and I continued sewing my triangles into half hexagon units.

However we are getting old now and by 02:10 we called it a night and each went to a room and slept the rest of the time.  In our defence though, Karin had electricians working inside her house and I baby sat our little man, so we couldn’t take a quick afternoon nap.

We did however make good progress and after leaving here the next morning, Karin and her hubby drove to their cabin at the dam where she continued sewing outside.

It however took me quite a while to feel motivated being too tired and I could only continue late the next afternoon but before the end of the weekend I had my 70 hexagons sewn in halves and ironed flat.  Now the tedious work of arranging these must start.

Birthday fabric One Block Wonder – 1

I actually set out this weekend to do the free motion quilting on my Snowflake Splendour panel One Block Wonder but I can only free motion this much before I need a distraction.

While at the Port Elizabeth festival I fell in love with a piece of fabric, thinking Stack a Whack or Kaleidoscope and while seriously looking at the fabric, quilting friend Karin, entered the room and when I asked for 6 repeats of the fabric, she paid for it as my birthday present.  What a gift!

In between doing the free motion quilting I tackled this, one step at a time and pretty soon I had my triangles cut and can now start sewing my hexagons.

These go so fast and are so easy that I often wonder why we don’t start off with this as a beginner quilt.