Friday, July 23, 2010

Day 19 - Necessity IS the Mother of Invention

Today I worked on a bunch of sewing projects.  Alan had a vacation day and took the boys on a daddy - son day adventure.  Mainly to the library, ran a few errands and out to lunch at Hickory Park.  It was a very quiet morning.

Today was also a major learning curve for my quilting efforts.
A. Do not wash the batting prior to making the sandwich (even if a book tells you to).  This effort ruined my batting so I had to run to town and purchase some new batting.  This time I did pick enough though to finish both boys' quilts.  Lovely!

With my batting in hand and the boys in bed I went to make my quilt sandwich.
B.  Make sure you measure accurately to have enough backing fabric.  At this point I am beginning to think it was not meant to be.  But no!  This was the whole reason for my starting this challenge to begin with.  Often with sewing projects when I hit a snag the project ends up sitting in the sewing room until I decide I can conquer the issue.  I refuse to let this quilt become a dusty "in progress" project that might or might not be finished by the time Clark graduates.  (Worse it would probably be more like finished for a grandchild).  So, I ran downstairs (where it's much cooler anyway) and cut some fabric to add to the backing material.  However, while downstairs I realized I still had some strips left over from creating the rail fence blocks on the front.  Using the same technique I used two of those strips to create a sister effect on the back.  Amazingly it looks intentional and I think rather cute. Plus, it gives me an area now to use a permanent fabric pen and put a little dedication on the back (name, birth date, etc.).  I am just "sew" excited!

Backing fabric with strips sewed on bottom.
Which mimics the front of the quilt below.

Ah, tomorrow I should be able to actually put the sandwich together and baste it.  Will I actually get to the quilting?  Only time will tell.

Grant learned a new trick tonight.  He is now toddling around a little more each day.  Today he decided to try climbing.  Yes, he can now make it into the big chair all by himself.





My house will never be the same!

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