Yesterday was spent focusing on quilting and I got the entire center quilted on my new quilt! Yippee!! This morning I am clipping threads on my lap. To make this task manageable, usually I fold the quilt into quarters so it fits over my lap easily. I focus on threads on the quarter that lands on top, clip them all nice and orderly, covering the entire section easily because the size is small. Once that top quarter is clipped, I flip it over to the quarter that was on the bottom. After that side is neatly clipped, I will unfold the quarter fold and and refold so I can do the same with the two quarters that were folded inside. Sounds a little confusing, but it works wonderful and eliminates confusion about finding the threads that need to be clipped easily.
On this quilt, there are two- three threads on each layered circle that I need to find because I did not do continuous stitches between each layered circle.
Can you see those two threads on the penny above? That's what I'm clipping this morning. I'll be done before I know it and will flip it to the backside of the quilt and clip those as well. Today I plan to quilt the outer side of the border and get the binding on! Yippee Again!! You can see that my quilting is not perfect, but it's good enough for me. I enjoy doing the work of finishing the quilts I make, even though my quilting is not perfect. I dread coming up with the quilting designs because I am still new at freehand quilting, but each time I finish one, it gets a little easier and I get a little more confidant!
It's so exciting to get to the end of a new quilt! This one seems like it's taken a long time, but it really hasn't. Much of my time this summer has been spent on other things, like teaching, traveling, working on other projects, etc., and this quilt has been so easy to have to work on when I have snippets of time here and there. I know I've said it before, but I can't wait to introduce you to the whole quilt!
The next few weeks will be super busy for me. Today is the start of the Blog Hop, Crazy About Wool! My post will be on Friday the 27th, so be sure to come back and see what I have to offer for the hop!
This coming Saturday, Sept 28th, I'll be teaching my class, 5 Ways To Do English Paper Piecing, in Hills, IA at the wonderful quilt store, Inspirations. I'm so excited to share my techniques and strive for each student to walk away having found a few ways to baste EPP in a way they enjoy.
Next week, I'll be helping to set up the Des Moines Quilt Show which is the show within the show AQS Quilt Week. The show runs Wednesday, Oct. 2-5 at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. We'll have a few hundred vendors and close to 1000 quilts between both shows! It will be great fun! If you plan to come, please let me know...I'd love to meet up!! This is where the raffle quilt I mentioned HERE will be shown and raffled off!
The following weekend, Oct 11-13, I'll be headed to South Dakota for a weekend retreat with the Stately Stitchers Quilt Guild to teach English Paper Piecing at their retreat. This is especially exciting because this will be happening in Pierre, SD! We lived there for 9 years and this is where I learned to appliqué and the women I stitched with weekly were so inspiring, supportive and fun. I am so flattered that they want me to come teach. It will be so wonderful to see these ladies again as well as to meet new members of the guild since I left in 1998.
Have a great day!
Take care,
Missie
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