Darning in Ends — Janet Szabo

I’ve been sewing together the last few Guidepost sweaters knit by my MIL so I can package and send them, and it occurred to me that I haven’t finished—as in sewn together—a sweater in over a decade. Apparently, when I left knitting behind, I really left knitting behind. Those skills were right there when I needed them, though. Like riding a bike.

I started quilting the insides of the circles on the Big Top quilt. Each quadrant gets quilted separately.

Custom quilting takes a long time. Hand quilters wouldn’t think twice about this, but on a machine, this kind of quilting involves a lot of starting and stopping. I am being a bit OCD and darning in all my thread ends. The Q20 has a feature that makes a securing stitch at the beginning, but I just don’t trust it. So I pull my bobbin thread up, quilt the section, and when I am done, I grab the self-threading needle that I keep in a pincushion next to the machine and run the thread ends into the batting. It takes a few extra seconds—and over a quilt like this with a lot of little sections, that can add up—but that step makes everything neat and tidy. I did it in knitting; I can do it in quilting.

Once the circles are quilted, I am going to quilt the border and then trim and bind this one. If I think it needs additional quilting in the open sections, I can always go back and add more. For now, though, I need to keep moving projects through the pipeline.

[And I need to stop looking at BlockBase+ or figure out how to clone myself so I can get more done.]

I pulled out the Corey Yoder Pepper and Flax blocks and put them up on the design wall, and then I got out her new Spring Brook fabrics to see what I could add that would finish off that quilt. Another half-dozen blocks and some assembly and I can cross that one off the list (and put it in the growing pile to be quilted). There will be plenty of Spring Brook fabric left from that fat quarter bundle to make at least one other quilt.

This what needs to be done, quilting-wise:

Post the Cobbles and Pebbles pattern for sale in the store (that will happen this week).
Quilt the Beginner’s Choice wallhanging and decide if I want to make a quilt version with that block.
Quilt the Lilac Chain green and purple quilt (its current working title, but if anyone wants to contribute suggestions for a name, drop them in the comments). I need to get thread for that one as I have nothing in light purple or light green.
Finish quilting and binding Big Top and write the pattern.
Write the patterns for Beginner’s Choice and Lilac Chain.
Decide on fabrics for Duck Duck Goose, which is the block I designed that needs to be made into a quilt. The block told me that was its name so I am going with it. Also, I can’t find it in either EQ8 or BB+ or online, so I am claiming it as an original block design and will contribute it gladly to the quilting universe.
Start the Slabtown Backpack.
Make some new tops for spring.

I just need to stay accountable to this list and not be distracted by anything else (coughBlockBase+cough). Wish me luck.