Monday, February 18, 2008

Presidents' Day Observed!

That's what my calendar said. Presidents' Day was also listed as a day that my busiest account was closed on their 2008 schedule. Karen had Presidents' Day off. We saw the opportunity on the calendar and immediately started conniving, working, preparing and arranging......

I cooked Big Bird #4 (a turkey purchased on sale at Christmas and put in the freezer) and made gravy in advance. I had already peeled 4592 potatoes and made garlic mashed potatoes for Michael for his Valentine's Day meal.....deliberately making so many that there would be left overs in the freezer for the weekend and Monday. If he didn't want turkey and mashed potatoes and gravy (and if he wasn't deathly ill, which would be the only reason I could think that he would not!) I also made a fresh batch of the new favorite onion soup recipe. Karen made some miso soup and I made a vegetarian pasta recipe that was also easy to reheat.

Hungry tummies were covered. Karen and I ripped through the cleaning, our respective laundry, a bunch of silly things on our "to do" lists, and I typed and proofed everything I could. I announced to the world and anyone who would listen that Monday, I was not doing Dishes, Dogz or Donuts. ("making the donuts" has always been our euphemism for "working".)

That meant that today was one whole entire day I could spend in my sewing room! And as a result, I have a completed quilt top!
















I finished attaching the "piano key" border and the checkerboard corners. Now it's ready to go to a long-arm quilter for an all over meander and then I will bind it in the same blue I used for the sashing between the checkerboards. Yay!

Karen worked on her rag quilt. She sandwiched batting in between pieces of flannel and used a zig-zag stitch in an X-shape across each square.















The squares were joined today into the quilt and she has started clipping the seam allowances.
















We figure we should get that completed with the nifty scissors Ellen loaned to us, over the next day or so, and then we can wash and dry it, and the edges should turn into something approximating this:
















I'll post another picture when we see how it comes out of the dryer!

All in all, a good day. I don't want to go back to work tomorrow! My next project will be to complete another UFO, the Inebriated Butterflies and Wonky Hearts border of Laurie's quilt. I think I will trace the pattern on the three remaining sides on the high table at Leah's in class on Sunday, and start stitching right after that. The rest of this week......

Sigh....

More blasted cabinets in the kitchen. Slowly but surely, I am finishing a few things. It feels good!

4 comments:

Yvette said...

OMG!!!! Your quilt looks spectacular with the checkerboard corners.

Did you mean you were going to put the quilt on your frame and meander or are you taking it to someone else??

Karen's rag quilt is SEW cute too! I want to make one now.

I have to admit, I was completely jealous of you yesterday while I was at work and you were playing. I may have called you names too, please forgive me. LOL!

Karene said...

Oh my goodness !!! The quilt top is gorgeous. I'm SEW jealous you got to play all day yesterday....but I can see you and Karen had a wonderful time. I'm SEW proud of her and happy she loves quilting as much as we do. Yay, Karen ! Her quilt is turning out great too and only her second one.....way to go !!!

Love ya, "Auntie" Karene

Joy said...

i have toyed with the idea of quilting the center portion (within the blue sashing) in a meander on my frame, with the edges turned in and ignored......

(because my frame only goes out to about 90 inches or it would fall out of the loft upstairs...)

and then quilting the piano border with the janome 1600 OFF the frame.....

but I keep thinking maybe it should go to a real long-armer.....I would hate to mess it up, distort it, etc.

Yes, I heard my name was being bandied about yesterday and in some cases the adjectives used were NOT printable....heh heh!!

;)

Anonymous said...

That is THE most gorgeous thing!! That quilt is beautiful - and I love the colors in that rag quilt, too. I have thought about making one of those, but I just wondered if the edges really do get that neat fringy look? You'll have to give an update on that....Love and hugs from Jackie