And now for the quilting marathon!

Well, I had every intention of getting to the blog earlier, but that didn't happen!  Now a few minutes of downtime and to catch up on what's happening. 

When I got home last night, it was to the long arm where I had a lap sized quilt that needed to be in the FedEx box TODAY.  Of course, I wanted to do some custom quilting on it - I think it warranted it, but not tons of time to do anything super fancy!  But I'm super happy with the way it turned out.  This is just a peek from the back. The front looks much better.  And I had to load the quilt AND I had to join the batting because the only piece of white batting wasn't quite wide enough!

Swirls

I had a lot of fun doing it despite the fact that there was zero room for error and zero time to take a break and zero time to say, oh, that's it for the night.   I got most of it done last night before going to bed. Then up bright and early to finish it off.  I got it trimmed, then whisked it in the car and off to work.

Normally, I can whip a binding on a quilt by machine in no time, but I've had oodles of trouble with the last two quilts. One I couldn't even do on the machine I was using at home.  So I got to work and more problems.  What is going on???   I had to take the walking foot off the machine and use an ordinary presser foot.  Let's just say that the binding on those two is not super pretty. 

As I was nearing the end of the second binding a thought came to me. I'm going to test it out and I'll let you know what happens.  Frustrating to say the least!!

I think I posted this new set up in my office. I moved the Reliable ironing board in and the NEW (to me) Reliable iron. Yes - there are two of them in the picture.  One is to use on a daily basis, the other is the "show" iron.  Anyway, that iron saved my bacon.  You all know how much fun it is to fuse Decor-Bond to the fabric.  But that iron did the job nicely.   And there's my sewing machine right beside the ironing board. I'm set - just have to figure out how to get a cutting table in the office and I'll be good to go.

I was contemplating getting my very old Reliable iron fixed, but I'm really really liking this one. Seems to be hotter and more efficient use of steam.  I think I might check it out when I'm back.

Ironing station set up

Now in addition to having the 40 outside piece for the 20 tote bags done, the 40 linings are done as well.

The tote bag linings - yes there are FORTY pieces

And for those that asked, here is the outside of the tote bags.  The color is a bit off in the photo. Let's just say that I'll be glad when all the rest of the components are completed!

The outside of the tote bags

I got the seams pressed open on the pocket section.  So 20 of those are now done.  That leaves the handles and the bottom insert!  I'll make it - but it will be tight!

As I was sewing on the binding for the magazine quilt, I realized that I still needed to make a sleeve. Let's just say that that got pinned on.  No time for hand sewing today!

I can have a wee bit of a breather tonight, but not by much as the next quilt needs to be pieced ASAP and it's big!

On that note, I'm out of here!

Have a super day!

Ciao!