My vacation is proving to be… not much of a vacation, but at least I am managing to get some quilting done. I also had to take a conference call from work yesterday! Bah humbug!
I haven’t felt like I’ve gotten much accomplished in the 5 days I’ve been off so far, so yesterday I made a list of things I wanted to accomplish yesterday. I managed to get them all finished (though admittedly some of it ran over into this morning):
- Fix toilet
- Shovel driveway
- Post AQ video
- Fold laundry
- Finish apple core top
- Borders on table toppers
- Make binding
- Load table toppers to Mr. Darcy
So here’s how I fared:
So, this is one of those humdrum things that come along with owning a home. Sooner or later, a toilet will cease working properly. In my case, the toilet would flush, but the tank would never finish filling. I traced the issue to the rubber flapper doohickey thingy, and went to Lowe’s for assistance. I picked up a replacement part along with a new mailbox. (Yes, fixing the toilet reminded me of the mailbox that will probably end up in the shovel of the next plow that comes by.) And… about 40 flushes later, I got it adjusted so the flapper lifts when you push the handle, and the chain doesn’t get caught underneath when it closes. Now I can stop running down 2 flights of stairs to the other bathroom in the middle of the night. TMI?
Apparently, it’s winter. And apparently, it snowed overnight yesterday. I figured if I didn’t put it on the list, I’d never go outside & do it. This was actually a job for my little electric snow thrower. It’s the BEST $200 I’ve ever spent on anything. That, and the 100′ outdoor cord that allows me to throw snow all the way down the sidewalk too. I’m also really glad I did this yesterday, because overnight last night, we got some wicked rain that basically made a sheet of ice over everything. Made taking the garbage out pretty easy, I just gave the cans a shove & they went right down to the end of the driveway!
Oh, I’m in trouble now. I’ve just posted the last video that I have recorded. Well, technically I do have one more, but it needs serious editing and I think I’d rather re-record it with another bunch of them today. We’ll see.
I never claimed to be the world’s best housekeeper, but even this one makes me blush. I don’t have a problem washing clothes, but folding them has always been my downfall. I am proud to say that the “in basket” is empty (well, not enough for a full load of anything anyway) and the “out basket” is all folded! Putting all the clothes back in their drawers is the topic of a different to-do list.
The subject of a new video is this apple core table topper: 
I think the actual “to do” was just to finish the top, but I really wanted to get it quilted & bound. I’m quite proud of my binding, by the way! It’s continuous bias binding to go around the curves, complete with perfectly mitered corners. I also finished it completely by machine, stitching from the front. I’m improving with every project I think.
One of my UFOs this year consists of about 30 table toppers in various stages of completion. Over the last couple of days, I’ve been piecing them, and yesterday was all about getting them to the point where they could be loaded onto Mr. Darcy. Yesterday’s attempt completed 15:
I just pinned a little length of ribbon to the end of the ironing board, threaded the binding through it, and now when I pull the binding to iron it in half, this little invention of mine straightens it out with the wrong side up!
8. Load Table Toppers to Mr. Darcy
I decided to railroad these onto Mr. Darcy, meaning that they will share the same backing (muslin) and be quilted in the same quilting pass: I really had a debate about these; I have 3 widths of muslin available, 45″, 60″, and 90″. If I used the 90″, I would have been able to do more at one time, but it’s my Robert Kaufman premium muslin that I wanted to have available for long arm clients. In the end, I decided to use the 60″ muslin because it’s the only size that’s on a bolt that doesn’t fit any of my cabinets or shelves (so stands in a corner.) I’m using Warm & White batting, to help use up the roll you see underneath, and again to save the best of my batting for LA clients.
Also, because I’m railroading 3 of these table toppers, I needed to create “extensions” for my clamps to grip, so my machine can go all the way to the edges. I just made these out of lengths of white muslin & pinned them to the sides. I’ll have to unpin/repin with every advance of the quilt.
These are going to get a nice pantograph, mainly because I want them done quickly, and I do need to get some practice in on pantos.
Happy quilting!