I am really trying to conquer my huge pile of WiPs. Way back in January I sewed some quilt blocks together to get 90% done making a quilt top. A little less way back in March I purchased backing fabric for the quilt. And then started 2 new crochet projects (and many, many small ones). Distracted Crafter Syndrome.

I went back to the poor neglected quilt and found some border fabric I could use in my stash, and got that all ironed, cut and attached, a good first step. Then I cut and sewed my backing fabric to the right size, and got that all ironed. Side note: it is easier to iron large pieces of fabric before you sew them into shapes too wide for your ironing board. Or so I remembered after I sewed them and realized I had forgotten to iron the creases out. Whoops!

Laying out a quilt to baste can be a challenge if you don’t have large floor space, so step one for that process was moving some furniture.  I was somehow able to get this done and make my “quilt sandwich” while the cats were both napping, which made the job much easier. I did get some help with quality control from one of them after it was complete.

Trudy approves of the pin placement

Trudy approves of the pin placement

I am planning on machine quilting this in the ditch. In the past when I have done that, I didn’t change out the sewing machine foot, but I’ve been reading about how much better and easier it is to do with a walking foot or quilting foot, so I pulled out the little baggie of extra feet that came with the machine, attached new foot, changed the settings on the machine based on the manual and started the first row.

Six inches or so  into it, I realized that something had gone wrong. the stitches were tiny, too tiny, right next to each other tiny. In my enthusiasm to finish this up I had not tested the new settings, and instead had to pull out the trusty seam ripper. Sometimes it is better to walk away from a project when you know you are getting tired, and so that is what I did. But once I get the settings corrected, and play with the new foot a little bit on some scrap fabric, it is all basted and ready to go. At least some progress was made, and I am still excited about finishing this.

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