Lunar Revolution...portrait......

I finished the binding on "Lunar Revolution" last night.  I did minimal quilting on it, just ditch quilting on every seam in the background and a line of stitching down the center seam in the dumbbell shapes.  I didn't want anything to distract from the design.  You might be surprised how I chose the fabrics for this quilt.  I sent the fabrics away to be die cut and I chose a lot of batiks that I really don't like that well, several that were fat quarters because I like full width fabric and didn't want them in my stash.  Then to get up to the number I wanted to send I chose a few that I had larger yardage of that were more like favorites.  In reality it was just a strange assortment not really chosen to go together.  I was really surprised how well they worked out. That is how most of my quilts happen, very little planning on the full fabric range at the beginning.

Yesterday my blog was featured on the blog Quilt Inspiration.  They did a fantastic job of choosing pieces and parts of my blog and I am honored that they chose my blog for their post.  If you have never visited them, you are in for a treat.  Some posts feature quilts that have been at quilt shows recently, some are featuring a person, a theme or a blog.  They have days with links to free patterns.  Every post is colorful and inspiring.  I hope you will visit them today.

Framed......portrait.....

I finished the top edge of "Framed" and the hanging sleeve.  I still need to make a label.  It is about 34" x 33".

I baked 2 batches of cookies first thing in the morning yesterday for the art quilters today.  I got a lot accomplished in the afternoon.  I finished picking up the miscellany in the basement and then worked on the quilts.

I basted the bright colorwash quilt.  I will start the quilting later this afternoon.  Then I finished the quilting on "Lunar Revolution" and cut the binding and sewed it on and started the hand stitching.  I have labels made for both of these quilts.

 I have been invited to have quilts on exhibit (and for sale) at Ciel Gallery during February and March.

Skewed.....portrait.......

"Skewed" is officially done, hanging sleeve and label included.  It ended up approximately 39" x 44".  The bottom edge bows out a little as it is pinned to the design wall.  I'll hang it on a rod today to see how it does.

I also got the facings on 3 sides of "Framed" and have cut the hanging sleeve.  I just need to choose a binding for the top edge and make a label. 3 out of 6 are totally done, 2 more are almost done and the 6th one needs to be quilted.  I think I will make my shipping deadline.

Facing on......

I laid the straight piece of facing fabric on the table and then laid the quilt on top of it and pinned it in place.  I stitched 1/4" from the edge of the quilt and then trimmed away the extra facing fabric.  Then I clipped the quilt on all inward curves.

I turned the facing to the back of the quilt and pressed the edge.  Next was the hand sewing of the edge of the facing to the quilt back.

I put facings on both sides and the bottom edge and finished the hand sewing last night.

I will finish the top edge which is straight with a normal binding.  Then I can attach the hanging sleeve in the seam like I usually do.  I am auditioning this black with dots fabric for the binding.  I thought I had some more of the firefly batik but haven't found it yet.

I also ditch quilting on a small wallhanging last night.  I will bind it with a black print batik.  I need to finish the vacuuming in the basement today so I have tomorrow free for baking and last minute things.  It looks like the art quilters won't be kept away because of snow but it is going to be really cold, like 11 degrees on Monday.  My house is very warm though.

Lost my momentum......

I have lost the momentum from earlier in the week for my finishing.  I got this one trimmed yesterday and have it hanging from pants hangers to see how straight it will hang.  There is a little wobble at the bottom edge but I haven't steam pressed it from the back yet.  I thought if it didn't hang well it would have to have straight of grain facings.  It may still be the best way to go.

Meanwhile I switched to cleaning up the basement for Monday.  I had a pile of batiks waiting for some cuts.  First I do clean up cuts.  Then I cut off a strip wide enough for my 2.5" square die and a 2.5" strip and a 1.5" strip.  Then I folded the remainder and put them away.  One more table cleaned off.

On one of the sewing machine tables I had some triangles and another block for the flannel quilt waiting to be sewn so I sewed them.  I vacuumed part of the basement and then gave up for the night.

An interesting day.......

I had promised a friend to let her use my embroidery machine at my house and since I had to stay home waiting for the plumbing and heating guys, it was a perfect day for it yesterday.  She got here about 15 minutes ahead of the guys.  Her embroidery machine is about 18 years old and it isn't easy to do lettering with it.  The guys bled the air out of the line and then discovered that the bleeder was leaking.  That meant draining the boiler and the whole line, replacing the bleeder, filling the boiler and the line with water and then opening every bleeder in the whole house.  This meant moving furniture.....in every room......again.....third time in 14 months.  They were finally done at 1 p.m.

Meanwhile mid morning my friend had to leave and pick up grandchildren and babysit for 4 hours so she came back in the middle of the afternoon to finish the names on the sweatshirt.  By evening I wasn't ready to dive into a big project so I finished 3 bottle/can cozies that I found partially made in a pile I was cleaning up in the basement earlier while the guys were here.  (Click on tutorials on right side bar and cozy tutorial is the second one). Today I have to get serious about some edge finishes on the 2 wonky quilts.

One more quilted.......

I was watching TV last night and quilting.  I watched NCIS, NCIS Los Angeles, and another episode of Doc Martin on Netflix and then the news.  It was just enough time to get the ditch quilting done on Wonky 4.  I need to come up with a better name for this one.  I have been thinking about calling it "Framed".  I think one word titles are good.  Now I need to get serious about the edge finishes on this one and the one I finished quilting last week.  I will be home all day today waiting for the plumbing and heating guy again.  There is still air in the line and one section in the dining room isn't getting water circulation.