Feathers and Ferns

Quilting the Moon Glow is progressing.  I am trying to make feathers in the log cabin blocks but it's not as easy as I thought it would be.  My "feathers" are looking more like "ferns."  It is going well, though, and the results are acceptable.  Not perfect, but it's the thought that counts, right!?  The hard part is rotating the quilt 90 degrees to do the next section.   Here's how it looks:

Working Away

This monster quilt is definitely a challenge!  It's BIG.  Hard to turn and maneuver through the sewing machine.  It's not pinned as tightly as it should be either, thanks to that foam pad, so I have to stretch each section as I go, first the top, then flip it over and make sure the back is also tight.  The first section I quilted, I didn't do that. I just assumed that if the front was stretched, the back would be also.  Nope.  I had to rip it all out and re-adjust the pins and start again.  I learned my lesson!  So I have to flip the quilt a lot but it's better than tearing out quilting stitches.  I make a little "runway" between the seams where I want to sew, and make sure both sides are tight along that path.  It works pretty well.

The quilt is HEAVY too.  It falls off the table, and the weight of it pulls the quilt against the needle.  I have to work hard to keep it on the table, piled up close to the sewing machine.  I need a bigger table or a smaller quilt!

Garage Floor

Bob cleaned out the garage and swept the floor  and we rolled out some leftover carpet pad pieces.  We cut and taped the carpet pad to make a huge square, and laid the quilt sandwich out on that.  It was quite nice to kneel on that and pin the quilt!   My granddaughter, Kaylyn, helped me pin, and it made the usually tedious job enjoyable.  Only problem was that we didn't want the foam pad to be pinned to the sandwich so that did slow us way down.  But the job is done, and I have started to QUILT this monster!  Only have it quartered (stitch in the ditch) so far, no fancy stuff yet.  It is a very heavy quilt and I found that I can quilt it better if I stand at the sewing machine instead of sit.  Better leverage and better view.  At least it fits under the sewing machine!  From now on I need to make SMALLER quilts, or get a larger kitchen floor!

Ready to pin

No Floor Space Big Enough

My replacement fabric came and I pieced the back for the Moon Glow Quilt.  Easy.  but it is sooooo huge, I don't have a floor space large enough to lay it out and build my quilt sandwich.  When I made my Cowboy quilt (90" x 90") I said I would never make another quilt that big!  Never say never!  The Moon Glow is supposed to be 110 x 110.  I shortened up the borders and it is now 104" by 104".  That's just 4 in. short of  9 ft square!  It so hard to imagine how big this is!  Bob is going to help me rig up something in the garage so we can lay it out.  I love it when he helps me.  I am so THANKFUL for him.  Oh, by the way, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

"Backed Up"

My Moon Glow quilt is temporarily on hold.  I received backing fabric in the kit, and it's supposed to be big enough to back a 110 x 110 in. quilt.  However, it's 44" wide, and according to the directions, I would use 2-1/2 strips for the width.  Do the math!  2 strips at 44, and 1 piece cut in half is 22.  So 88 and 22.  This is EXACTLY 110.  Hmmmm!  Gotta cut off the selvages, and take some off for seam allowances.  Now it is not wide enough to quilt the quilt!  I wrote an email to the quilt company that sold me the quilt, explaining my problem, and they were very nice and will send me more fabric.  Hmmmmm!  Seems like they ran out of the kind of backing they sent me, and will have to send me new (but similar) backing, enough for 3 full strips.  I will have to return the original 8.25 yards of backing.  Geez, it's always something, isn't it!?

Progress

I have been working hard on the MoonGlow quilt.  I have the top finished now, and I am liking it much much better!  (Whew!)  The borders seem to set the center section apart, and brighten it up too.  This is a very large quilt.  The finished top is 104 x 104, not the 110 x 110 the pattern states .  But then, I did not follow the pattern totally!  I made all the border strips the same size, whereas in the pattern, they get wider as they get darker.  I also added a new fabric, the lightest turquoise to help brighten it up a bit.  I did switch out a couple fabrics, too, from the stars, deleting a dark blue and a dark purple, and substuting a lighter blue, and a lighter purple.  The stars look better to me and do not get lost in that black background.  I love how this has turned out!  In the making of the final stars, I did do paper-piecing, and while not necessarily easier, the points turned out crisp and sharp.  You do have to peal off all the papers afterwards though, and that is a pain, but the result is worth it, in my opinion.  So!  here it is!

I have this on my bed, a California King, so you can see that this is a BIG quilt!  Even bigger than the Cowboy quilt.  It's gonna be a pain to quilt this baby, but I am more experienced now, so we'll see.  I have to go make the backing now.  I have a dark blue backing fabric, and tomorrow I plan on making the quilt sandwich.  I am hoping that I can have this done by Christmas!  Wish me luck.