Days of Rainbows & Ice!

The quilting is done on my Catching Rainbows quilt!

At one point I was worried that I would run out of the pastel variegated thread I was using on the top - but we made it!  with some to spare.

What remains on the cone won't be enough to quilt anything of any size - not even a baby quilt.  So the plan is to wind it on bobbins and use it for machine piecing.

Another empty cone bites the dust!  It feels so good - that cone has been hanging around more than a dozen years.

Thank heavens for multi-colored scrap quilts - as long as the thread color is lighter than medium on the value scale, it will likely blend through just about everything.

Truing up the edges and squaring corners before binding.

I've had a lot of folks ask me why I don't apply the binding by long arm machine.

there are many reasons - but it mostly revolves around the fact that when you quilt across a quilt, any fulness pushes out toward the outside edges.  Quilt sides are RARELY perfectly straight when they come off the machine.

If I want a binding that hangs straight, and doesn't curve or bulge in and out, I need to trim the edges of the quilt and square the corners before I put the binding on.

I prefer to apply my bindings by sewing machine, not long arm.

Of COURSE I would run short!!

The aqua stripe I am using has been in the stash at LEAST 30 years.  I remember buying it and it's rose/cream cousin by flat fold when I was making bears, bunnies, and other country dolls to use as striped bloomers.  And sleeves - combined with big florals for the rest of the dress.  It was THE THING to do with country decorating "back in the 90's."

It turned out to be the PERFECT binding in between the realms of "neutral" and "color" without overpowering either.

And I was able to find a scrap I had relegated to the string bin, trim it up and complete my binding!

By the time I did that - there literally was nothing left.  And the stash cabinets breathe just a bit easier with that piece gone.

Loving the quilting texture!

This is Merry Go Round by UrbanElementz.com

I have spent the last few evenings working on stitching that binding down - I've just about finished with the binding, so tonight I'll be moving on to the hanging sleeve and the label.

Loving this stripe!

I was so worn out last evening that all I ended up doing was snuggling under it for warmth with no stitching happening at all.  Some nights are just like that, and that's okay.

Besides - it's kind of hard to turn the last corner on the binding when the quilt is being held down on my legs by Ivy Lea!

Dinner warm in my belly, a cup of evening cocoa - something good on TV (We are up to the last 3 episodes of Everwood and I'm sorry I'm about to reach the end!) and stitching was laid aside in lieu of "just being."

Today we prepare for more freezing rain.

When I return from my mammo appointment this afternoon, it will definitely be another round of "parking at the bottom".

My appointment in Winston for tomorrow has been rescheduled for next week - will this winter ever end?  We have 11 days left in this month - let's hope it runs out.

However, I was talking to my friend Martha who said that the WORST blizzard she remembers in these parts came in 1996 in March. If you talk to anyone from here who was there then and ask them the same thing - they will say "March of 1996!"

So with the incoming ice storm (And who knows what else) I'm prepping for a stay-day at the cabin tomorrow.  My BLUE project will be my focus!

My thoughts are with those throughout the Midwest as they continue through rolling blackouts in an attempt to keep the grid from collapsing completely.

I'm thinking of my friends in Texas (And Oklahoma) with burst water mains in the streets - as they wait for a warm up and a thaw as there is just not enough equipment to deal with this kind of situation there.

It's times like this that I am really grateful to live in a house insulated by quilts, fabric, batting - and pets who love to snuggle!

How are things faring where you are?

   Dalina's Grassy Creek finish!

"Stay safe in all crazy cold weather when you go out on your errands Bonnie.  I have finished my Grassy Creek mystery and working on pillow shams as I am gifting it to our cousin as a wedding gift.  Thanks for all your wonderful patterns and your words of wisdom each day. "

Dalina - this is going to be such a beautiful meaningful wedding gift!  I love it when quilts are made with a purpose, and infused with love in every stitch!

Grassy Creek, my new pattern Shattered! and ALL PDF PATTERNS in the Quiltville Store are currently 25% through February 28th using code DIGITAL25 at purchase! 

And don't forget that you can win the pattern for Shattered! along with a Colorcopia fabric roll AND a neutral String Time strip pack by entering ON THAT POST.

And with that, I'm throwing on my coat, my hat, my gloves, my boots - and heading out to the Quiltville Post Office Studio!  There is mail order to get out, and more to do just in case I am cabin-bound tomorrow!

Quiltville Quote of the Day -

Change is inevitable. 

Either we go with it and grow with it, or we get left behind. 

I'm all about going and growing at this point - aren't you?

Have a wonderful Wednesday, everyone!

STAY WARM!