A Major Development

Today I am thrilled to report some major developments on my quilting of Erin's Diamonds.

After quilting all day Friday - and I do mean, I practically DID quilt all day and have the sore fingers to show it - I rolled the quilt to the final section yesterday. And when I did, I discovered that I had way too much backing gapped away from the batting and top. When I put this quilt in the frame (many weeks ago) I was certain I had everything as taut as possible, but apparently the layers shifted a good bit. I couldn't quilt it that way; it would look terrible. It left me puzzled for most of Saturday. Finally last evening, I decided to remove the quilt from the frame and finish the last of the quilting in a lap hoop. The frame needed to be moved out of the way of the painting, so this seemed as good a time as any. (Click back through posts from the past month and follow the great painting saga at our house.)

The unrolled quilt looks pretty darn good, doesn't it?! I am so happy with the results. It gives me the encouragement I need to stay with it and get it finished.

This closer view shows off the diamonds so well. It's a sight to behold! And most of it's DONE!

Today's job will be to get a hoop out and load this in. Right now, the entire quilt is rolled onto one of the frame's roller bars and is laying across the kitchen table. I will get it all in order today, and maybe even take a few stitches.

In this last section that I quilted, I did something different. I left all the tails of the quilting threads loose to pick up and continue with after I had moved to the next section. Below is what the edge looked like before I took down the frame. Sorta' looks like a scraggly, bearded mess. I see that I have a couple of threaded needles there, too, waiting to be stitched. I have been a regular assembly line of productivity with this project, let me tell you!

I left these tails in the hope that I would be optimizing my time. I certainly quilted the last section more quickly by not having to bury the ends every time I reached the edge. For this final section, my threads are ready and just need to be quilted in.

Are you all are having a relaxing end to your Thanksgiving weekend? After our big Ohio State win over Michigan yesterday, today will be much calmer and quieter. Double overtime nearly did me in! I can only imagine the pandemonium in the 'Shoe. I am sure Columbus was celebrating all night!

Moving on, I promised to share pics of our Barnsgiving - which I will do tomorrow. I took a couple of days off from blogging, so my wrap-up of our Thanksgiving feast in the barn will be next.

I am linking to Slow Sunday Stitching. Kathy's post today is about some very old sewing notions that a friend of hers recently purchased in an online auction. It makes me think about all the old stuff in Grandma's sewing kit. I wrote about some of her treasures several years ago.

Happy Quilting, Friends!