Quilting!

I am truly enjoying the Tin Lizzie. If only I had made the move upstairs sooner. Oh well. That's water under the bridge, and from this point on I will just be happy that I am at last using the long arm and getting some of these quilt tops quilted.

Back about a month ago when I made two separate trips to McArthur for repairs to the machine, I picked up backing fabric for three quilts that I had on the my immediate radar for quilting.

The black fabric on top has already been used for the t-shirt quilt I worked on last week. It isn't "matchy-matchy" with the top, but this worked, in my opinion, because it looks like the lining in a suit jacket. And that is a lot like the back of a quilt, don't you think? The top is a jumble of different t-shirts with no particular dominant color. I used gray and black for the sashing and cornerstones. This black and gold paisley just seemed like a good, understated backing.

The photo above shows the quilts as I was preparing to take it off the frame. The backing is rolled onto the bar. It is weird to think that black can have different "colors" but there is a definite difference in the backing black and the border/sashing black. However, I believe they work.

The gold fabric in the picture up top is currently on the quilting frame for a second t-shirt quilt (third overall quilt). It is the only one of the three backing fabrics that is a true backing. At a width of 108 inches, I was in good shape with loading and quilting this. No work!

Above is the bottom end of the quilt with the gold backing rolled onto the back bar. It has the look of batik, but is regular cotton with that mottled look.

I wrote and saved the above yesterday, and after quilting for about 45 minutes today, I finished off this t-shirt quilt.

Coincidentally, Sharon O. called while I was quilting. If you recall, she is my benefactor. She gifted this quilting machine to me and after two years, I am at last using it! How I can ever thank her for this wonderful gift, I don't know. Perhaps just being happy in using it will show my gratitude. And I am. Blissfully happy. Truly.

Okay. Now to get to binding. Then I have one more t-shirt quilt to load. It will get that remaining backing fabric in the top picture. Stay tuned for updates on that!

Happy Quilting, Friends!