little quilting chores equal big quilt finishes

***giveaway contest on monday's post. scroll down or find here.

chain pieced french bunting, anyone?

week one of sewing staycation is drawing to a close over. on friday, i did all my mom duties and caught up with photo printing for project life in the morning. and took a nap i needed after my sewing all-nighter. then it was sew time. i wasn't particularly excited about doing any one thing, but i knew if i got a few small quilting chores out of the way, my projects would inch forward and then maybe i could do something fun.

the little chores tricked me, however. they exploded into great big ones. i decided to tackle adding blocks to that paris nightmare and getting it's sashing cut. it was supposed to be quick. isn't it always?  after spending like an hour deciding where to place the remaining blocks (i'm way too picky and analytic), i started sewing them on.

i think my son has been here

i still had the machine set up for fmq, so i had to switch feet. ugh. it's not that hard, i just don't like to do it. but i did. then i tried to sew and the darn block was going nowhere, just sitting there collecting stitches in one spot. "oh, dang!," i thought. "i really must have broken it after all. the feed dogs aren't moving. (see thursday's post for details.) wait. the feed dogs aren't up! they were dropped for fmq."

raised the feed dogs.
still no forward motion.
"oh my gosh! i did, i did, truly break it!!! why are all those stitches just on top of each other?"
open up the bobbin case, remove bobbin, clean out lint, reinsert.
still not moving.

"sugar! i don't want to have to take it in for service!"
glance at stitch length dial as eyes frantically rove machine for an explanation.
stitch length at 0 for fmq.
oh, yeah.

i may be almost 40 in body, but in sewing i'm still only about 3. this excuses me, i hope.

i got the darn thing straightened out and began sewing the strips. i haven't even calculated what the new measurements are going to be with the added blocks and changes in sashing. i no longer care. it will be what it is.

there is a ton of distortion going on with this top due to all the handling and also that eyelet sashing fabric. it is O. K. surprisingly, the eyelet has sewed up very sweetly and makes for great pressed seams.

in addition to assignments for paris nightmare, i gave myself the binding for "romance in the garden" to work on. i love binding, i really do. i got it cut and pieced. check another chore off.

oh, that hair! i have to keep all 2+ feet of it out of my face, so piled up it goes.

i do a lot of my quilt work gardener-style, on my knees. i prefer cutting this way because i can get right on top of what i'm doing, which seems to help with slip control. i also press on my pressing board on the floor because: 1) my son broke my ironing board so i can't put the pressing board on top of it as it no longer stands up; 2) the only other surface in my dining sewing area is my nice dining table, which i do not want anywhere near the steam or heat of the iron. so i work on the floor.

saturday, i knocked off the rest of the paris nightmare top. it really was a mess. i managed to mix up strips because i wasn't paying attention to my placement photo. i even turned some pieces around that should have been easy to know just from looking at them that they weren't in the right place.

the pattern i had going was: yellow, white, pink. when adding the last two squares on to the joined strips, i just made them into a block and added them on the end with one seam. incorrectly. that'll need to be fixed.

somehow, despite the fact that i've used my 1/4" foot and precut charm squares, my rows have ended up different lengths. that'll need a trim. and maybe a patch or two.

after all the headache(s), we do finally have a flimsy! and i think i'm going to call this one "paris daydreams" after all the nightmares she's caused. that should turn things around nicely, don't you think?

i've got lots more progress to report for this week's doings, but i've chosen to spend my precious staycation time actually quilting, not blogging so much. however, i've taken pictures along the way so stories and photos will be forthcoming. after the quilting.

linking in with lee at freshly pieced for wip wednesday