I've been looking over my PHD list, trying to figure out what to work on next. I decided to work more on the race car quilt I talked about a few weeks ago. I'd already constructed two of the three types of blocks that make up the center. That left two blocks that have the "peaky/spike" or "tri-recs" units.
I couldn't remember exactly how to sew these when they aren't trimmed off with the specialty rulers. Hmm...maybe I can use my Tri-Recs rulers to nip the points? Well, these don't line up, do they? Now what?
I turned to the internet and watched part of a video from Holly Anne Knight on how to make this type of block without a specialty ruler. It looked like she was making two sets at a time in her method, but it gave me a point of reference for how to line it up.
This looks okay, I think?Or maybe not. The blocks seem to have grown. I feel like the cutting instructions weren't quite right for these parts. I decided that since the strip was the correct size on one side, I'd center it on the other and then just trim off the excess. Obviously this isn't the right way, but it worked well enough for a project I don't really care much about anymore.
After I trimmed the blocks down, I assembled the central portion of the quilt. Definitely not my best work as far as points being accurate, but considering I cut this thing out 15 years ago, it's okay.
It has four sets of borders next. After that there is another round of pieced blocks. I've set it aside until I feel like adding borders. I find adding borders really tedious.
I'm not sure what I'll work on next. I'd like to start working on my fitting pattern, but I am not sure what size to cut, so need to look into that a bit more. I'd also really like to get my Marble mystery quilted, but I'm a bit behind on work, so it may need to wait a bit.
Speaking of work, I completed two large quilts and a table runner.
The first quilt has such a fun story: the maker is a pre-teen young man. It's his first quilt and he's planning to enter it in the IHQS in a few weeks. He requested Diamond Squared. It has a minky/cuddle backing. It took me two days to quilt.
The next quilt belongs to Annie and it's a large quilt at 103" x 103". The quilt pattern she used is called Lyla Jean. She wanted Thread Garden for the stitching. It took two full days to quilt--over nine hours in just the actual stitching time, not counting loading, advancing, etc. It also took almost 1000 meters of thread (one small cone) for the front. I wound 60 wt bobbins from a different thread.
Finally, I started working on Trish's group of quilts. I got one of her table runners quilted with Interlocking Orange Peel. The quilt pattern she used is called Jolly Balls Balls of Jolly. I must admit that when I saw that name come through in my quilting request form, I wasn't sure what to expect. LOL. It's a cute little table runner.
In my personal life, our weekend robotics competition did not go well. The boys won another CONNECT Award, but their robot and/or alliances didn't perform as well as we would like. They think their expansion hub is failing in a similar fashion to the control hub last month. When we got home, my husband looked at the robot and discovered a bunch of screws had come loose too. So the robot got torn down and repaired again. The state competition is on March 8.
Rain poured down all day Saturday and I think I even saw a flash of lightning that evening. I was super surprised to wake up to three inches of snow Sunday morning!
We've had a hawk hanging around our mailbox for almost a week. I think all the critters are getting desperate for more food. Sorry it looks so grainy. I took it through the screen.
Speaking of critters, Beaker the hen had her last dose of antibiotic this morning and she goes back to the vet next week. She's trying to bear weight on her foot. The bad toe, which is the one in the middle, seems to be "loose" according to my husband. I don't want to look too closely. 🫣
My daughter visited Friday night to check on Beaker. While the menfolk were at robotics, we watched the Barbie movie. I wasn't totally sure what to expect, but it wasn't that. I had a hard time staying awake. Am I turning into my mother?
My son had another appointment for his hand and he's now done with the brace unless he feels he needs it. Maybe he can start driving himself to things again soon.
I've been reading through more of my quilt history books in the evenings. We're up to date on most of our current Hulu watches, which include Abbott Elementary, High Potential, and Celebrity Jeopardy. We've also started rewatching Superstore episodes when we only have a short amount of tv time. It's still funny and I don't even remember parts of the very early episodes. We have a few episodes of My Name is Gabriel left, but we need to read the subtitles on those. For our PBS watches, we're still working on the current season of All Creatures Great & Small. We've finished Miss Scarlett and haven't started Vienna Blood yet. I've watched all of this season's available Finding Your Roots episodes. What are your favorite PBS shows?
The February OMG finish link up will be available starting Saturday.