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updates; binding, work, knee, etc.

Hi all,

Work and knee: Was back to work from about mid-week on -- my knee is feeling better. I did, however, start using my left foot off and on with the sewing machine so if it happens again I might not have to give up the machine too.....

Binding: Thanks to all who helped....I realized with a combination of Roberta's math help and the book we use at work to help customers figure such things (thank Pat for reminding me to look for one...turns out we do have one at work) that my FQ wasn't going to be enough to bind ma's tablerunner (I don't cut perfectly accurate and besides, it shrunk a little in the wash....)

So.....after DH went to TC for car repairs and I had him check the larger TSWLTH there and I checked the smaller one here in town, and couldn't find more of the fabric in question: I took it to work with me and had DH help me find the closest match we could at work in color and decided to ignore the "design" that was on ma's chosen fabric. Told her she was SOL about the exact fabric but I was doing my best to match it. (I may wind up piecing part of the backing and using it in there so at least she has it used)

Etc: All that said and done......I started working on her table runner last night and did all but the triangles for the top. It felt great to be at *my* machine again (I stress *my* because I was at the machine at work for a bit this week and .....at least one of my paper piecing blocks will be put on display as a sample for a kit we are putting together. If I do the other leaf and it looks decent, that one will go up too...I'm so geeked to have my work on display!)

This is the first project in a very long time where I am cutting out pieces to put together instead of paper piecing (well, I did do Louise's your pick swap that cut and pieced but it was a rail fence, which is different in my opinion....not many seams/points to match up). I did fairly decent on the 4 patches, even got one or two of them to actually match like they were supposed to....the others are okay enough. i've got them attached to the plain squares (after much frog stitching because my dark/light patches weren't laying the direction I wanted after attached to most the plain squares -- that's fixed now though) and the units are awaiting the triangles on the ends.

I'm trying to get the nerve to cut the triangles out and add them to the units of the top to finish assembling it.....I don't have a 12.5 in square ruler yet (car repairs used up the $ from my paycheck I was hoping to purchase the ruler with) so I'd be doing it basically with just a 6 X 24 (approx) ruler and the starting squares need to be 8.5 in. I'm trying to convince myself that I could make it happen with just that ruler...trying, trying, trying.......(not sure I'm succeeding though).

I'm making some real headway on this now and actually think I might get it done before the holidays (I've pretty much decided it should be an Xmas gift for her)....the quilting is what may take a bit -- I'll have Donna (basically my mentor at work) help me at work with the layering, basting/pinning, and binding attachment aspects to make sure that is done correctly......I'm thinking about trying my hand at HQ this time around, although my stitches will most likely be lousy (unpracticed, unexperienced, unskilled), I don't want to be restricted as I would be trying to MQ straight lines on my machines. Besides a nice friend has provided me with what is supposed to be a top of the line HQ needle and frames so I should really give it a go.

That's updates on me =)

Hope you all have a wonderfully quilty week....

Tricia

Reply to
Tricia
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it sounds like you are almost there knee wise :-) and if you ever hurt it again you are certainly not going to be stopped my it ;-)

WTG on getting work displayed! isn't it FUN?!!

you can make it work 0 I managed for ages without the 12 1/2"ruler and still manage without a 6 x 24 "ruler - I have just a cm one - not much help when cutting strips in inches but I make it work by measuring how much I need with the inch ruler, placing my long one against it across the fabric (and making sure I didn't move the square in the process) remove the square and then cutting along the long ruler - it works like a dream!

Reply to
Jessamy

I did it (the triangles thing) -- I discovered my 6 in square ruler would help me measure the extra few inches and help me line up my long ruler where it belonged and I could cut away. Then I was a little perplexed when I went to add the triangles to the units I'd already pieced -- the sides of the triangles were noticably (like .25-.5 inch) longer than the squares I was attaching them to, but I assumed that was because of seam allowances on the hyptonenus, so I took a wild guess and lined up the right angle corner with the corner on the square and attached it there.....*corssing fingers*

I'm planning on heading home here shortly (I'm up at DH's office at the moment while he's teaching) and doing the final assembly of the top units so we'll see if I got the triangles lined up correctly or not. I suspect I'll have to quickly repress some seams so they can be alternating when joining the different rows (I was trying to pay attention to that when pressing the first time but DH would say something and I'd get distracted and wind up not paying attention to which way I was pressing *snicker*).

Yeah, it is really neat getting work displayed. The pattern I'm using now is pretty much one from work although we haven't put it out to sell yet (it was laying around, I was at a slow point and started looking at it and some others...decided I liked this one) because I think my boss wants us to do up samples (eventually) and then kit them together, so there is a chance that if this looks good, I might be able to get it on display temporarily until I'm ready to give it to my mom. In any event, I need to charge my digital camera battery (they both went kaput at my cousin's wedding before I could get many pictures in *grrr!*) and get a few pics of my work that is on display so I can have a record of it....

Working with triangles was a whole new experience, but if I got my placement right, it wasn't near as scary as I expected it to be. I'm actually making it a point to measure as accurately as I can this time around and to press seams between steps (stuff I've only half-arsed previously to try out blocks and stuff -- also pressing FPP seams between steps isn't exactly recommended). I'd been very concerned I wouldn't do well with the measuring, cutting, getting exact seams, etc. but I have done better than I thought (well, on everything but the seams -- some wound up closer to 1/8 than 1/4 but thankfully, I was just able to square up those 4 patches to the correct size with my trusty ruler.)

Starting to feel more like a "real" quilter, Tricia

Reply to
Tricia

you did the right thing :-)

woo hooo! on getting everything more accurate *and* pressing seams as you go!

I can't wait to see what you are making!

Reply to
Jessamy

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