Back to Stars & Stripes

Who is this quilter and what has she done with Debbie's garment sewing? ;-)

I promise, garment sewing will be returning soon but I'm still in quilt-mode. I started the Stars & Stripes quilt (and wallhanging) piecing SEVEN YEARS AGO and it's really been bugging me that it's not done. Besides, I want the finished quilt - which is why I started it in the first place - and there's only one way for that to happen. Not including these eagles, I only have 6 more blocks to go on the quilt and 1 more for the wallhanging. Light at the end of the tunnel.

I've been dragging my heels over these two appliqued eagle blocks for months but I finally got the pattern pieces traced, cut, and fused onto the backgrounds this weekend. Now that they're ready for machine applique stitching, they'll go much faster. I actually like that part. I'll still have one more applique block for the quilt remaining but it's got a lot fewer pieces so hopefully I won't stall on that one as long as I have on these. I just have to remember to get more fusible web.

Once these two eagle blocks are done, I can assemble the wallhanging, add borders and machine quilt it. I'm not going to quilt the actual quilt myself as it will be too big for me so I'll be sending that out whenever I finish it and find a local long-arm quilter. But to get the wallhanging done will feel great and hopefully will be the motivation I need to finally finish the big quilt.

As you can see in the upper left of the photo, I have a few things in the mending pile - three of my tops that need to be re-coverstitched on a hem because I stupidly caught threads on something or other, and one pair of DS's jeans that had a beltloop blow-out. No progress on any of that this weekend though. Mending is only just above cutting out applique quilt pieces in my book and I couldn't possibly do both dreaded tasks so close together. ;-) But I'll get to this pile very soon because two of my favorite tops are in it and I won't want to be without them for long.

I didn't take my D1 to the repair shop yet because I was juggling vehicles with my sons and ended up just giving up mine and staying put all weekend long. Next Sunday it's going in no matter what. I hope.