Bound and Determined

I have actually finished quilting this thing. Up next, binding the edges. Well, first cutting and piecing the binding strips and then the actual binding. I'm determined to get this done before the weekend. Famous last words ......



It's hard to see any detail in this pic, but I pretty much straight-line quilted it by outlining all the piecing, except for the border strips where I used a curvy built-in stitch from my machine. I don't think my walking foot knew what hit it. Until now, it had never been used much.

I'm going to bind the quilt with the gold fabric in the narrow border. After that, I'm taking my machine back to the repair shop. It's still squeaking. And it's breaking threads way too often - even after needle, thread, and bobbin changes. In short, it's driving me crazy, something it's never done before. It did fine with the walking foot, but once I started the curvy stitching, I was pulling my hair out. Even with the problems that were recently fixed, it always sewed perfectly. Now I'm fighting it. I was going to free-motion quilt the borders but I couldn't go more than a 2 minutes on my practice pieces without the top thread breaking. And while I'm not the best FMQer, I know it's not me - something else is definitely going on. Sigh.

I'm still not completely in the mood to sew clothing, although I would like something new to wear. Which is to say, I have no idea what will be up next. I'm still feeling a bit quilty so I may work on a block or two for Stars & Stripes. It would be really nice to get that off my UFO list before Spring rolls around, and I can piece on my Featherweight while the D1 is at the hospital.

Or I may just curl up in my new quilt and nap all weekend. ;-) I can't wait to see it after it's been washed and dried.