Thursday, May 26, 2022

Getting Back in the Swing of Things

 Turns out I didn't escape Covid after all. That being said, the only day I felt really bad was the day I tested negative. My main complaints have been canker sores and clogged ears. I don't even have many sinus issues, just a slightly runny nose, so I'm surprised my ears clogged, but I have a long history of ear infections. My first bout with Covid the only symptom I had was cold sores, and I haven't had any this go around, but canker sores inside my mouth, yup! 

Since I only had one day of feeling sick, I've still been getting quite a bit done. 


I framed out these blocks I had made at the hotel from bonus HST's. Now those bonus HST's will make yet another throw sized quilt, which is the size of the original quilt they were from. 

I've done a bunch of cutting, so I've got plenty of piecing to keep me busy, but I'm also back to assembling quilt blocks I've had hanging around way too long into quilts. Last night I pressed rows for four quilts, and today I'll start sewing those rows to each other. 

I finally got my Janome all set up for FMQ. I hadn't even plugged it in since I got back from being out of town. I have to finish the quilt I was working on when we left town, and getting back into a quilt that's half quilted is somehow much harder than starting to quilt a new one. I know that about myself, which is why I'm going to make myself finish the half quilted quilt before I can start quilting another one. I only have one more quilt basted after this, so I need to work on basting some quilts as well. 

Although I do enjoy FMQ now, sometimes I still wish I had a longarm that was computer guided, just so I could load a quilt and then let the computer do the quilting while I piece. That's way outside of my price range, so it's just not going to happen, but hey, a girl can dream right? I'd still FMQ some quilts myself, but I make a lot of quilts with donation in mind, and those would be nice to get finished faster and on their way. 

I've been thinking about my next basting spree, and with the dogs here, I'm not going to baste any big quilts in the living room. I can baste up to a twin size on my cutting table with a minimal amount of shifting the layers around, so I think I'll just try to get several of my smaller quilts basted and ready to quilt. Seeing a pile of basted quilts that won't take long to quilt might be all the encouragement I need to dive in and start finishing up the backlogged quilt tops. I can keep the dogs out of the basement so that's a better solution for now. 

If I'm going to be basting a bunch of quilts, I need to buy a roll or two of batting. I've got a roll of Warm and Natural, but I'm out of poly and 80/20. I don't often use Warm and Natural for donation quilts just because of cost. I do use it sometimes, but replacing it is so costly, I'm not keen to do it often. I'll have to do some shopping around and see what I can find. Any of you have any favorite places to buy batting without spending a fortune? I like to buy queen sized rolls. 

No comments: