Alaskan Show-Off, Day 3

Back to the Alaskan Show off quilt.

I knew that I wanted to get this top finished and sandwiched today.

Right after breakfast I cut out the strips for the piano key border - I tried to use up the extra pieces that I had created when cutting out the main blocks and the 9 patches. I used both the wildlife/scenery fabric and the blenders in the border pieces.

Then I went to my sewing room and sewed those strips of fabric into the piano key border and put it on.

By the time I got the top together, it was about noon.

I had previously put some meat and various things in the crock pot to make a sort of chili for dinner, so I was okay on that. My husband ended up needing to go to the church building to take care of something at noon (we eat our big meal about 1 pm every day - or I try to, anyway). I decided to go to the store about 12:10, got back about 12:45 and checked my phone for messages. Sure enough, my husband wasn’t going to be back by 1. So, since the next step to the quilt was sandwiching, I went to my stash and decided on a backing. I actually took the trees, which was going to be the backing for a different quilt, but I decided I just had to use it - will come up with something else for that farm quilt.

Then, I cleared off the table from my cutting paraphernalia and got ready to eat dinner.

I cut out some borders for the pillow fronts (am making 4 - 18” decorator pillows to go with this) before clearing off the cutting mat and such. Then I went ahead and went back upstairs to use the time til my husband got back from the building situation at the church. I started sewing on the pillow fronts.

Look at the price on these zippers! Yes, they are old! These are to be used when I make the decorator pillows.

Crock pot chili was still bubbling.

Then, Mike came home and we ate. That now freed up the table for sandwiching the quilt!

And so I did.

Then I took the whole thing back to my sewing room and decided on a tan thread for the quilting, finished sewing the borders on the fronts of the pillows. I’m thinking I’m going to make them two sided - will do some sort of pieced second side and use a zipper to get the pillow form in and out.

Then, I wound some bobbins for the quilting, set up my little side table which holds the weight of the quilt, cleared off everything that might get in the way or caught in the quilting from off my sewing area and got started quilting.

I’m just going to do an all over quilting design. In this quilt, the fabric itself is supposed to get all the glory. This time, the quilting is simply to hold the layers together.

I’m using my Janome 8900 here, and truthfully, I’d had nothing but problems with it since I bought it. This is the first time using it for quilting since getting it back from the repairmen in December. They had to change a bunch of parts underneath the feed dog area - and it is finally working as it is supposed to! I will freely admit that it has been a lemon to date - I’ve struggled with various beeps and such since I got it —wouldn’t quilt with the single hole plate, etc. I’ve sent it back numerous times to the repair shop and it never got fully repaired before - so much so that I dreaded trying to use it and had been using my 12000. This time, not a hitch, and I am grateful!

And that’s where I am now. Hopefully tomorrow I can finish the quilting, bind, and wash it!

Stay tuned!

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Be sure to check out what my sis has for you in the store!

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