Flash and Smash

Yep, it's that time of year again. Flash and Smash later this afternoon. We have to run to Midland RIGHT after I get done with that appointment to get two of the kids' quilts to UPS so they can be hand carried to Germany next week (long story I won't go into). 

I'll be getting right in the studio once I'm done with this since it'll be a shorter day for me. There's a lot of marking going on with this quilt I'm working on...

Chalk it out

Here's some of the quilting going into Deb P.'s Nativity Quilt...

When I'm prepping a quilt for long arming, it's usually just hanging out on the frame the day before so I can get right to it when I'm ready. That's why I have two customer machines (with DW on reserve). I don't like the quilts to drag on the ground so I fold them up onto themselves. This gives me a chance to check how the quilt was pressed (open seams or otherwise) and it allows me to check how square the top is. 

Ummm...

There is always an over/under lap of some sort when I do this. Less is clearly better. This one overlapped by a good inch meaning I'm going to have to adjust the quilt as I work on it throughout to try to get it more square-ish. 

Honestly, everybody obsesses over this "squaring" thing and in the scheme of things, it's never going to be noticed by the user. Even you, if you're the end point for it's destination, aren't going to know if the thing is off square. It's a senseless 'worry' by the quilt maker because it's going to be loved regardless. 

I did get four of the 10 'sewing' blocks put together on Tilda after working until 7:00 on Bernie. How do you complete a very intricate quilt top with the work situation you're faced with during the day? One block at a time. 

Think about it. If you piece for just 10 minutes a day, that's an hour a week if you take one day off. I've been working on this Tilda piece over the whole summer. How am I completing it? By taking small bites of time here and there and just getting stitches in when I can.😀