What a Life!

Remember my pledge to complete one UFO (unfinished object) per week? I’m thinking I need to revise it to “work on” one UFO every week.

This week? I finished machine quilting the second twin quit for the boys’ bunk beds [whenever we get them].

Ah, yes! No more safety pins that might rust in my quilts. It took me two days to get it done. I had the sewing machine set up on the kitchen table so I could see the boys playing in the living room [and yell at them, of course…and my mom wonders why I’m selling my sewing machines!] On day two, the theory was that I would send Ben outside to play and put Joey down for a nap and then try to sew, but it was just a plan – nothing more.

The next step is to do the binding. I have to cut off the extra fabric I used for the backing as well as the batting. I’m thinking these quilts aren’t exactly square so it ought to be interesting. Then there’s the binding itself. I cut the binding for one quilt correctly, but I started to cut it for the second quilt incorrectly and I’m not sure if I have enough fabric left to do it correctly. If I don’t, I will have plently of extra fabric from the backing that I can use for the binding. I just need to cut the strips, figure out if I have enough, sew them together, sew one side of the binding to the quilt, and the quilts will then have seen the last of my sewing machine.

You think my machine will sell once I get that done? The serger sold right away. The sewing machine is probably overpriced, but I’m not in a hurry (and I have projects to finish) so I’m not ready to come down on it yet. Nothing like putting up your machine for sale to motivate you to finish projects you’ve been working on for almost a year and a half…

As for all the handsewing and thread burying and all that…I’m thinking I’ll wait until the time of year when one would welcome the idea of having a quilt on your lap while you work…which would not be summertime. There are some big blocks on this quilt – like six by thirteen – and I was even going to get stencils and hand-quilt designs on those blocks. We’ll see how far I actually get on stuff like that.

For now, I’ve done machine quilting between all the blocks. Not within any of the blocks. Just between them. I could go back if I wanted to. Or I could just leave it. The safety pins are out – without leaving rust – and that’s what matters. Someday when I don’t have children I’ll enjoy working on projects like this. Oh wait! These quilts are for my children. I have no choice but to finish them.

Ah, the life of a mother!