After an extended bout of tech support for Mum, I got stuck into the Pretty Awesome quilt. I got it quilted, trimmed bound and into the washing machine before work. But since it was only just, I didn't have time to go to Spotlight and get vliesofix for monster eyes. And unfortunately, we don't stock it at woolies, so I've wasted tonight on eBay trying to tell myself I don't need (another) tablet computer. 

A 7" Android one with 2gig of storage and an 800mhz processor is not enough of an upgrade from the palm pilot (which needs a new battery cover) to justify spending $200 on, and a 10" Windows one is not enough of a size improvement on my already touch-screen laptop to justify spending $500 on. If there was a best of both worlds - a 7" Windows OS with a 100gig harddrive and 1.6gig processor, I'd absolutely get one. But there's not, so I'll just buy the palm pilot a new battery, since the uprated ones don't fit under the standard cover, and come with a bigger cover I can use instead.

Back to the quilt... and I think this one I'm gunna iron. I don't usually, being a big fan of the crinkly, but the batiks don't look as nice as most quilt fabrics do - they look more like scrunched up paper. The only other quilt I've ironed after washing is the all pink batik one, so I think it will probably be a trend.

 

I bound it in the blue version of the same batik, which is similar enough that you don't really notice it, but different enough that it doesn't just blend at the edge. I also managed to do it as a wide binding even though the actual cut wasn't wide enough - the good thing about the batiks is they hold their crease so well you can fold it unevenly and it will still work, whereas when I've tried it with regular fabrics they shift as you try and sew them because they don't have the stability of both the inside and the outside having been sewn down.

I went with a solid for the back not only because it was half the price, but because again, I didn't want one of the two fabrics drifting off into the rest. Also note the fact that my piecing is aligned to the front and it's quilting lines - it was the only way it would fit but it was a bit of a bitch to do. I'll take some more photos once I've ironed it, but the quilting lines up pretty damn well to the front and the back. On a couple of the across ones it is only a few milimetres or so on the right side of the seam, but still, I'm feeling proud. There's a reason I usually piece my backings at 45degree angles, and this is it.

This is apparently my 200th post... Happy Bicentenary...

Today was something of a mixed bag. I got the pink quilt top finished pretty early on and tried to get into some monster toys, but my fabrics just weren't working for me. The white felt I got for eyes, which was the expensive wool/viscose stuff might I add, fluffed up and piled horribly before I'd even finished the first one. And the genuinely vintage velour I've been using frays something horrible, and then all the little bits of fluff fly off and magically end up at the back of your throat, so I've been sounding like the cat trying to get up a furball. I'll go back to using iron on mending patches tomorrow even though that means no more of the puuurty velour, but maybe that's not a bad thing.

After admitting defeat I had some icecream (der) and pieced a back for the pink quilt, basted it and I've done about half the quilting. So there's achievement there, but still not so much in the little things. Which I know I should be doing... But the universe keeps saying no.

Tomorrow before work I want to finish quilting this one and maybe bind it too, or at least do the front since it's not gunna be one of my wide, easy bindings, and maybe if possible get a back pieced for the Awesome quilt top - it's okay, I bought real quilting fabric so no more poplin wars.

I'll have another go at some more monsters after work, and more importantly once I have more supplies.

I just felt like it, okay?

Fortunately, I got to an episode last night that didn't need to be followed immediately by the next one, and I've decided to stop there until after the weekend. I could probably stop forever, since things seem to be going well and you could imagine that they all live happily ever after from this point, but the fact that there is more will nag at me, so I'll pick it up next week. In the meantime, channel 10 is starting season two of White Collar this week, and even though we don't actually have functioning TV in our house at the moment, it seems as good an excuse as any to re-watch it. Again. But because I've already watched it twice, I wont be getting so caught up in it, and I'll be able to sew at the same time.

Which is good, cause my to do list remains quite undone. I got Casey's bag finished, at which point she decided she did actually quite like it. No photo sorry because she's taken it and disappeared somewhere. Then, using the little scrap of fabric that was left I decided to make a matching little purse which worked okay (she liked it) but not great (I wont be blogging a photo or selling them at that quality) So I had another go, and actually that one was worse, so I gave up and went to work.

When I got home, I should have made a backing for the Awesome Quilt Top of Awesomeness, or had a look through the vintage fabrics under my bed to see if any of them would be good for making toy monsters, or made some headbands. Instead I decided that what I actually wanted to do was the pink version of Awesome.

Obviously it's still quite a ways short of a quilt top, but there's 36 blocks there. That's enough to make a 150cm square quilt, and I hadn't planned on going that big. I was going to do it 5 by 5, or about 125cm, but if I do it 5 by 6, it will be the same size as most of my bigger ones, and I'll have 6 blocks already pieced to go on the back. I'm not sure whether or not to push through on this one for the market or not - I don't know what other fabric I want to bind it or back it with - but I know that the reason I'm putting off doing the black version is that the poplin was so nasty to sew. It looks so very gorgeous, but I can't bring myself to work on it.

Hopefully tomorrow brings with it the desire to get some toys made.