Quarter log cabin – agilejack

Boy, I got a lot done today and tonight.

I worked the early shift today and have to work the early and late shift tomorrow, so I took a couple hours off this afternoon to step away from my desk.

I decided to take advantage of this time and whip out another quilt backing. So I grabbed a quilt top and some yardage and started measuring the cutting. I decided to make a backing for this quilt… the one that I have a love/hate relationship with.

I’ve had a piece of fabric in my stash just waiting for this quilt. So I measured it, cut it up and put it Bach together with another strip of fabric that appears in this top.

That strip of Kaffe’s Lake Blossoms will connect the two large backing pieces. Both of these fabrics are in the quilt top.

And look at this fabric. I mean COME ON!!! Definitely one of my favorite Philip Jacobs designs with Kaffe’s gorgeous color way.

This went together quickly. It feels good to have it done.

This strip of fabric looked so pretty on my black wooden sewing chair.

Once that project was done I decided to pull out my Ice Storm quilt as I thought I needed to fix the backing I made previously.

When I made my KFC trip quilt I messed up the backing. I had to go get it from my long arm quilter and add a strip of fabric down the center. I thought I had to do the same for this quilt. It’s the same pattern and size.

But after measuring the quilt top and backing several times, it seemed like the backing was, indeed, the correct size. It took me a minute to figure out why this one didn’t need to be fixed.

When I made the backing for the KFC red trip quilt I sewed the backing into two horizontal strips. For the Ice Storm quilt I sewed the backing into two vertical strips. Here’s an illustration of how the two quilt backs were pieced.

I finally convinced myself that the backing of the Ice Storm quilt was correct by laying the top and backing out on my guest room bed.

So that’s another project that’s almost ready to get quilted.

After our evening walk I dug in and finished putting the borders on my starburst quarter log cabin quilt. And I was reminded every inch of the way why I don’t make larger quilts. I really hate wrestling with all that bulk.

I had previously put the borders pm top sides of this queen quilt. So the remaining two borders went on quickly tonight. And it’s done.

This is going to be a really lovely quilt when it’s all done.

And the really good news about this one is that I don’t have to piece a backing since I’m using a wide backing.

I still need to wash and dry that wide backing. I don’t typically prewash my quilting fabrics, but someone recommended washing the wide backs because of potential shrinkage.

So, that makes five quilts that are ready for the long arm quilter. I still need to make binding for all of them.

I’ll pick out one more from my done pile to have quilted. I have a couple ideas but need to look at what’s there.

More blooming happening in my yard. My lilacs blooms are finally starting to open.

My snow ball tree is also starting to bloom.

It rained all day today but our walk this evening was cool and dry.

Rico was a bit of an emotional mess last night. After his trauma with the thunder on our walk and the fly stuck in the house, we had some storms roll through early in the morning and he was very attentive and concerned about far off and mostly imperceptible thunder. He started waking me up at around 4:00. I had to finally kick him out of the room so he’d let me sleep. And then he JUMPED the doggy gate to get to me!

I felt bad for him. And Bender was unphased by it all. He seems fine this evening. We’re all looking forward to a god night sleep.

After breakfast and a nice morning walk with Rico and Bender, I got ready to head out for Rico’s sheep herding lesson.

He did a great job at his lesson, but the rain poured the entire time we were out in the field. Luckily, I keep my muck boots and a full set of rain gear in my car so we weathered it pretty well. I was wet by the time we were done and Rico was soaked to the skin with rain and mud mixed with sheep poop. So he got a quick shower in the hose before we got in the car to head home. He didn’t seem to mind.

The rain almost stopped by the time we were pulling away from the sheep farm so I decided to stop at the big field at Washington State University to let the boys have a nice run.

They love getting out in open spaces where they can really run full out. And it’s nice that they always come back and check in often.

You can always tell how much fun Rico is having by the amount of slobber on his head.

And, of course, we had to get a nice pose while we were there.

Once we got home I cleaned up my kitchen and then tossed a chicken with potatoes, carrots and onions in the oven. While it cooked I sat down and watched some pickleball. The house filled with the smell of roasted chicken and in about an hour I was enjoying a nice hot dinner.

Once I was well fed I hit my sewing room and pulled the left over blocks sashed in jumble off my design wall and packaged them up.

I knew that if I didn’t put these sparkly new blocks away I’d be distracted by them and work on that instead of working on the first starburst quilt top.

The first thing I did was cut some new corner triangles. Then I picked out that seam to remove the one that was too small and sewed on the new piece.

This time I cut these triangles perfectly! Phew!

Next I started working on piecing the next two rows of blocks. I had planned to get two rows pieced and sewn together. And it all went according to plan.

Since it was still relatively early I decided to go ahead and sew these two sections together and get them pressed.

Then I huffed and puffed and got it all up on my portable design wall.

That’s five rows of 13 that are done. I’ll just keep chunking away at this throughout this week. Maybe I’ll finish it up next weekend. Maybe I’ll finish it up before then.

Here’s a closer look at how those setting triangles overlap.

It leaves a border an inch wide.

Before I wrapped it up in my sewing room I wound five bobbins to have on hand and ready to load.

And when I left my sewing room I found Bender wound asleep, mostly in the hall but with head I the room. I usually kick him out because he’s always under foot and when I’m up and down, at the machine, at the ironing board, at the design wall, I tend to step on him.

He was almost completely obeying the rules.

A reminder for those of you who read my blog posts via email. If you go to my blog at http://www.agilejack1.com you can scroll through all my previous posts (I posted my 500th post a couple months ago!) You can also read the comments from readers, along with my replies. I do reply to every comment! You can also search if you’re looking for something specific.

Thanks for reading!

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