Finishing the quilt: best laid plans
My plan, after being diagnosed with conjunctivitis on Sunday, was to rest as much as possible on Monday (which I don’t work) and return to working at the elementary school on Tuesday. I’d still be contagious for two weeks but could prevent spread by washing my hands often/not touching my eye/ touching no one and almost nothing.
At that point I knew my head cold symptoms were part of the eye issue. After all, the nose is next door to the sick eye socket.
I didn’t know that conjunctivitis could also present flu-like symptoms.
Monday my eye was crusty in the morning but looked much better. Yay, Medicine!By midafternoon a was starting to show a fever and body aches…and figured I might need to take a day off and contacted people…and by the evening I had a full fever and so many body aches I couldn’t pick things up off the floor. Was in bed by 8pm and woke up every few hours to change out of sweaty bedclothes and remove more quilts from my bed.
Including my now finished quilt! YAY!
At the start of Craftsmas I was determined to finish the scrap quilt I’d made the prior December. I’m not a trained quilter nor do I think much ahead about lights and darks and balance. I just trust my years of art to serve me and figure…they are my scraps, they’re related…even if just to me.
I’d finished the top of the quilt in 2017 and put it away for most of 2018.
In the last two weeks, armed with fabric for the bottom/ batting I picked up in 2017/ and cloth for the edging, I set to work.
First mistake I made. I cut the bottom fabric THE SIZE I wanted the quilt to be, with a little length at the top and bottom. I should have left at least a 5-10cm border to insure I wouldn’t lose details like the squares that are just at the side of the design.
Pinning before tying a quilt is best done with curved safety pins created for the purpose. These turn out to be easier to find in America than Japan. I could get them on Amazon but they’d take a week to get to me. Straight pins it was.
When the task of tying was finished (a three day process for me but it would have taken longer if it hadn’t been vacation) it was time to trim the excess fabric and batting (which I only had at the top and bottom) and edge the quilt.
I then took the bias tape I’d made. Well, not real bias tape. Quilts have straight edges so I could do mitered edges without cutting the fabric at 45degrees. I joined the strips of fabric as one would join bias strips. I pinned and machine stitched everything on one side.
Booties so warm.
Then I hand finished the folded over bias-styled binding on the other side. Pining before whipstiching...until a friend reminded me that I have Wonderclips and needn't be risking all the pin pricks.
Finished and on my bed!
When there's better light I'll take photos of the boxesand some of the other creatures who live in my quilt.
For now this is folded up because nighttime is coming and so is my fever.