Thread Tales From A Scrappy Quilter

I was early for class, the doors not yet open.  Even though it was a chilly, gray morning (felt great after the long hot summer here!) I thought it would be a good opportunity to take a few pictures of the shops in this area known as the "old town Tomball" and the shopping area is known as Relics by the Railroad,  The tracks run at the end of the block.  So many of us never see so many "mom and pop" establishments, or an old residential area that is now all business.  My brothers' barber shop is just a few blocks away too.  I just want to poke around in all the stores! This is a picture of Quilters Crossing on the left, inbetween the 2 shops and behind that little courtyard is the classroom building for Quilters Crossing.   I think this is THE BEST classroom I've even been able to attend.  We have a comfy building set up just for quilting complete with kitchen facilities.  It feels just like a quilt retreat when you spend the day there....

Quilt loaded and top border stitched out.   I'm quilting very similar to the other one so that the girls each have similar quilts. Also, hubby went to his high school reunion this weekend and also visited with  his folks in NJ.  He asked if he could take Quilt #1 to show his mom in person the quilt.   I'm so glad he thought of that.   And here are his mom and dad showing off the quilt!     I got in a great sew-in day on Friday working to work on my Bali Wedding Star but nothing to show in pictures.   Also on the frame this week were  T-shirt quilts for customers but  forgot to take pics of one of them.  One was a huge 42 piece about 114" long.         Do you ever have to rip out stitches?   I had the thread break just as I started on this quilt, these rubbery/plastic brushes (some are sold as pet brushes) make quick work of pulling the snipped threads...

I finished the binding!  Two steps left, I have not made a label and it has not been washed yet.  Other than that, completely finished.   I suppose this is the oldest UFO I have ever completed.  MIL is delighted with the finish - yeah!  Now to work on finding time to complete Quilt #2.                          

I'm so excited, maybe more than my MIL for her almost 50 year UFO to become a finished product.   I finally decided to just quilt it like I would like to quilt it, not like what may have been traditional for 1960....   Can't wait to get started on the binding and get this piece washed and dried to see how it responds.   One down, one more to go and then 8 more blocks for sometime in the future...

My gosh the things that happen when one person unloads their nightmare project and it now becomes your nightmare project!   We left this saga with the girls wanting similar items, not one getting a quilt with handquilting and one not getting handquilting from Grandma in their project.  It was decided that I would cut the piece in half and make 2 smaller lap sized quilts from the one that had the centers hand pieced.   Later, I would do something for all the grandkids with 8  blocks set with sashing. Well, this plan did not work so well.      The plan was to cut through the center of the seam, then I would remove that partial sashing and add back from the yardage of the yellow that was included with the project.       Several problems.  #1 being that the SEAMS where the yellow sashing join the Lady block are pressed to the light side and QUILTED into the piece.   I can't just frog stitch (Ri...