Eating An Elephant

      Do you remember that little riddle you probably learned as a child?  “How do you eat an elephant? … One bite at a time!”

I feel like I have been eating an elephant.  The quilt I thought would take 3-4 days to quilt (HAHA!  Was I CRAZY?) has been in the machine for 2 WEEKS.  That is partially because I had not planned on doing all the SID (stitch in the ditch) around the edges of each block, but after I got it in the machine I realized it had to have that done to look right.  SID is the absolutely HARDEST and most time consuming thing one can do on a longarm… especially on curved edges, as these are. 

 

One bite (block) at a time I have worked through this.  It seemed to take forever because each block and melon had to be quilted individually.  Align the machine, stitch pattern, tie/bury thread tails, CHOMP!   Move to next one.    Repeat process umpteen million times.  CHOMP!! Actually, it was for 99 blocks and 218 melon shapes.  WHEW!!

The pattern is Glorified 9-Patch, and the quilting design is “Curved Feather” by Christy Dillon of My Creative Stitches.  I had purchased a set of these designs, but nothing fit the melon shape.  I emailed Christy and suggested she design a melon shape for this set.  I knew it would not be done in time for me, but would be helpful to others.  Her response, “Give me an hour!”  She designed the feather spray just as I wanted and emailed it to me.  Now THAT’S customer service! 

TODAY I FINISHED IT!!  I’m doing a happy dance!  I love the way it turned out.  And the back of the quilt is as pretty as the front.  I will really enjoy using this quilt.  It is the first project I have done with the huge collection of 30’s reproduction prints I have amassed over the years.  These fabrics just make me happy looking at them.

The next step is the binding.  I found the perfect fabric at a shop in Alexandria.  This binding will be a bugger  challenge due to the shape of the edges of the quilt.  I’m hoping to get the binding sewn onto the quilt Saturday when our quilt group meets.

Once again, perseverance pays off.  I can mark this UFO off the list.  That feel great!  And now back to customer quilts, where I am doing over-all designs and not tied to the quilting machine, as I have been for the last 2 weeks.  It feels good to be set free!

Have you eaten any elephants lately?  Persevere… one bite at a time.  Have a blessed week!

KAT