I got the blues

I concentrated on quilting up the blue logs in my log cabin quilt, and made great progress yesterday. Once again, I had to rewind a bobbin when the tension got all wonky after I'd inserted a new bobbin. It only takes a minute to rewind a bobbin, but why should I have to do that?  The next time my machine goes to the spa, I'll make a note of this situation and see what the repair person has to say.

I didn't take the quilt out of the machine to see how many of the 64 blocks I'd done, but my estimate is that about half are finished.  And my plan is to finish them all today and get started on quilting in the pink centers of the blocks.  I have the design in my head and it should work out well, with little marking.  Well, you know what they say about the best laid plans, right?

I feel as though I'm boring everyone by going on about the log cabin quilt, and if I am, I apologize.  I'm one of those people who likes to see a project through from start to finish, at least until the top is completed and then it can hang in the closet for a year (or more!) before getting quilted up.  LOL! When I read in other people's blogs that they worked on 3 or 4 different quilts in a day, I admire how they can do that. I get confused if I have a leader/ender project going at the same time as I'm working on a quilt!  Also, when I set up my machines for quilting, I don't like to disassemble them in order to do some piecing.  Just get the quilting done and then move on to something else. Also, I'm afraid that if I take the quilt out of the machine and set it aside, it'll languish on the closet shelf for another couple of years!  And I want these tops stitched up and put on the beds!  So, please be patient with me when I'm quilting up a top.  I'll eventually move on to something a little more interesting.

I continue to stitch away at the 6,478 pine needles in the Among the Pines embroidery, and have only 2 trees left to stitch, or about 2, 546 needles  ;o) , and the third block will be finished.  Before I begin the 4th one, I'm going to make up all the other blocks so they're ready to go South with me. 

And the only other "sewing" I did yesterday, was to convert a pillowcase into a bib for Jo to wear when she goes to DC for the Women's March next weekend.  She wanted to make a flag that she could wave, but we decided that carrying a stick on the plane might not work, and her arms will get pretty tired from holding the flag aloft.  Instead, we came up with the pillow case idea. I took an old white case and used my pinking shears to cut a circle for her head and neck.  Then I cut up the sides so it fit over her jacket but we realized that it needed to be tied somehow at the sides or it will be blowing around in the wind. I found some old scrap fabric and stitched 4 ties at the waist so she can tie the bib and it won't blow around. When she goes home today, she's going to paint or draw sayings on both the front and back of the bib.  She's chosen a quote from Maya Angelou, "still I rise,"  taken from her poem.  If you're like me and not familiar with it, this is the first stanza:  

You may write me down in history

With your bitter, twisted lies, 

You may trod me in the very dirt

But still, like dust, I'll rise.

and here's the link to the rest of the poem, Still I Rise.  I think it's a very fitting quote for Jo to paint on her banner/bib.  

That's it for today.  Back to singing the blues--in a good way!