When I last posted, I said I would be pinning the Mabel quilt that afternoon. And indeed I did get that accomplished. Yea! And I got a big surprise as I was doing so.
I had it all layered and laid out on the tables at the leisure center where I go to pin quilts. For $5 they let me use one of their rooms for an hour and I lay everything out on the tables so I don't have to crawl around on the floor which my knees would seriously object to.
I had it 3/4 pinned when I "noticed" something. And then I "noticed" 2 more somethings. Can you see in the photo below what I "noticed?"
Yes, indeed. I'd stitched in 3 blocks that were wrong! The corners of the pink, purple and blue blocks needed to be fixed, and instead of screaming in frustration, I was very happy that I saw the errors before I finished the quilting, for once. Well, maybe a little squeak of frustration escaped from me. :0) Usually, as in my flower quilt, I find the errors after all the quilting is finished and the binding stitched on.
So, I finished the pinning, and yesterday, began deconstruction of the blocks and reconstruction of the quilt. I managed to do that with having to unpin only a small portion of the quilt. Thank goodness all three blocks were in the same area. And I triple- and quadruple-checked for any other blocks that needed work, and found none.
I was able to spend a couple of hours yesterday doing the ditch stitching and today will finish that up and hopefully change machines and begin FMQ, which should be fun. I hope!
A few days ago I also began stitching this 5" quilted box called Honey Hive.
It's a pattern I picked up some time ago, designed by Kathy Schmitz, one of my favorite embroidery designers. I thought it was cute and unusual and something I'd like to have, so the other night I began the embroidery.
As of last night, I've finished three of the four corners, except for the bumble bees. Each of the three corners is identical and I did all the branches, leaves, and cherries but have the bees yet to do. The fourth corner is the one shown on the pattern--the design with the bird and the bee hive. Tonight I'll begin stitching the bees in the 3 corners and then move on to the fourth corner.
As I was stitching this box, I decided that I'd give it to my youngest daughter when the time comes, and I'll use it to hold the pearl necklace and earrings that go to her when I'm no longer in need of them. Oh, I just had another thought. I suppose I should make a second quilted box to hold the jewelry that goes to my other daughter. And what about the jewelry that goes to my granddaughter? She should have a box as well. I think I'll have enough stitching to keep me busy for quite a few Masterpiece Theater series!
All I have on my schedule for today is to make a run to the food co-op for a few things I need and then it's into the sewing room until dinner time, which is an easy pizza supper. BTW, the beef vegetable soup with barley (not "barely" as I'd typed in the post!) was a big hit with both Don and me.
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