Last minute Schnibble Times Two

If it wasn't for the last minute I swear I'd never get anything done. Well last night I was lying in bed and had a thought (dangerous situation).... "oh I should get a top ready to give to the long arm quilter at the guild meeting tonight. Hmmmm... what should I take? There is that X-Rated Schnibbles Times Two top made with the Hunky Dory collection back in June. I had the top made but I wasn't sure how I was going to handle the middle section. I had done little X-Rated blocks and I wanted them framed by their larger buddies. Now if this quilt had been assembled in a block fashion it would have been easy to insert them, but this quilt is done in diagonal rows. When I worked on it in June I thought I'd do the little blocks as a seperate quilt and then somehow attach it after it had been quilted. But I wasn't really happy with that idea and then today I had a new idea, "What if I just appliqued this group of little blocks to the center?" Ah, a solution! (It was at this point I should have known that it wasn't that easy but I was still in my "gotta have something done for tonight mode.")

So at 1:30 I started this process. First try, I pinned the little blocks to the center, looked great, started to sew. Oh carp, the blocks are upside down. Unsew and repin the blocks. Second try, ok they're facing the right direction, get them pinned down, oh carp, now they're crooked. Unpin and try again -correct direction and even. Now I realize that the needle I'm using is way too big. It feels like I'm sewing with a javelin. Somewhere I have some applique needles. Where are they? Oh yeah, in that basket under the table with the Dear Jane blocks I started eons ago. New needle -much better. So I begin sewing away. Wow, this is taking a long time. I wonder how long it takes to sew down one side - yikes 30 minutes for one side! I'll need 2 hours to get this done. (Clock says it is 2:30 and I need to be ready to go to dinner at 4:45 - this is going to be close.) Sew faster!

Now I do enjoy doing some quiet handwork and this project gave me a lot of time to think and boy did my mind wander. I thought about how I learned to do the ladder stitch I use for appliqueing and sewing down bindings - Home Ec class back in the Age of Aquarius - early 70's. I had a wonderful teacher, Sara Lee, not that Sara Lee but that was her name, Sara Lee Fleischman. She was a good cook too. I'm so glad I had this experience. Do they even teach sewing in high school these days?

Then I thought some more about how I was going to finish this quilt. Although my stitches were pretty tiny I didn't like that the seam I was making wasn't real straight. Maybe I could cover the seam with rickrack? Oh I like that idea. After I get it back from the quilter I could cover the seam with rickrack and stitch it down with french knots or feather stitch and maybe some beads. Yeah, jazz it up a bit. Then another thought crept in..... why are you handstitching this? If you are going to cover it up you could sew it down by machine, sheesh (insert smack upside head). Should I switch gears? Naaahh... I was already on the fourth side, but I wish I had this brilliant idea about 90 minutes earlier. Oh well I got it sewn down and then I cut the extra fabric out underneath and took some pictures.



It doesn't lay real flat but with all the diagonal seams there is a lot of bias sewn to straight of grain. I've convinced myself that once it gets quilted and I wash it, it will have that nice crinkly look and you won't notice the lumpiness. (Yes I do expect miracles from the long arm quilter.) Check the clock....4:35, where did the day go? I had just enough time to stuff my top into a bag, grab my show and tell quilt and change my shirt.

Last minute but I got it done... so glad for the last minute!
Happy stitching,
carol fun