Busy Busy

This time last year things were a lot calmer. I keep finding I have misplaced several days, and I haven't blogged or read my email. This is very unlike me. I just have so much to do. The good news is I am loving it. I can work very long days and enjoy it, which is well worth the lack of time.

Today I have been finishing the quilting on the black wholecloth I mentioned in my last post. I had thought it was quite small at 70" x 90", but when I put it on the bed tonight it doesn't look too bad. It is now trimmed and ready for it's binding. Just as well as it needs to be in a quilt show Wednesday. I quite fancy doing some more quilts in this style but it will have to wait until I have ordered more thread. I seem to have got through an awful lot of black thread recently. So much so I am almost out.

For this quilt I used masterpiece in the bobbin and signature on top. I thought the slightly heavier thread would help as I wanted the shades of grey to show up. I am fairly pleased with the result, but boy did it make a lot of lint. I had to thoroughly clean and oil my machine twice during this quilt. Normally I only need to do it once a quilt. It is surprising how different similar looking threads can be. I was also surprised to find I had to adjust the top tension for each different colour. I suppose the different amounts of dye is enough to change the diameter of the thread when it is a thicker one to start with. Certainly I haven't noticed the same effect with finer threads.

I have taken some pictures of the (nearly) finished quilt but my computer isn't playing ball. For some reason it seems to be having trouble seeing the card from the camera. I have asked someone else to upload it for me and hopefully I will be able to put the pictures up before I go.

This evening it has just started to sink in that the Festival Of Quilts is this week and I need to think about packing for it. Somehow it hasn't seemed urgent until now. I haven't even had time to think about an outfit for the gala dinner. I am sure something will work out. I am also trying to decide if I should take some quilting with me. Last year I did have time in the evenings when I was just sitting in my room, but I think I am less likely to do that this year. Maybe the time off would be good.

Please do stop me and say hello if you see me at the show, I do love meeting people, even though I am very bad at remembering names later. I do remember the people and what they make honest.