Potpourri #eleventy

Potpourri: pot·pour·ri [poh-poo-ree, poh-poo-ree] –noun
any mixture, esp. of unrelated objects, subjects, etc.

I met with my QuiltyFriend yesterday. We meet once a month in alternate homes for about 4 hours to stitch and talk, then we go out for a late lunch. It was my turn to host. My sew studio was the warmest room in the house even though it is in the basement. When I first go into the room, I plug in my little electric heater to take the chill out of the room. After a while I can turn it off and unplug it as it will get too hot in there.

QuiltyFriend worked on her homespun stars quilt/wallhanging that is so totally not her (and she knows this). I worked on that Christmas snowflake wallhanging. I know you've seen this image before, but I'm being lazy. After spending beau coup time fiddling, fiddling, fiddling with the tension adjustment between the bobbin casing and the machine, I finally got a balanced tension for quilting. The wallhanging is quilted and the binding is on. Now I have to hand stitching on the binding left to do, plus adding the label and some sort of sleeve or hanging system. I'm not sure on that one as I'm considering turning it into a table topper. It's the perfect size for my antique oak table.

Speaking of fiddling with the bobbin tension. I have 2 bobbin casings one for regular sewing and piecing and one for quilting and (future) bobbin work. I have wanted to play with bobbin work for a long time and will need to really loosen the tension on this bobbin casing, so I can see a lot of fiddling in my future.

When QuiltyFriend and I were looking at my blue quilt, Azure, there was one spot on the back were a blue fabric bled through. Bleh. I don't know if it will come out because heat has been applied via the dryer. I'm going to try, though, by rewashing with both Retayne and Synthropol. And if it is still there, so be it. It is, after all, on the backside, and this is not a show quilt by any means. I made it for our bed; it's 104"x104".

My pile of handwork is growing. There are now 3 quilts in the pile that need various things done to them: bindings stitched down on 2, a touch of embroidery on 2, and now rewashing of 1. I think when I finish this pair of sox I'll move over to hand stitching for a while. I don't know why I procrastinate on this because, really, it won't take much time to do.

I'm joining Kim at Peach Quilting in the Fabric Diet 2007 Stash Bustin'. She has so generously offered a badge for January. I must be truthful: last week I just purchased a lot of fabric from eQuilter. It is still so fresh that it hasn't arrived yet. That is my impetus.

I've mucked about in my sidebar this morning, doing a little bit of organizing.

Well, this has been a long and rambling post about nothing. Guess I'll go sew.