There is no denying it ! Christmas is coming, and there is NOTHING we can do about it, except start early ! As anyone who has EVER given home made for Christmas knows, we start making things MONTHS in advance so that we can get it all done ! I am no different, though I do have a tendency to put the final stitches in at least one give on Christmas Eve LOL. So here are a few things I am working on for this years Holiday Season !
Some of you may remember the double sided tablecloth that I made for my Grandmother last year when I swore to myself that I was NEVER, EVER, EEEEVER going to make another one, because of all the trouble I had with so many seams on both sides , thread issues, tension issues ect.
Welllllll…. My wonderful Aunt, decided that she HAD to have one. It is all I have heard about since last thanksgiving ! Sooooo being the awesome niece that I am, decided to make her one. Well, let me tell ya ! This time, was the last time ! If my cousin wants one, she can have her mothers ( my aunt’s ) when she is dead, because that is the only way she will get one ! This beast tested my patience to the extreme !
Her table is 4 feet x 8 feet ( a sheet of plywood with molding on the edges ) and I accounted for a 5 inch drop all the way around. The fall side pieced together easy peasy ! No issues to be seen ! It looks fantastic !
So then I start piecing the Christmas side. And all heck came down upon my sewing room. I swear there is a curse ! A Tablecloth curse ! This side was horrific ! The FIRST top I made, I was thinking, okay, this looks good, nice points, good seams…. then WHAM ! I realize I had only made enough blocks for HALF !! I had 16 blocks and not 32 !! I also did not have enough of the fabric to make another half .. soooo… I pieced an entire DIFFERENT Christmas side all together ! I am sorta glad I did, because it looks awesome like this !!
Then came the basting ! I had to VERY carefully baste this bad boy so that the borders lined up on all 4 sides, since I was using the wide border as my drop, and wanted some consistency from one side to the other. Let me tell you, I had to ask myself what drugs I was on yet again, to decide to make such a thing ! More than once I decided that if I wasn’t on any when I made the decision to make the dang thing, I sure as heck should be on SOMETHING by the time I was done !
Then there was the quilting. Ohhh the glorious choices I made for quilting. Yeah. I decided to use the SAME Variegated thread on both sides that I did for last years ! You may remember.. different weights ( top thread was a 60 weight, bobbin was a 40 weight ! ), different brands ( Aurifil on the top, Coats and Clark in the bobbin ) Hahahahaha… yep, I was in need of medication.Once I started quilting, I was thinking… this isn’t so terrible… not a single snapped thread… then the bobbin ran out, and I flipped it over ! The reason there was no broken thread on the top, was because there was NO tension on the BOTTOM ! My entire first bobbin of thread was sitting there snaking along the bottom of the quilt, being held on so loosely that a mouse fart could have pulled it off ! So a ripping I did go ! An entire L bobbins worth ! Once I fixed the tension issue, things went much smoother.
The quilting finished up without any more major incidents, and the tripping up went very smoothly. I still need to bind it… but I am waiting for my refill of Xanax ! You know, just in case !
