Two More Basted

 I spent parts of yesterday getting another two quilts basted and ready to go.  First up was the dinosaur quilt!

I dug around in the bins and found two one-yard remnant pieces of backing fabric (90" wide? 108" wide? dunno) that were the same print but clearly off different bolts if you looked at them right next to each other.  Together, they weren't going to be quite wide enough, so I pulled out all the bajillion 3.5" strips left over from the bright tumblers quilt I did a few years ago, and pieced a couple into a center strip:

So the paisley beige of the back kind of goes with the sandy dinosaur footprints sashing on the front?  I'm planning to bind it in straight black.

Next I set to work on the 16-patch I'm going to give to my sister:

I ran into a problem when I ran into the end of the batting on the roll.  Not that it wasn't enough - you can see the kind of pointy bit on the left which was the tail end of the batting.  It was just the right amount!  No, the problem was that the batting was 90" wide... and the quilt was 92" square!  So I had to pause halfway through, cut a leftover bit of batting from one of the previous quilts into strips, and whipstitch it on.

I also pieced the backing for this one, nicely symmetrically, I think:

I purchased the blues from all the stuff I'm storing for my quilt guild, for specifically this purpose, and the stripe down the center was from my stash.  I did my best to center the quilt top on this.

Now to label and then to quilt.  But first, cranberry sauce and pies to make!

Christmas Quilting (Do Not Panic)

 Quilt #3 for Christmas done, run through the washer, and currently tumble-drying with its matching pillowcases.  (This being the first one that's bed-sized; thus, why the other two haven't had pillowcases.)  I've pulled #4 (this one being for my sister) out of the closet and am ATM piecing together the backing.

I also dug out in the garage and found some possible backing bits for Jazzy's quilt, or maybe for the one for my mother... and also some fabric to expand the one for my mother, as it's a sampler quilt that currently measures ~50"x70".  If I put a couple borders on it, it could become bed-sized.  The problem is, my grandmother made the quilt top in the 1990s, and fabric colors and patterns are very different now than they were then!  Fortunately, I have a too-big fabric stash, and have found some pieces of the right era.  Including some that appear in the quilt!

Four and a half weeks.  Four quilts.  I can do this!

Lacing

 Today's project has been lacing an embroidery piece.  I'd previously taken it for framing, but when we got it back it was just a little crumply and not quite square in the frame.  So I took it back to Michaels and they took it out, cut some acid-free board for me to lace it around, and said to bring it back when I was done, and back into the frame it will go.

One severe pressing and oodles and oodles of white thread later, I'm done and the pins holding the fabric taut have been removed.  I've got a few heavy books resting on top of the piece right now, hopefully correcting the slight warping of the board that I didn't notice until after I got the first half of the lacing done....

Two Done, Five To Go

 The first two Christmas quilts (Niecelet's, and Wonderful Husband's) are completed, quilted, labelled, bound, washed, and in the dryer at the moment.  Next up is the one for my father (labelled and basted), but I need to shift my sewing desks around for that one, as it's larger and needs a bigger surface to lie on.  First, though, I need to prep a fabric piece for framing.

Meantime, here's a picture of the latest quilt top: Jazzy's!

It has a pair of matching pillowcases made from the fossil footprints sashing fabric, bordered with the last of the colorful dinos fabric of the outer border.

ETA: Pulled both quilts out of the dryer, folded them to store for the next month and a half.  Had to pull out a Wearable Art Fabric Marker and rewrite the labels, as the Pigma Micron writing had faded to near-illegibility.  Grr.  Labels no longer as neat and pretty, but hopefully now will last longer?  Only time and further washings will tell.