Quilting the New York Beauty

Today I rolled the New York Beauty quilt forward to work on what I thought was the sixth row.  I'm counting the wide top and bottom borders as rows; so there are a total of eight rows.  I looked at the amount of batting hanging down from the front bar and thought, I don't believe there's enough batting.

The blocks are 15.5", and the bottom three borders together measure 12".  So I needed 27.5" more inches of batting after that sixth row.  

I grabbed a tape measure.  

Just as I thought.  It was a good 5.5" short.

Then I stopped and stared at that 'sixth' row.  I considered.  I stared some more.  I pondered.  I stared with all my might and main.

I whirled around and looked at my EQ8 diagram:  I was on row seven!  When this row is done, there are only the bottom borders to go!  Wheeeeeee!!!!!

My quilting studio in the afternoon sunlight

The short batting that I thought wasn't going to be enough.

Row 4, New York Beauty Quilt

Row 4 is finished, and I've rolled the quilt forward to start row 5.  I'm on the downhill side!

Quilting the New York Beauty... and the View from My Window

Six more hours of quilting, and I've rolled the quilt forward far enough that row 5 is showing.  The fourth row is almost done.  It was a beautiful, sunny spring day, and, outside my second-story window, the birds were singing their hearts out.

Quilting the New York Beauty

New York Beauty Quilting

The results of another 6 hours of quilting:

Another Row Allllmost Done, New York Beauty

After several hours of quilting today, I alllmost finished another row on the New York Beauty quilt, which means I'm bumping the middle seam and am mighty close to halfway done with the quilting.  Under the quilting frame are the usual suspects.

Teensy

Tiger

Lace Valance version 2.0

After our church service tonight, we stopped by Wal-Mart and got another curtain rod so I could put up a lace valance on the other window.  I had four swags and only two jabots, so... the valances coordinate, instead of match.  Since one window is in a dormer and one is not, it works out fine, I think.  There was a hole in one swag, but I managed to sew it back together, and it doesn't show. There was a hole in one, but I managed to sew it back together.

Larry took my machine apart, found what he thinks is the problem... adjusted things...but needs a new little piece. He’ll contact the tech tomorrow. But we’re going out into the Sandhills tomorrow, as Larry has sold a scissor lift, and we are delivering it. So I’ll try to forget I want to be quilting, and make like a photographer.

Lace Valance

Since the hopping foot on my Avanté quilting machine is out of adjustment and needs to be fixed, I did a few other things today, including putting up this lace valance in the north dormer in my quilting studio.  There are lace pieces for the east window, too, but I need to get a new curtain rod for them.  I didn't sew them; I found them in a bin full of curtains from the house in town.

Perfect Spot for Sunbonnet Sue

Last night, my sister Lura Kay gave me back the Sunbonnet Sue quilt, despite my (possibly feeble) protests.  Today I found the perfect spot for it, at last.

I hung it on a quilt rack I got a few years ago at a secondhand furniture store.  One of the legs was loose; Larry fixed it last week.  So here it is, on the second-floor landing at the top of the stairs, next to one of my treadle sewing machines:

Still Quilting NYB