At five-thirty this morning, I dragged myself out of bed so I could get the birthday quilt assembled and pin basted before the kids woke up and I lost my floor space. Early morning basting is always a gamble and I had to chase them back into their rooms until I was done, but I got it layered without any major pleats (at least none that I've noticed so far) and now I'm about halfway through the quilting.



I'm doing the free motion spirals again, which seems like more physical effort than meandering, especially since this is a bigger quilt (70" x 70") than I'm used to tackling on the Janome. I thought about waiting for the longarm, but I'm not that patient and I get better results from the Janome.

Pacing myself and spreading the quilting over more than one day would be the sane thing to do, but I'm not that reasonable, so I quilt until my bobbin runs out, do something around the house, quilt another bobbins worth, look at pretty quilty blogs, quilt another bobbins worth, cuddle with the kids for a bit...

I'm finding all sorts of things to be inspired by --

Don't know what I'd do with a French Dresses Paper Garland, but it would be so much fun to make I'm not sure I need a purpose for it.

This post about plastic bag transfers has me wanting to call everyone I know to ask if they've got neat bags they can save me, because I didn't know I was supposed to save them. But I'd have to explain what I was going to do with them and my friends don't all understand this sort of thing.

I want a little quilt with a ruffle and jumbo ric rack. Mostly I want the ruffle. Or prairie points. Or a crocheted border. I still don't know how to crochet, but those pictures sure make me want to learn! And there's a tutorial that explains how to do it... or I could knit an edging. I know how to do it, and I've got books full of edging patterns.

And between all of the breaks to follow rabbit trails, and play with the kids, and work on the house -- it's quilted!



I'm in rather desperate need of a nap, but I think I can keep myself moving for a couple more hours. Tomorrow, I'll get it trimmed and buy some fabric for binding.