Aren't PTO days the best?

It's amazing how I can go from not feeling like I'm getting anything done to four finishes in a few days. All it takes is having a day or two off from work with no plans to go anywhere and the quilts just stack up! But let's back up a bit.

So those half square triangles took forever to sew, trim, and press, but once they were made, these blocks went together really fast! And I'm happy to report that my pressing instructions that I wrote for the pattern mean that every single seam nests. And I mean every seam. Which made Tide Pools really fast to sew together as there's no sashing so you get the repeating pattern. And these blocks are big too so they go together even faster. 

Once I had the top of Tide Pools done- and I did the victory lap on Tide Pools and Tennessee Tumble at the same time- it was time to baste. Which is probably my least favorite part right up there with ironing the backing. Thankfully for these two quilts, I had a big enough floor space so I didn't need to pull out my basting boards which make basting a quilt easier and harder. I only have a few feet where my space is long enough to use them, but everything stays flat and I don't have wrinkles when I use them. 

Once the quilts were basted, and I don't have pictures of that because I just wanted that part done, it was time to audition thread colors. I opted to quilt Tide Pools first because I was using my walking foot for some gentle waves and I wasn't feeling up to tackling the free motion quilting I was planning on for Tennessee Tumble yet. 

I ended up going with tan for Tennessee Tumble and blue for Tide Pools. I could've gone with blue for both, but the back of Tennessee Tumble is green and I liked the tan on it better and I wasn't sure if I would have enough of the green to do the whole quilt.

But before I could do any quilting, I had to get my machine threaded. And it was Tuesday morning before work and I figured I had time to get a few rows in. And maybe it was because it was after a long weekend and I didn't want to go to work, but it took me 10 minutes to thread my machine. 10! 

Turns out gentle waves/curves are quick and easy to quilt and I had it quilted up in two days before and after work. Which meant that Thursday, which I had off of work, I could tackle some free motion quilting. Which I haven't done since before I got my Babylock Presto 2 almost 2 years ago. So a practice block was in order!

Turns out, I haven't forgotten as much as I expected. And also, if I use the stitch my machine recommends for FMQ, I get a lot of eye lashing on the back, but if use a regular straight stitch, no problems! This little 17" block was found in my orphan block box. I figured if I was going to be potentially picking out stitches, I didn't want it to be on something that was precious to me. And I'll be honest, I'm not even sure where this block came from. I don't have any of those fabrics in my stash and it's not a style of fabric that I would have picked up. It's possible it was in a box of scraps I was given. But either way, it's now quilted up, bound, and even has a little hanging sleeve on it in case I feel like displaying it. 

But since my quilting turned out better than I expected, it was time to tackle Tennessee Tumble. And tackle it I did! I only needed to rip out a few sections of stitches where my thread either broke, I accidentally crossed over somewhere I shouldn't have, or I ran out of bobbin thread. 

I don't know if you can see it very well, but when I free motion quilt, I draw a line with a water soluble marker to follow. I don't follow directly on the line, I meander back and forth around it, but it helps me to not quilt too densely in some spots and very loose in others. It looks like a bunch of S and M and W marks across the quilt top, but once it's washed, you can't see my guide lines. 

But then it was time for one of my favorite parts, trimming the quilts! I love quilts when they're done and bound, but I feel like once they are trimmed, you get a better feel for how big it is and how the quilting turns out. Except this happened. 

Which means more unpicking of stitches happened to fix it. but thankfully it wasn't all that much and it was right at the edge, so it was easier to maneuver when trying to line the stitches back up. But then came the binding marathon! I machine sew the binding to the front and hand stitch to the back. And you know what felt great? I didn't have to go to the store for any of the binding for all three quilts! My stash had exactly what I needed!

Friday was spent sewing down yards of binding. And somehow it goes so much faster with a good movie on the TV. Preferably something I've watched before so I can just listen. But then I decided that since the FMQ went a lot better than expected and the binding went on faster than expected, I would pull out a UFO baby quilt and get that one quilted up and bound. So Friday was full of finishes, four to be exact!

While all the quilts were being washed, patterns were being edited and finishing touches were added so that Saturday I could release both Tennessee Tumble & Tide Pools. 

Which meant that after days of spending time at my sewing machine, I spent two days in front of a screen without touching any fabric. This week, there will be sewing! I have one more quilt I need to make, a baby quilt for my matron of honor, and a quilt that I'm hoping to have done for a Christmas present. And there are two more patterns in my head I want to make, but those might just have to wait, because the Quiltville mystery is also going to be here before I know it and I'm also planning a wedding! I really wish I could just quit my job so I could quilt all day. Anyone else?

Happy quilting!