The Rush

You know the rush?  Sure you do, you know that all consuming, must get it done, go, go, go, moment.  Well I had one of those this past week.  Those rush moments don't always happen but when they do I usually just grab on with two hands and try and sneak some food and coffee in when I can.

I finally finished this behemoth of a zig zag quilt.  I did a modern style quilting, as you can see here,  marked lines with a line of pebbles, uppy downy lines, and swirls in the blue.  Ugh, what a bloody headache the quilting was.

 So anyhow it was hair straight back to hand sew the binding (I just can't do machine stitched binding, I like the look of hand stitched too much).  Then it was time to remove the markings.  Well I have never immersed a quilt in the tub before, it's pretty darn nerve wracking.

"I wonder if I have the water temperature right, oh crap maybe I should double check!  Too late anyway... Oh it is right, whew.  OH MY GOD did I rinse the tub enough! What if some bit of cleaning chemicals gets into the quilt.... Oh right I use the green stuff... will that ruin the quilt?  No it's fine.  Soooo should I rub the lines?  Massage the quilt?  Dunk it under more?  How long should I leave it... "

Well you get the idea.  I ended up just leaving it in the tub for a while (32 minutes to be exact, in really cold water, maybe a little too cold, hmmm...)  I spun it in the wash a couple of times and popped it into the drier.

 I really like the quilt.  It's exactly what it was supposed to be.  I discovered that I'm not much of a 'modern' quilter.  I love the look of the modern quilts sure, but making them is way trickier than I thought.  Those white lines, I had to go over them 7 times!  The quilt is very large, and it was a super pain in the butt to get the thing into my little machine...  I have been eyeballing one of those Handi Quilter machines.

The rush wasn't over yet, I had to also quilt and bind this cute little number.  I picked this jelly roll up at Wal-Mart of all places.  It was on the super sale rack for a couple bucks.  I thought it was just ugly as sin, until I started sewing with it.  Now I think it's the cutest!

 One of my best friends just found out she will be having a baby girl so this is for her.  I suppose you could say this is another 'modern' quilt because of the white, but I did an all over stipple so the quilt can be snuggly.  I was inspired by this video from the Missouri Star Quilt Company.   I'm linking up with the awesome ladies over at the Needle and Thread Network.  Have a gooder.