Hello, dear blog readers! So this week, I finished both the easiest quilt pattern I've ever made--and the most difficult quilt (my first!) I've ever quilted. It was one of those days that was chalk full of stuff that I can laugh about now, but did not seem very funny at the time.
For example: first thing in the morning, Big C. decided that he could swipe my phone off of the coffee table while I was taking a drink of coffee. (Yes, I do half-cups, but still can't live without it, even with the pregnancy. I'll admit it.) I set the cup down, took away the phone, only to have a busy little arm wipe the coffee cup clean onto its side. Fortunately we have a cheap rug under the coffee table for such events as these. I have to say that in retrospect, it really WAS rather amusing to see a kid get so excited about waving his hands and splashing through insta-puddle on the coffee table.
Which brings up another point: disciplining toddlers. We're at the phase where we're trying to discern whether or not to discipline for certain infractions such as these. In this case, the phone-swiping was deliberate, and we've repeatedly told him "no." The coffee was an accident. Later that afternoon, he was standing by the kitchen table (yes, he can actually see over the rim now!). He has a knack for reaching one hand up to where he can't see, and he managed to get a hold of my laptop while it was open and running. Onto the floor it went, face down. I wanted to cry: I thought it would be dead and destroyed for sure. (I'm even more of a Mac fan than ever, for it survived as if nothing had happened!) Do we discipline for curiosity if this was the first time he was able to grab something off of the table other than a bib or a piece of paper? Aw, the challenges of parenting.
Anyway, so between all of these events, I loaded my very first actual quilt into the long-arm I had rented for the morning. (Thank goodness for cell phones with cameras--I don't know that I would have remembered all of the details otherwise!) About the time I got close to the end of the quilt, I realized that I had loaded the backing in sideways. The quilt top was five inches longer than the backing. It was one of those "Read 'em and weep, sister!" realizations. Not even remotely possible to fix and redo with a seam ripper.
So, off to home I went not sure what I was going to do. With some brainstorming from Helpful Hubby, I managed to cut the extra backing from the sides of the quilt, piece enough to finish the back, get some matching lighter-weight thread that matched the long-arm thread, and free-hand quilt those five inches on the end. It rather looks like a kid went at the end of the quilt with a messy red ink pen, but I have to say: I learned more finishing this one quilt than I have in the last three years of quilting combined. Plus, I know now that my machine can do things I didn't even know it was remotely capable of doing. Hooray!
So, all in all, a good ending to an interesting day. And that, friends, more or less concludes the Monday Morning Rambles.
Happy Monday, dear blog readers!
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2 comments:
Funny! Well, maybe not to you, but it made me laugh. Now you need to post a picture of your completed quilt. (You can cut of the bottom, if you want - on the picture, that is!)
It is really hard to know when to start disciplining the little person you know as innocent baby. One thing I used in the beginning before frank spanking was flicking of the offending fingers. When I felt like my girls were at that transition between full on discipline and redirecting this was quite effective. It is hard but quite often before you know it they have outsmarted you and you need to lay down the law.
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