Done! Well sort of...

10
Originally uploaded by i_bugsy.

Its done! Sort of! I finished the binding on the queen size quilt that I made for our new queen size bed! Yes indeed! A queen size quilt for a queen size bed for a pair of queens!

Unfortunately, there was a little issue with one of the squares near the inner border. Somehow, and I don't know how, when I sewed the border to that side it didn't quite get the attached to one square of the quilt! Color me perplexed!

So now I've got to come up with a fix. Which my wonderful partner has come up with an idea! I'll just appliqué a rectangle the width of the square by the length of the inner border that is the color of the blocks and the middle border - it'll look like a connector!

Which leads me to believe that this is why appliqué was created. To fix mistakes, or more likely, to patch a damaged area. In my case a mistake!

Ugh! Just when I thought I had this thing done! Its the quilt that won't end!

I'm very happy with it!

A couple of notes. It is named "10" because it was finished for our 10th anniversary! I also folded it to get a better picture - the thing is huge!

Hour Glass Cross

Hour Glass Cross Quilt
Originally uploaded by i_bugsy.

I mentioned in a previous post that I had completed a flannel quilt with blocks won as a door prize. This is that quilt.

I call it Hour Glass Cross because the red fabric makes a cross. I didn't plan it that way. It just happened as I was laying out the blocks to come up with a setting.

It'll be appearing in this year's Quilter's Unlimited Quilt show in Centreville, VA in the first week of June.

Clothes Shopping: Could Anything Be More Painful?

Today I had to go buy a tuxedo! My partner and I are going on a cruise to Hawaii and there are a few dress up nights - really dress up nights. Hence the tuxedo.

I don't own a tux and I only own one suit. So we headed out to K&G to look at tuxedos. We found 2 and I tried them on. As usual I'm in between sizes. The coat is just a bit snug, but the pants fit great. Or, the coat is just a bit big and the pants are WAY too big. They also wont let you mix and match sizes.

My partner tells me that as long as the tux feels comfortable, then it'll work. I mentioned that I'm not comfortable in suits, much less a tuxedo! Then I mentioned that "I hate clothes shopping!"

So then we drove over to Syms and found a tux that seemed to fit quite nicely! Thank goodness!

Did I mention that I hate clothes shopping? This is a shocking thing I know! After all, what Gay man hates clothes shopping? Uh, me.

Oh, we stopped to get some more vodka. I had used the last of it on Thursday. Later, I did have a martini!

Quilt Class

Well, its the second Saturday of the month and is the time for me to trundle to Capital Quilts for the Quilt Makers meeting.

This month I have two quilts to show. One is the queen size quilt for my partner and I - it will go on our new bed, except the bed is now over a year old. The binding is the last thing I need to finish!

The other quilt is my first flannel quilt. I won 42 6" flannel squares as a door prize from last month's meeting. There were 7 different fabrics and 6 of each fabric. So I sorted them out into pairs and made hour glass blocks. Making the hour glass blocks was fairly quick. It took a good deal of time to layout the blocks, but I was very satisfied with the outcome. I call it the "Hour Glass Cross".

The lesson from the flannel quilt is to press open the seams! Where four blocks met a mountain formed. A mountain is where the number of seams and bulk of the fabric causes a mound to form at the junction - hence a mountain.

Needless to say, the ladies loved both quilts! Unfortunately, I did not win anymore door prizes!

I'll post some pictures soon.

Wintery Mix Redux

Well we had another round of wintery mix. At least I know what that is!
However, I wasn't expecting it until after rush hour, not at 5:45 AM! I drive up to Frederick, MD and heard about the snow on the radio. I was a bit surprised. I also realized that I was not wearing my snow shoes, just my regular shoes.

Needless to say I made it to work safely. I also made it home safely and within my normal driving time of about 1 hour and 15 minutes. For some reason the return commute is worse than the commute there. It seems that the American Legion bridge gets congested worse on the way home, but not as bad as the inner side of the bridge. Wow! Its always packed as I'm headed home. So is I-270 North.

Basically, I'm glad I have a reverse commute. At least its an hour drive in which I'm constantly moving. Anyway, only one more day of that! Well, except for a few trips now and then.