what I have to show for it!

Quilting show season is well and truly underway. Consequently, I am very stressed!

I'm entering two quilts in the show this year. I won't show full pictures of either one, but I'll talk a little bit about them just to provide a general update.

This is my epic Mrs Billings Coverlet. I set myself the date of 31 March 2016 to finish it. I pulled the last papers at 2:15am on 1 April. Then I slept for four hours, did school drop off, came back home, and took a nap.

Last year at the show I decided to ask my friend Leanne to quilt it. She's also an award-winning quilter (we have gotten second and third in the same categories, two years running), and she agreed. I emailed her in January, more than a little concerned about the "wobbles" in the top, and she was very kind, and reminded me to BREATHE, and also, a few wobbles were nothing to shed tears of blood over!

I drove the quilt up to her after my nap on that April morning, and we talked over what I wanted ("quilted? modernish? nice? You know?") and she's been sending me progress pictures that are making me SWOON. I never doubted the idea that she was the right quilter for the job, but it's nice to be so vindicated, you know?

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The second quilt I'm entering is one I've been slowly piecing all year. It's called Andromeda.

 I've been quilting this one to the best of my ability, but I'm hampered by technology. I tell you what, having a stitch regulator would be an incredible thing. I'm currently using a speed control with a faulty on-off switch, which means I stand there and press on-off, turn the dial incrementally, on-off, turn, on-off, turn, on-off, turn, and so on, until the bloody thing decides to work. It also decided to start randomly using the thread cutter every three seconds. (Solved that by unplugging the thread cutter.) It's also fond of punching great holes in my quilt when it decides to speed up (usually as I'm edging toward a stopping point). 

That said, it's still better than wrestling a quilt through a domestic machine, so I'll happily take it!

I have a few more passes of Andromeda to do and then it gets its binding (blue star fabric), its hanging sleeve, and label, and off to the show it goes. After it's been exhibited, it's been promised to my friend Lauren, who is making me a crochet granny square throw in trade. I'm very excited about that! I know Lauren will love this quilt, as she is a big space nerd, like me.

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As soon as I've discharged my quilt show obligations, I am going to sit and make a Lizzy House log cabin quilt. I've been organizing my scraps (ironing them took a whole morning of texting my friend Lane about The Raven King) and don't they look beautiful!

I went and pulled the rest of my Lizzy collection and sorted out what wasn't already a scrap. I'll trim strips off everything and keep all my scraps together for other Lizzy-specific projects. (Since I took the Meadow class last year, I feel especially fond of my Lizzy House collection. She was such a fun and cool person and that class was so great!)

Oh, and one of my husband's friends got married earlier this month, so I started a quilt for them. I dug out all my Cotton + Steel navy and low-volume fabric and began making stacks...and it became a Hunters' Star before my very eyes. I'm taking my time on this one, but I'm enjoying the progress I've made so far!

Oh! My current handsewing project is the border part of Green Tea Sweet Beans. There were times I have hated this pattern, but I definitely learned a lot while doing it. (Mostly I learned that I do not like hand piecing at all. Appliqué is fine. EPP is fine. Hand-piecing makes me stabby.)

Here is the finished main top, pre-final borders.

I've been taking my borders to our SydModSquad handsewing days. It's nice to have something so easy to do and so rewarding to work on already prepped and ready to go.

I also had the bright idea to reckon up all my WIPs. More like "Whoops!" I need to get some of these crossed off! It was nice to have them all on one list. I do love my little progress box, though. It's so great to have a dedicated card for each project, and to keep them even after the quilt has been gifted. :)

That's it for now! Time to get back to Andromeda. If I'm very clever I'll be done quilting by Friday. Wish me luck!