Quilting and Weird Al

Last week I shared some teaser photos of blocks in progress for a quilt I was working on. I managed to finish all 20 of the complete blocks! These blocks come out to a behemoth 17" on each side! Daaang. So I decided to use 4x5 blocks to make a quilt big enough for me to snuggle under. This incredible block is by Bijou Lovely and can he found here (though I changed it a little to avoid extra seams).

Over the weekend my boyfriend and I went to San Antonio to see his friends and family, but mostly to see Weird Al in concert!! Needless to say, I got absolutely no sewing done over the whole weekend. Oh well, it was super fun but waaay too loud. It reminded me of why I stopped going to concerts. Next time I need ear plugs.

Right before I left town, I was able to finish assembling the front of the quilt, and I even picked out backing. On Sunday after we got back to town, I was able to finish up the basting.

I even filled some bobbins with the gorgeous grey I'm using for quilting.

Then I decided to quilt something else completely. This is the border for the mug rug I'm making for The Mug Rug Revival. This was my first try at pebble FMQ. It doesn't all look this nice, but it's a start!

Then I had to remind myself that this quilt has a deadline. If I want to enter it into the local show, I need to have it done by November 7th. Ahhh!! Luckily this photo was taken after about half the quilting was done.

 I initially planned to do organic diagonal lines, but it just didn't come out the way I wanted, so that all got ripped out. I opted for a stipple instead since this is what I'm a little more comfortable with.

FMQing a giant 68" x 85" quilt on a regular sewing machine is difficult. My wrists hurt and it is only half done! It will be so worth it when the quilt is done! I have no idea if it will be done this week, because midterm grades are due on Friday so I have tons and tons of grading ahead of me!