The Great Quilting Debate In My Head

Good decisions come from experience, and experience comes from bad decisions. –Unknown

I'm almost ready to start quilting the Snowball Quilt. I stayed up past my bedtime and got the top all marked last night. Then I stayed up even later marking a practice sandwich so I could try out the quilting I want to do. I've been doodling it out on notebook paper and wanted to see if I could create the same doodles on a quilt. This morning I got up way earlier than I wanted to and did a little quilting practice. The machine quilting is inspired by Danielle at Nacho Mama's Quilt. Here are the results:

There is sashing between the blocks, but I left that out on my practice pad because I'm going to quilt swirls in there and I've done those before. Here is a close-up of a single snowball, front and back. I made landmarks in the snowball in order to keep the quilting even. You can see the marks on the left.

In order to help stabilize the quilt, I am going to stitch in the ditch where the sashing meets the blocks {all the best home machine quilters recommend it} before I start the free motion design.

I wanted to have this quilt finished by Friday night so I could put it in a quilt show. But after quilting out four snowballs, I estimate that it will take me at least 20 hours to get this quilted. Even if I got started with the quilting tonight {which I'd really like to}, I wouldn't have it finished in time. I'm OK with that, because there is another quilt show in July and I'll for sure have it done by then.

Now to the heart of the matter, my dilemma. Do I want the ditch quilting to be part of the quilt, or should I get some water soluble thread so that after the quilt is finished and washed only the free-motion quilting will remain?

I've been debating this back and forth with myself all day. Mr. Bug and I went to lunch today and I discussed it with him. He thought that the water soluble thread was a cool invention, but didn't have much of an opinion either way on whether I should use it for this particular quilt. I wish I would have had time to post this morning so all your experience and advice and opinions could have trickled in I could have mulled it over and made my decision.

Even though the ditch quilting won't show on the front of the quilt, I'm kind of leaning towards the water soluble thread because I think it would look nicer on the back. On the other hand, if I use regular thread to stitch in the ditch, I could get started right away. And even though I wouldn't be finished in time for the quilt show, I would be finished with one more Ph.D quilt sooner. The downside to using regular thread is that the snowballs would need to be completely outlined and there is no way to do that and the sashing in continuous lines. I would have to stitch along diagonal of the snowballs individually, which means 192 starts, 192 lines of quilting just 2¾" long and 192 stops. Blech.

I think I'll go get the snowball quilt pin basted and then I'll start working on some baby pinwheels for the back of the Pinwheel Sampler while I wait for the water soluble thread I ordered on-line while writing and editing this post to get here. Even if I decide not to use it in this quilt, there are a couple of quilts I will use it for.

P.S. Santa, if you're reading this, I would really like a Handi Quilter Sweet Sixteen under my tree this year. And could we maybe do Christmas in July? Great. Thanks.

Various and Sundry Monday: Vol 10

Hide not your talents. They for use were made. What's a sundial in the shade? –Benjamin Franklin

Summer Is Officially Here

OK, so technically, summer doesn't start for 15 more days. But the Summer Fun has officially started at Bug Cottage. The Little Bugs have been out of school for a week and we kicked off the holidays by taking them to see Pirates last Monday. We've had an unusually cool spring, but it finally warmed up enough that we could break in our season passes at the water park on Saturday. This is one of their favorite summer-time things to do. I *think* this is our fourth summer as season pass holders. We go once a week and spend a few hours there splashing about and having a wonderful time. I like it because we get our money's worth {and then some} out of our passes, but only have to spend a few hours there each time we go {which is about all I can take anyway}. Our passes are also good at a fun center, so our summer will include at least one round of mini-golf and maybe some go-karts, bumper boats and rock climbing.

Besides all of the water sliding you care to do, we have lots of other fun things planned for the summer. Like daily math and spelling worksheets and summer reading logs. What? That doesn't sound fun to you? It doesn't sound fun to the Little Bugs either. But they have to do it anyway. And after the school work and chores are done, we're going to have a lot of 'stay-cation' kind of fun. Next week is our city's Festival Days and we have the Fireman's Breakfast, the Children's Art Festival, the Hot Air Balloon Launch, the Parade, the Car Show and Fireworks on the agenda. Following that is Grandma Week, which promises to be full of cousins, places to go and things to see, lots of sunblock and hilarious kid quotes {my favorite part}. And I heard a rumor that there will be a bouncy house at Grandma's this year.

Later in the summer, we're going to Lagoon. It has been so long since we last went that the Little Bugs hardly remember going at all. In August, we're going to take advantage of $2 Tuesdays {crossing our fingers they have it again} at Thanksgiving Point. We'll definitely visit the Dinosaur Museum and Farm Country and if I can talk them into it, the Gardens as well. It promises to be a really fun summer.

I ♥ Peonies
Another peony has started to bloom. This one is called Karl Rosenfield and it is in the front yard. This is the first year this plant has flowered. I love the color. The little purple flowers are a hardy geranium. I think they look so beautiful next to each other. There are two other peonies to the left of this one, and I hope they hurry up and bloom so I can see them all at once.

I went around counting peonies again, you know, just to make sure they are all there. And guess what? I found a peony that I thought I had lost. I'm really happy about that. It is not going to bloom this year, but the fact that it came up at all is a miracle because I haven't seen it for the last two years, and suddenly there it was. Of the 16 17 plants I have, 12 will bloom this year and that is really exciting to me. And don't worry. I'll make sure you get to see each one as it blooms.

Snowball Night: Week 53½

The snowball quilt is coming along. I finished the label, got all the baby snowballs sewn into a row and the back is all put together.

The snowballs for the top are also all together and the borders are in progress.

I'm not sure if I'll finish this quilt in time for the quilt show entry deadline, but I'm going to give it my best shot. I need to have it finished by Friday night so I can submit it for entry on Saturday. I'm going to do some pretty detailed quilting, so we'll see how it goes.

Sabbath Songs: His Hands

He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
–Isaiah 53:3–5

The Whole Enchilada

Food for thought is no substitute for the real thing. –Walt Kelly

Mexican food is one of my favorites, so I thought I'd share a couple of our favorite chicken enchilada recipes. The first one is my favorite and the second one is Mr. Bug's.

Chicken Enchiladas

2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 {15 oz.} can Mexican stewed tomatoes
8 tortillas
1 {11 oz.} can enchilada sauce
1 {11 oz.} can cream of chicken soup
½ c. Monterey Jack cheese, grated

• Heat oven to 350˚. Place chicken in a baking dish, sprinkle with a little salt and pepper, cover and bake for 35 minutes. When chicken has finished baking, wrap in foil and refrigerate until completely cooled.
• Shred the chicken. Put the tomatoes in the blender or food processor and chop until the consistency of salsa. Mix chicken with tomatoes.
• Place the chicken mixture onto the tortillas; microwave each tortilla for 15-20 seconds and then roll the enchiladas and place in a 9x13 baking dish.
• Mix enchilada sauce and soup together; pour over the enchiladas in the baking dish; top with cheese. Bake, uncovered, at 350˚ for 30 minutes.
• Serve with Spanish rice and refried beans.
Serves 6 to 8

Notes:
• If you bake the chicken too long {i.e. long enough for all the juices to evaporate} the chicken will be dry. Bake it just until chicken is no longer pink in the middle. Allow it to cool completely {in the fridge} before cutting to allow for more flavorful, juicy chicken.

Creamy Chicken Enchiladas
2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 cup hot water
1 chicken flavored bouillon cube
1 {4 oz.} can chopped green chiles
8 tortillas
1 {8 oz.} container plain yogurt
1 {11 oz.} can cream of chicken soup
1 c. Mozzarella cheese, grated

• Heat oven to 350˚. Place chicken in a baking dish, sprinkle with a little salt and pepper, cover and bake for 35 minutes. When chicken has finished baking, wrap in foil and refrigerate until completely cooled.
• Shred the chicken. Dissolve the bouillon cube in the hot water. Place the chopped onions and ¾ cup of the chicken broth in a small skillet and sauté until the onions are clear and no liquid remains.
• Combine the chicken, onion and green chiles. Reserve half of the cheese. Place a little bit of cheese onto the tortillas. Place the chicken mixture on top of the cheese; microwave each tortilla for 15-20 seconds and then roll the enchilada and place in a 9x13 baking dish.
• Mix the yogurt and soup together; pour over the enchiladas in the baking dish; top with cheese. Bake, uncovered, at 350˚ for 30 minutes.
• Serve with Spanish rice and refried beans.
Serves 6-8

Notes:
• You may substitute 8 oz. sour cream for the yogurt.

Favourite Things Friday: Needlework

She watched and taught the girls that sang at their embroidery frames while the great silk flowers grew from their needles. –Louise Jordan Miln, The Feast of Lanterns

There is something about taking a needle and thread to fabric that I love. Hand-stitching a binding? You bet! It is one of my favorite parts of the quilting process. Appliqué? Yes, please. Needle-turn or raw-edge; either one will do. Embroidery? I've got an awesome collection of embroidery floss at the ready. Although hand work takes longer than sewing by machine, there is a calming rhythm to it and a huge amount of satisfaction in completing a piece where it was just you and the raw materials.

We all know that I am the queen of works-in-progress. My list of projects started is HUGE! Sew, naturally I have more than one hand project in the works at the moment. I keep each project in a ziplock bag with floss or thread, a needle, and instructions {where applicable}. When I'm in the mood to do a little stitching, I already have something at the ready. I especially love that if I'm going somewhere where I know there will be a bit of sitting and waiting, I can grab a project and a pair of small scissors and have something to keep me occupied.

This is what I'm working on right now; the label for the back of my Snowball Quilt. Somewhere along the way, I decided that embroidered tags were the way to go, even though they are pretty time consuming. I use a word processing program with cute fonts to design the labels. After I have the sizing and fonts and layout just right, I print the 'pattern' out on paper and use a light box to trace it onto my fabric in pencil.

Most of my spare hand stitching time has been taken up with quilt labels, lately. I traced this block out for my Woman's Work quilt in December. The quilt is comprised of needle-turn appliqué and embroidered blocks and I have loved working on it. I had to put it on hold in December for Christmas projects and since then I have only managed to squeeze in a tiny bit of time on it. Still, I'm that much farther ahead when I get back to it {which will be right after I finish my Ph.D. Challenge quilts}.

High on my list of 'what to work on next' is my Boo to You appliqué quilt. This cute little witch is currently in production. I hope to finish the quilt and Zelda's Fancy Hat in time to display for Halloween this year.

This is a previously undisclosed Ph.D. I'm making an Escaping Bug Jar quilt with my mom. Our jar pieces are cut and ready to go and we've nearly finished all the paper piecing blocks. This spider needs his legs satin-stitched on. I added a bit of blending filament to the floss to give it a little shimmer

This panel of trees for my Twilight Quilt is a project long in the making. I started this two years ago. There are actually four panels and each panel has 13 trees. I wanted to secure the trees down with more than just Heat 'n Bond, but I also wanted it to be subtle, so I'm doing a whip-stitch along the raw edges. Each tree takes between 45 minutes and an hour. I'm about a third of the way done with the this little project.

Sew much hand work. Sew little time. I think I'm going to spend my summer doing lots and lots of appliqué and embroidery!

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