Frolic is a top! (post 10)

Cutting and stitching more HSTs

In my last post about this project, I was making more half square triangles (HSTs) for the zig zag border. In that post, I thought that I had cut enough pieces to be finished with that step. Alas, I was incorrect. I needed lots more! In the end, I had leftover red HSTs. Those extras will go into the parts department for a future project. 

Stitching the sections together took me much longer than I had anticipated. To keep the boredom at bay and to keep me progressing with the project, Gertie, my inner squirrel, suggested that I figure out the corner design. 

As I worked through the design, I determined that I would need to do a bit of unstitching so that I started and ended the zig zag in the same color. Unstitching is my most unfavorite of quilting tasks, but, it wasn't a long seam and there weren't a bunch to tackle. It wasn't the daunting task unstitching can be.

Planning the corner

As I finished stitching a long section of the border, I laid it next to the top. After I had stitched the first side of the pieced border together, I measured to see what width the inner border would be. Lucky for me, it needed to be one inch finished. 

At the guild parking lot sale in July, I picked up about two-thirds of a yard of a white on white neutral fabric. This was the fabric I used to cut the inner border strips. 

Auditioning the outer border

I stitched the remaining sides of the pieced border and laid them next to the top. My corner design wouldn't work. I let the project rest overnight. The following day, I saw the issue. I had oriented the zig points inward in my corner design and outward on my top. Changing the orientation was an easy fix. I like the more color option better.

I stay stitched along the outer edge of the top. Stay stitching supports the bias edge from stretching out of shape. I used some of my grandmother's thread to stitch around the outer edge of the top. In every project, I like to add a little of my grandma who taught me how to sew! 

Trimming the top

This top is too big to lay flat anywhere in my house. For auditioning purposes, I folded it in half. After I determined the layout was going to work, I trimmed the top. Mostly, I was able to save the points during the trimming phase. I did not save the leftover crumbs!

Gertie found a HST of one block that was turned incorrectly. I did a little unsewing and resewing to correct the oops.  (Any other mistakes. . . .well, I'm not going to notice!)

The next step was to add the inner border. Gertie was telling me that I would have this step complete in no time. Her time schedule and mine didn't sync! I sewed two sides on before dinner and before I called it a day!

Finished top

The top measured about 110 inches square before I added the inner border. Two sides went on easily and two sides needed a little easing. With so many pieces in this project, the little bit of easing was much less than I thought that there might be. 

After adding the inner border, the top measured 112 inches square. It took me a couple more sewing sessions before I finally finished attaching the pieced borders. There was no easing of the pieced borders! I have no idea how that happened; but, I found stitching the border was easy! 

The top measures 120 1/2 x 120 1/2. I like it. I LOVE that I have a top. This was goal number eight on my September list. Goal number four on my third quarter list was to finish the border and I exceeded that goal! I'm linking to Cynthia at Oh Scrap/Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework.

Now to figure out the backing. The original backing fabric I chose for this project was almost six yards. That was a good start. I did locate another fabric from stash that may work as well. I'll need a 128 inch square piece of backing! 

Miss J with one row of blocks and sashing together

I want to use a wool batting and will see if I can purchase a chunk from a roll so that I only will need to piece one side of the batting. I've located a source for the batting. I also connected with Christie, from my Mystery Mavens group, who is willing to quilt a project this large. We've exchanged a number of e-mails regarding thread and the edge to edge quilting pattern. I will likely piece the batting and backing next month. I'm excited that she is excited to quilt it for me! This will be the first project that I haven't quilted myself! 

Miss J happier to have two rows stitched together

On another note, Miss J was over yesterday and stitched some rows of her churn dash blocks together. I posted about this project here. She was excited when she could put a whole row on the design wall!

Regarding COVID:

Worldwide: 219M cases; 4.55M deaths United States: 42M cases; 674K deaths Oregon: 310K cases; 3,569 deaths

In Oregon, the projection is that the cases and deaths due to COVID will decline soon. In other words, we are at our peak. The hospitals continue to operate at near capacity. Friday, the media reported that there were 58 ICU beds available and 369 regular beds available in the state. Unvaccinated people continue to make up the greatest percentage of those hospitalized. Hospital staffs continue to be stretched beyond capacity. Vaccination numbers are: 60 percent are fully vaccinated; 66 percent have received one dose. 

The Mt. Hood quilt guild did hold their meeting in person last Tuesday. I and about 20 other people attended via Zoom. We were told that 50 members attended in person. There are almost 200 guild members. From the brief pan of the audience, it didn't look like chairs were six feet apart. People speaking passed the microphone from one to another. The main speaker removed her mask during her presentation. I hope all those attending remain safe from COVID. The Zoom part was awful. You could hear the speaker; but, couldn't see much. It looked like the speaker was a white light. Maybe next month will be better. Although, my impression of the zoom group to the in person group was we weren't important enough to follow up. I hope I was incorrect.

Working at the hospital and having grandchildren who aren't old enough to be vaccinated likely skews my view regarding safe behavior to not contract COVID. I hear over and over from hospital staff, "I never would have thought we would be back in this situation after the vaccinations became available." I am so careful with cleaning touched surfaces at work as well as ensuring each person coming into the room and leaving the room sanitizes their hands. I'm exhausted by the end of the shift. I so want to go out, to travel, to be maskless and to enjoy being social. However, I remain cautious about my activities. I don't want to contract COVID nor would I want to inadvertently pass it on to my grandchildren. The mantra get vaccinated, wear a mask, wash your hands and social distance to kick COVD's butt seems simple to me.