A Thousand Colors ready to go!

The Thousand Colors quilt is finished! Well, it's not a thousand colors but it will be one of the thousand colors quilts that will be given to children in Italy this summer. I had a great time using some of my scraps and trying Bonnie's technique of sewing the blocks.

I had another "Duh." moment when I realized that sewing two 2 inch strips together would match up with a 3 1/2 inch strip and sewn together they could be cut into blocks. As previously noted, figures do not behave in my head and I was so astounded to find that these two sets of strips could be used together! I've made other things with Bonnie's instructions so why this was such an eye opener I don't know. I also realized that my 1/4 inch seam is not precise so the 2 inch and 3 1/2 inch strips weren't matching up.

I love seeing all the colors put together like this and although I could have been a bit more adventuresome with the quilting, the goal was speed so I used the walking foot and went up and down the diagonal lines. Either I've gotten better at this, or the backing was stiff enough to hold things smoothly, or the quilt was a manageable size for the sewing machine. At any rate, the quilting was very easy and there were no mishaps whatsoever! Maybe it was due to the support of my quilting helper, Vel. He faithfully held down the quilt for me every time I made a new twist or turn.

My trusty sewing machine though looks like it is need of some repair. The light will no longer go on (that's why the lamp stand is there) but I think it is a short problem rather than a bulb problem (it lights when I bang it) and the thread cutter no longer works (maybe because I banged it too much?) But can I live without my sewing machine while it gets a check-up? Somewhere in the deep recesses of my closet is my former machine that doesn't sew a straight line. Maybe I can hold out til summer when I'll be in the States anyway...

My Thousand Colors quilt is waiting for a companion to join it on its trip to Italy. I called Mrs. Furui and mumbled and hemmed about making this donation quilt and might she be interested though I know she's real busy and has lots of other things she needs to get done. She immediately said,

"How fun! I'd love to make something!"

Isn't that a wonderful way to approach something. Not, "Do I have enough time?" "Do I want to commit myself to something new?" "Is this a need that I feel for?" "Should I do this for Tanya?" Just "HOW FUN!"

Mrs. Furui is such a good friend.