Catsup & Mustard Finished

 Hi all -

I hope everyone is doing well! As usual, we're good here. I spent a wonderful week with the family in Kansas City and just drove back on Wednesday. It was a long drive, but well worth it! We had a big storm yesterday evening. It's amazing how much rain can come down at once up here! I had several fast-moving rivers in my yard, but the ground also soaked up some water so that was great! We had one lightning strike very near the house which scared Grace (as well as myself), but she recovered quickly so I think she'll still be fine in storms.

I didn't work on any projects while I was in KC. My thumb was hurting pretty severely before I made the trip, so I rested it for the week. It made a huge difference! I had found a fabric to use for the binding of my Catsup & Mustard quilt in KC, so I prepared the binding and got it attached after I got home. I was really pleased with how well the fabric matched! I had just brought a couple of spools of thread with me to match the color so I wasn't sure how well that would work.

Catsup & Mustard - Binding Fabric

I like to use the sewing machine to sew the binding on the front of the quilt, then fold the binding over to the back and stitch it by hand. I was really glad I had rested my thumb because I was able to hand sew for a day and a half with little pain!

Catsup & Mustard - Finished Front

Catsup & Mustard - Finished Back

The colors are pretty true in the above pictures. The backing is a lot brighter than the front because that was the best match I could find at the time that I made the back. I was glad I found a much better match for the binding! Now I'm ready to enjoy using the quilt.....

The only other thing I did this week was drop off my Pickly Pear quilt, designed by Cosy Quilt Designs, at the longarmer. 

Prickly Pear

This is going to be my first quilt that will be basted by the longarmer. I told her to just do whatever she normally does for basting quilts for people, and then we can discuss whatever changes she and I need to make before she bastes the next one for me. I hope to have her baste all of my large quilts for me from now on. I'll still pin basted the smaller quilts on the floor at home, but I don't have floor space or the pain tolerance to baste the large ones at home anymore!

Nancy