Going round in circles

Jill has been making this alien quilt for quite some time.  It is a gift for a baby who is now 21.  Oh ok he's not quite that old but let me just tell you that that baby is about to be a big brother!  Jill has worked hard on this quilt and was thinking that she'd never finish.  I thought she'd never finish!  I told her I'd quilt it for her so up it went on my frame.  Looking good!

My tablet battery decided to die.  My third battery that is.  I am never again spending a lot of money on a quilting frame and machine and then scrimping on the tablet needed to run it!  Jim got it working for me with the battery out and the charger plugged in which is annoying but works so that's a win!  Jill wanted circles so I've done yet another quilt with this design!  It couldn't be anything else though really now could it?

Pause for a special occasion...

Back to the quilting and all was going well.  That was until I quilted the last but one zone (which is two rows of quilting) and after I finished it noticed that I'd quilted tucks and puckers all over it.  Insert very strong swear words and get the unpicker out.  Let me tell you, those two quilting lines add up to a lot of stitches.  Tiny, tiny stitches.  Millions of tiny, tiny stitches.

This is what my floor looked like after I'd finished.  In fact, two days later that's still what my floor looks like. 

I repositioned the quilt, basted it to death and then finished quilting it with no issues.  Now I just needed Jill to come around so I could help her make and attach the binding and we'd be done!

So COVID laughed and made a surprise appearance.

We used a fair amount of washable blue marker on this quilt and from experience I know you have to get it out with cold water before it goes in the washing machine.  Jill and I previously tested the fabric to make sure it wouldn't run and she was happy to wash it before gifting.  So I decided, seeing as there's a hold up on Jill coming to finish the quilt, I'd make a start on the blue marker.  I soaked that top and removed every scrap of blue pen!  And then I turned it over and the yellow border fabric had BLED all over the quilt backing. The very crisp white backing.  

PANIC!!!   I have just ruined years of work!!!

That quilt went in and out of the bath until the water ran clear and now Jill no longer needs to wash it before gifting.  Win win.  It is now dry and ready to bind.  I might wait a bit longer before telling Jill all about it though ;-)

Oh and I'm currently using that same yellow fabric on the sheep baby quilt I'm in the middle of making.  And no, I didn't prewash it!  Arghh!

After all this effort baby big brother will be sharing this quilt with his new sibling!