WIP Wednesday: The Quilt Wrangling Edition

It's been two week's since my last WIP Wednesday post and so much has gone down on Modern Balabusta.  I entered the Spring Blogger's Quilt Festival AND I'm in the process of hosting my very first giveaway! Have you entered yet? You totally should, because I'm giving away five fat quarters of Nightshade by Tula Pink! I'm in shock at the number of entrants so far. At last count there are 227 people entered. Whoa! I really hope some of the entrants become new followers, even though I didn't make following my blog a requirement to win. Instead, I hope to entice readers with my charm and wit. Is it working yet?

The main WIP I've been working on is my Sew Happy Quilt. I had an appointment in the middle of the day last Thursday and decided to that the entire day off work. I took the opportunity to use The Workroom's amazingly large table to baste the SHQ. It took over two hours to iron and baste this sucker, but having a large waist high surface to use was fantastic!

I'm using a Sulky Blendables cotton thread for the quilting. So far I'm not overly impressed with the quality of the thread. I'm finding it a bit thin. Has anyone else used Sulky Blendables before? What did you think of it?

Quilting a full sized quilt on my basic Kenmore machine is less than awesome. I'm dreaming of a better machine, with dual feed and a stitch regulator. I've been scouring craigslist and kijiji hoping to come across an amazing deal for a used high end Bernina or Juki. No luck yet though. Maybe I should start a special savings fund for my next machine. I'm thinking a mason jar to collect my loose loonies and twoonies. I should have enough for a good machine in 10 years that way. Hmm...perhaps not the best plan I've ever had...

 

I initially wanted to try free motion quilting this quilt, but I suspected it would be too difficult with such a large quilt. The few times I've tried to FMQ on my Kenmore, I've had tension issues. So instead, I went for some organic, sort-of-straight line quilting in varying widths.  

 

 

I'm fairly happy with how it's coming along. I keep reminding myself that it doesn't have to be perfect.

What did you get up to this week?

WIP status report
Flora Charm Quilt - HSTs are in progress
Farmer's Wife QAL - still going strong
We Bee Learning Bee - May block is finished and in the mail

Sew. Happy. Quilt back  - Done, quilt is basted, quilting is in progress!

Give a Day quilt - gathering ideas

3 x 6 blocks for Q2 -all of my dresdens are cut and sewing has begun

 

Hibernating projects

Levi's Bed Quilt - This should probably come off the list

Levi's Growth Chart - no progress

NY Beauty QAL - fabric has arrived!

I'm linking up with WIP Wednesdays at Freshly Pieced and the Canadian Needle and Thread Network. Check out what everyone else is up to. There's so much creativity out there!