Snow day, the sequel

We got another inch or two of snow over night, which combined with all the hills and the lack of equipment for snow means another snow day today for my district.

I am prepared!

The best part is that the kids’ district didn’t close, just has a late start.  So I’m going to get a few hours in the house all to myself!

During yesterday’s work reprieve I dug out a box with my youngest son’s quilt-in-progress that hasn’t seen the light of day in many, many months.  The pointed comments about chilly weather, upcoming birthdays, parental neglect, and brothers who already have quilts finally got to me.  Who knew a 10 year old could be so naggy?

When last seen, the Ocean quilt was in the process of having borders added to all the creature blocks. That was April of last year! So yesterday I finished that up.

I still have no design wall, but a bare floor area in the living room is working for now.

The idea my son and I worked out is that the blue stashing gets lighter as the quilt goes from creatures in the depths of the ocean to those on the sand.

Adding the sashing is easy enough, like the world’s thickest log cabin rounds.  (I love the fabric being added in the bottle picture above, because I think it looks like sea anemones.)

Some of the blocks still had the paper backing on them, so that gave me some Olympics TV time as I removed all of that.

At long last (I started this quilt in January, 2015) this project has reached the ready-to-quilt stage.  A big, sarcastic Finally! from my son is still ringing in my ears.

I am intimidated by the idea of doing detailed quilting on the creatures while wrestling all the bulk of a big quilt, so I’m going to try quilting them in smaller blocks and then attaching the blocks and putting on the backing.  It will definitely be more maneuverable under my sewing machine harp.  My current plan is to quilt just the creatures, and then, after assembling it, put the background quilting in so that the backing is quilted also. Fingers are crossed.

If I lose courage, I can always go work on the snow fort.