There isn’t anything on my design wall today.  That’s kinda weird.  Usually there is something going on.  I’ve been itching to start something new, but maybe its a good time to pull out a UFO.

This week I finished up the falling squares quilt, I added borders of equilateral triangles. They are made from the same scraps that I made the top from, alternating with some extra/cut-off backing fabric that I used for a quilt using these same fabrics.

I quilted and bound two baby quilts, the first is for my DH’s associate, the baby is due in June.  Yay! it’s done with time to spare.  The second is made from the last of the storybook fabric line scraps.  I’m happy to see the end of those, any thing thats left will go into the 2 1/2″ square bin.

After quilting those two, I decided to get my Sue Garman “Cox Comb Medallion” quilt on the frame.  I needed a backing, that was easy, this pretty gray floral was just the right amount.  I basted it on the frame and threaded up with some Mono-poly clear.  There is a lot going on in this quilt, so I thought it would be a good place to practice SID quilting.

It was going along swimmingly,  I reduced my top tension to 1 and was using bottom line in the bobbin.  Then my machine sounded like it was full of gravel.  Grinding gravel.  Not good.  I stopped and checked everything, no thread nests, no lodged pins, no vibrating things, nothing visibly wrong.  I started again, still making dreadful noises.  I shut it down and quit for the day.  I figured I could bring it in to the shop the next day.  Next morning I had to get the machine off the frame. Only 8 screws were involved, along with two poles and two cables.  As you can imagine that took about an hour to disassemble, I tried to leave my quilt on, but had to unpin it from the take up rail.  Long arms are relatively simple machines, but they are large and mine weighs about 40 lbs.  I was on the road to the shop by 10:30.  Luckily the machine guy wasn’t busy and he brought it in to the store and plugged it in.  Of course it worked perfectly.  Together we disassembled the coverings to look inside and make sure there were no problems.  But from what we could see, nothing was amiss.  The innards are mostly circuit boards and computer stuff anyway.   So back home it came, and after another hour of reassembly, I was quilting again.  The mechanic thinks I may have dislodged whatever was making the noise when I put it in my car.  In hindsight I should have made a video, then took the machine in.

In other news, I have given up on the scrappy Storm at Sea top, it is together and in the TBQ pile.  I think it’ll make a good picnic quilt, or dog quilt 🙂 I decided to start over with four shades of blue batiks and a definite pattern for the colors.  I’m still waiting for the yardage to arrive and I need to print out a few hundred paper foundations.  Thankfully this quilt is only sized for a double bed.

I am knitting the second pattern of Curious Handmade Sock KAL called Magnolia.  I am using yarn I got at Stitches West back in February.  The brand is La Jolla and the color way is Saturn Harvest.  This sock is going quickly, I am up to the instep after a week.  I got new Addi-turbo needles for this sock, but unfortunately I bought 24 inch ones.  They are too short to use for two-at-a-time socks.  I’ll have to make them one at a time.

Linking up with Judy at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts for Design Wall Monday today.