one week in

So,

for the past week,

as I've found the time,

I've been working on getting Ties That Bind quilted.

Slow and tedious best describes my progress.

You can see I have a ton left to do...

I begin by marking all points and valleys and both the inside and outside of the blades.

so I know when I need to stop and turn 

as I machine quilt around the outer blade.

I may or may not mark the full inside of the plate.

Depends if I've decided exactly what to do with it or not ;-)

After I've gone around the plate with the walking foot, 

I mark my hand quilting row 3/8 of an inch away from the machine quilting.

After that's quilted,

a row 3/4" away for another round of machine

then a row an inch away for more hand-quilting.

and so on

and so forth.

so. much. marking. and turning.

I try to always stay a few plates ahead of myself with the marking, 

so I can work on whichever type of quilting I feel like at the moment.

I still need to figure out what I need to do with the blades themselves.

For the smaller dresdens, it's enough to stitch in the ditch,

but the larger blades need more quilting

or they'll puff instead of crinkle once it's washed.

I'm really hoping I can come up with a suitable FMQ design that I am capable of pulling off decently,

(and doesn't mess up the look of the dresdens!)

because,

have I mentioned?

The turning...

It's good that I allowed myself 2 months for the quilting;

I think I'm going to need it!

I missed linking up with Lee yesterday. Too gloomy for photos.
So
today, for the first time, I'm joining the gals linking up with Kelly at My Quilt Infatuation :-)