I’m a telecommuter.  That’s a 25-cent word for saying I work in gym shorts, t-shirt and no makeup. It requires a lot of self-discipline and it’s definitely not for everyone, but after something like 8 or 9 years I can say I’m well suited for it.  I don’t have the TV on, dirty dishes pile up in the kitchen sink like at anyone else’s house who works in an office.  99% of the time I’m self motivated to think of work and do work a full day.

But today…well I had a new long arm waiting for me.  Mr. “Put It Together” left about 7pm last night and no kidding – I think by 7:30 or 8 I had the quilt fully loaded and ready to go.  I found out the hard way there’s a super secret second on/off switch. Knowing it was coming, I had watched multiple videos on loading the quilt.  I  even came up with a shortcut way of loading the batting that I haven’t seen posted anywhere else.

If you have a long arm then this hopefully will make sense.  First, I loaded the backing at both ends and left it loose so it draped in the middle.  Then I loaded the top.  I had already put my roll of batting on the pole near the floor when I realized if I leave it on the roll and just leave extra slack….I don’t have to cut it off before I start.  I can leave the batting on the roll!

The clock ticked slowly until lunch time today and then I almost literally ran to the machine.  My first few stitches were bad enough that I took the seam ripper to it.  But before long, I could see the pattern that started to emerge.  I’m quilting a couple of quilts that have Star Wars fabric in them, so stars seemed like a good pattern to quilt.  I decided edge-to-edge was probably a good idea the first few times around.

I’m headed out of town for a long weekend, so no quilting for me!  Oh and I decided this year I’m doing Bonnie Hunter’s mystery quilt.  She posts the first  block(s) the day after the US Thanksgiving with weekly posts.  I think it runs through maybe mid to late January so it’s not a long time requirement. This one is free, free, free and can be made using scraps – so who’s on board to do this with me!

I saw someone recommend a quilt shop that pulls suggested fabrics based on the colors she suggests so I took the easy way out and ordered from them this time.  There are mustard yellows, darker and lighter purples, forest greens, the neutrals and 1 constant.  I was originally planning to use batiks but having someone pick the fabric for me was too good to pass up.