Working

Perhaps you are wondering if I am getting any work done in my studio with all my traveling. (I also went away this past weekend for a family party). I admit that I haven't done anything in a while. But now I finally am working.  Big Green has been blocked (twice) and hanging on my design wall since before I left for San Francisco on June 17.  I had been looking at it and deciding how to trim it.  I am going to make it a diptych so the two sides have to be identical and hang side by side with each side being exactly the same. How to do it? It's way too big for my work table.  So I went to Jo-Ann's and bought a new big cutting mat, the 58" x 34" one and used my 40% off coupon.  My current one was pretty beat up and I could use a new one anyway.

Then I went to the dining room and put all the chairs out of the way, pushed the table to one side.  I brought in my two Costco folding craft tables and put them along the long side of the table and put the two mats on it, side by side.  The new mat is a little bigger than the old one.

I made sure to line up the grid lines and put pieces of tape all along the seam to make sure it wouldn't shift. Whose scary, very old looking hand is that?  Oh, must be mine.

The new mat was purchased in a roll and it didn't want to lay flat, so I put the hair dryer on it for a bit and then put some heavy books along the seam for an hour or so.  I wanted to have the two quilt halves lay side by side so that I could trim them both at the same time.  It was a lot of measuring and walking around the table and at two points even climbing on the table to trim with my long ruler and rotary cutter.

It worked and I think it looks great.  Next job is to bind it and I will start that tomorrow. Then I can photograph this puppy and get my entry sent in.  Again I wish I could show you the quilt, but I can't. But I must say that I love it and hope the jurors will, too.