I feel like I keep posting the same pictures over and over here.
I know it’s not true, because each week I’ve reached a new milestone - first the red sections, then the white sections, and now the blue.
But still, it feels as if there’s not a lot new to say about finishing another pile of panels. Then again, in getting them all finished this week, the biggest and most labor intensive step of this project is behind me.
So that’s news, wooooohoooooo! All three colors of panels are assembled, pressed, and starched. The next time you see these they’ll be assembled into a flag and if all goes well, I’ll be quilting them. (Fingers crossed, the client is on vacation for two weeks so I’m flying solo here).
The biggest lesson I’ve learned so far is that I’m way more productive when I block out a time that’s dedicated solely to sewing. No checking email, no organizing fabric, no tidying my table as I go. Just pure creation for a fixed amount of time.
That’s been the most helpful for me to get to this point.
The other thing I’ve had to learn to do is ignore the fuzz.
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised but even still I’m surprised at how much lint and threads and fuzz this project has generated.
It’s everywhere. E V E R Y W H E R E.
It’s all over my sewing table, it’s in every crevice of my machine, it’s all over every pair of pants I’ve worn the past three weeks.
Apparently it’s in places I don’t know about too because this morning while taking a 6am class at the YMCA, I spotted a clump of suspiciously familiar blue thread on the studio floor near me.
What the what?
I have no explanation.
I’ve had to stop myself from picking off stray red, white and blue threads everywhere, but particularly on the pieced panels themselves. It’s a losing battle and I could pick threads off for hours and still find ones I missed. So for now, my biggest battle is to ignore what I see and leave them for the end, when I can do a very thorough examination of the whole quilt and get rid of all the errant threads at once.
Easier said than done, I assure you. And I did mention how glamorous commission quilting is, right?
So that’s the update for week six. In addition to finishing all the panels this week, I managed to get three Christmas gifts finished too. It’s been a busy week, but in a good way.
I’m excited to show you something that actually looks like a flag next week, so be sure to check back!
In case you missed the previous installments of this series: