What happened to September?

Here it is October and I'm still here but something seems to have happened to September. I'm not sure how I missed a whole month without posting.  Well, I suppose it is because there was no quilting to post about. I did get all three sections layered up and quilted. There were a few roadblocks along the way. I didn't have the color thread I wanted to use for the quilting and I had to order it from Superior Threads. It really wasn't a long wait till it arrived but it was an interruption and I didn't get started on the quilting right away. When I got started it did not go smoothly. My foot pedal quit working on and off. My sweet cat, Lucy, had chewed the cord a couple of years ago ( I did forgive her because she was a sweet cat). Jack had spliced the wires together  and it worked well for a long time. Several months ago the pedal quit working and I tackled the job of fixing it because Jack can't see well enough now to do it. It took me a few tries to get it right. The foot pedal worked well until I started quilting the FNP. It worked on and off but then it quit. I could see there were other places that looked like Lucy had chewed and I could see cracks in the covering. Probably with the foot pedal moving all over the place the wires cracked. I ordered a new foot pedal and all was well ......... until my tension was a problem. I cleaned the machine and changed the needle and it was OK on and off. I changed the needle again but the stich balance was still not really OK. I went to the quilt shop and  got different thread. Finally, everything was good to go.

I trimmed up the edges where the sections joined and I sewed the three sections together.

This is the back where I sewed 2 sections together. After I stitched the front together I turned it over and made sure the batting butted together along the whole length of the seam.  I carefully pinned the backing edge over the stitching line on the back and pressed it then removed the pins and fused the back edge down with 3/8 inch fusible web. You can see the seam here where I have stitched in the ditch from the front. I don't sew by hand anymore because my hands are too arthritic.

This is the same section form a different angle. I had planned to have the sections joined in the wider stripes where it would not be so noticeable if they were not perfectly aligned. I am happy with that decision. Getting the front and back lined up was a pain in the neck but it was worth the effort.

These next 2 photos are shots from different angles of the quilt thrown across my bed. I didn't worry too much about the center nine patch color placement. The blocks a light and dark checkerboard. That is not so apparent because there is not high value contrast. I wanted this quilt to be light and bright.

 I am starting to sew the piano key borders for the top and bottom. I was going to use foundation paper piecing and when I finally fund my Carol Doak paper I found that the whole package of paper had blocks printed on it.  I have no idea why I printed those blocks; they don't look like anything I remember planning to sew. Anyway I cut them into 5 inch wide x  11 inches and used them as foundations without lines and stitched on the front and it works fine to make the 5 inch width I want. I hope I can finish this quilt this week.

I wonder if there is anyone who is happy with the changes in Blogger.