And here it is...

I might add more to the inscription. It depends if I can think of anything profound to say.


The quilting is quite simple- just along the block seamlines.


I will get better images when I'm in Albuquerque visiting my parents. My house is too small to get a really good image of the quilt. I can't get far enough away from it to get a good perspective.

And going outside isn't really an option- the weather is not being cooperative.
This is the beginning of 4-8 inches of new snow...


Phoenix, here we come!

The towels have been off the loom...

for a couple of weeks now.

They turned out quite lush and lovely. They are woven with 8/2 cotton. 10 towels in all.

Quilt

Quilting...

Taking out all of the basting pins...


Close up of the fabric and quilting... because I wanted to see if my camera could and it did!

Trimming the extra batting and backing off...

The binding is sewn on...


Now all I have to do is hand-sew the binding on to the back. AND I AM DONE! And, I can quite happily say that I still have 5 days until we leave (big grin!)

Top's done!

The top is done and sandwiched with the batting and the backing!

It is ready for me to go and start quilting - right after supper :) One must not forget to eat -even in the middle of a project.

Gwen asked what percent of time I would spend quilting after piecing and everything. I'm guessing it is between 5 and 10 percent. I'm really hoping closer to 5 because I have already spent over 200 hours on the quilt. I know it could take a lot longer. I am not doing anything fancy and I am doing it by machine.

I will spend a lot of time wrestling with a queen sized quilt and my regular sized sewing machine. I know it's doable because I've quilted two other queen quilts on it, but not my favorite part.

Hope to have it ready to bind by the end of the weekend.

Again there are no pictures. William is traveling to Washington DC and took the camera with him. I will post pictures of it finished before I leave for Arizona (one week from tomorrow). Warmth here we come!

10 and counting

No pictures- but I'm down to 10 pieces!

The top should be done by tomorrow and I can move on to quilting!

Isn't it strange that it is called quilting when probably 80% of the time is getting to that stage?

I think most appropriately this quilt should be called pinning. The seams resemble a porcupine when they are ready to sew!

Progress

Well, I am down to 500 pieces!

All of the corners are sewn on the blocks and they are trimmed



and up on my wall. I know I wouldn't have gotten this far without my helper:




I can feel the end coming!

I have a question, when you have a big project like this, is there a point about 2/3 through it, that you just about hate it? I am at that point with this and know I need to work past it, but boy is it hard. It's good I have such a tight deadline with this. I have about half a minute I can spend on this feeling before I have to move on.

This will give you an idea of what it will look like. I am not going to worry too much about keeping these squares in this exact order. I think I'll combine these squares into larger squares before I do that. 500 pieces are a lot to keep track of.

Making tortillas

One of the things I missed most when I moved from Albuquerque was being able to get fresh flour tortillas.

There is a restaurant called The Frontier right next to the University of New Mexico. It is a student dive with good, cheap food and the best tortillas. You could watch them go through a machine. They'd go in as balls of dough, be rolled flat, puff up as they cooked and come out steaming hot and delicious!

I went there often when I was a student and I would never leave without a dozen tortillas in my bag.

When we moved to California, I just couldn't be happy with store bought tortillas, so I learned to make them on my own.

Here's a recipe:
2 c flour
1/2 t baking powder
1 t salt
2 Tbs shortening
2/3 cup warm water

Mix dry ingredients in bowl of mixer. Add shortening and mix until there aren't any big lumps. Add water and mix thoroughly. Dough should be pliable. Let sit for 30 minutes. Divide into 9 parts and roll into 8" circles. Stack them as you roll them out - sprinkle a bit of flour on them to prevent sticking.

When they are all rolled out, flip the stack over and begin heating a 12" frying pan over high heat. Let it heat until very hot.

Put the tortillas in one at a time.

They will develop bubbles.

When they have puffed, flip them over to cook on the other side.

Sometimes, they will continue to puff after you flip them until they are just pillows of air


When done, remove and place in a clean kitchen towel to keep warm.

Sit down and enjoy. Great with chile, beans, posole, enchiladas, burritos.

And if you want an extra special treat, take one that is still warm, spread butter on it and then liberally drizzle it with honey. Yum!

Photo of frontier from ushlambad's flicker album