the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad quilt

I finished my snails quilt!  But I had more struggles with it than any I've done before.

The piecing itself was more difficult because of a few really tiny pieces. They frequently got sucked into the needle plate and I was ready to pull my hair out by the last snail!  When I was ready to sandwich the layers together, I laid strips of leftover batting down instead of buying a new sheet of it. I was nearly out of adhesive spray but was determined to complete this step, so the various layers only got a light misting instead of a heavy dousing.  It seemed to work, but once I started quilting, the layers separated as I constantly rotated the quilt and shoved it through the small throat space of the machine.  Unbeknownst to me, the back became detached and started to wrinkle and bunch, and soon that extra fabric caught up in my concentric spiral stitching.

So you can see that because of the pleating, the quilt backing no longer reached the edge of the quilt.  I could either pick out all that stitching (NEVER) or sew new strips of fabric along the edge.  I chose the latter option and did a contrasting color to make it feel more deliberate.  It was a ton of work but now I can say...it's done.  In the end, the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad quilt turned out all right!

Here's the spiral design!

I've already started another quilt!  It's a sampler quilt, so every block is different.  It's definitely pushing me out of my comfort zone!

I had forgotten to post this baby cardigan I'd knitted for a friend's daughter.  I am a total convert to lining baby cardigans now.  It only takes a little while to whip stitch a soft piece of cotton fabric to the inside!

I also started a pair of Halloween socks.  I had this yarn from years ago and wasn't sure what to do with it, so I thought, I'll just add skulls!

But alas, I forgot my cardinal rule to never knit light-against-dark designs where I have to catch and carry the dark yarn behind the light.  It ALWAYS shows through on socks because they're stretched, although you might be able to get away with it on a hat or looser sweater.  I ended up frogging this sock and starting another!  Hopefully I'll be able to show an entire sock next week.

Lots of wildlife to be seen around the house this week.  Our cats keep us informed about new arrivals.

Here a titmouse tidies up in the gardenia tree outside my office window.

A Ceratonia undulosa - a waved Sphinx moth - rests on one of our screens.  They're nocturnal and so never active during the day.

More empty webs around the yard.

Male spiders abandon their webs in the fall to go hunting for mates, but female spiders only abandon the web if it proves to be in an unfruitful location.  I haven't seen the female garden spider in the top web for at least a week, so that must be the case for her!

Although we'll be in the mid-90s through the week, we're supposed to hit the upper 70s by Sunday. I'm so excited for fall weather to really start!

Have a great week!