Ready for Lights!

Holiday Lights is almost ready for the lights. I know that the the green cord line is not perfect, but I think once the lights are on, it will be okay. That's my plan anyway. The upper left hand loop is not done, by the way. It's where the strip starts and ends and will be done by hand to make it neater.

Making 260 inches of bias using Alex Anderson's technique was probably a mistake. It's not as even in width as I would  have expected. She uses a technique of cutting 1" strips, folding the lengthwise edges in to the center to get started, then feeding the strip through a pin anchored to the pressing surface. That works pretty well until you hit one of the seams in the strip. It was kind of a mess to do frankly and the only reason I didn't use my bias binding tool was that it makes a 1/4" bias strip instead of the slightly larger size that Alex's method is supposed to make - around 1/3". Frankly, I doubt that small difference would have been a bad thing and it would certainly have been neater. I debated taking it all back off and starting over, but after it was pressed and sewn down it looked a lot better. Any little messes will get a light slapped over them. I can then call this top done and get some sewing done on stuff that has to be finished for our quilt show in six weeks.

I still need to finish a bit of quilting on one wallhanging, sew sleeves on three more quilts, and bind one quilt that is still at the longarmer. Oh yeah, I also have to make the flower challenge quilt.