To-Do Tuesday: Spirit Song Top Nearing Completion and a NEW Ruler Work Linky Party!

You guys, I am so excited about a NEW linky party just for ruler work quilting!  Karin is hosting it on her blog The Quilt Yarn, every other Tuesday -- and the link up is active for a full week starting TODAY!  The linky party is open to anyone who is quilting with rulers, on any make/model machine whether it's a domestic machine, a sit-down longarm or a longarm on a frame.  I'm ridiculously excited about this because there is nothing better than a community of quilters who are all exploring the same techniques, working on the same skills, motivating and encouraging one another.  Those of you who have been with me for awhile know that I've had a bumpy start with my longarm machine, which sapped a lot of my enthusiasm for learning.  Over the past year, I've made some investments in education -- including ruler work classes with both Judi Madsen and Lisa Calle -- as well as investments in a small arsenal of quilting rulers.  This new linky party is exactly what I need to help me put those rulers to use in my quilting.  If any of you have a recent or not-so-recent post about quilting with rulers, I encourage you to link those up with us right now, right here, in this week's party.  The more, the merrier -- and I am so looking forward to seeing everyone's ruler work tips, tricks, trials and triumphs gathered together in one place.

48 x 64 Spirit Song Top Assembled, Ready For Borders

Meanwhile, I got my Spirit Song quilt top completely assembled (finally!).  It measures exactly 64" at the left edge, vertically through the center, and at the right edge.  The width is exactly 48" at the top and bottom, and it's 48 1/4" through the center -- that's a tolerance I can live with and "quilt out," as they say.  

Since I used a lot of unwashed precuts in addition to scraps for this quilt top, I think I'm better off NOT washing my border and backing fabrics, either.  The prewashed scraps in the quilt top might end up with a bit more crinkly texture after washing, but at least the unwashed patches won't risk shrinking to the point that they rip right out of the quilt, right?  

I showed you my border and backing fabrics in my last post, but here they are again in case you missed it:

Border, Binding and Backing Fabric Selections

This quilt has no intended recipient, no deadline, and no rush, so it's perfect for practicing ruler skills, don't you think?  As usual, I was quilt-doodling during the sermon on Sunday from the choir, exploring some of the possibilities for this quilt.  

Doodling Quilting Possibilities on my iPad

I was using a photo that was taken before all of the Birds In the Air blocks had been sewn together, using the Notes Plus app on my iPad Pro with the Apple Pencil Bluetooth stylus.

I really like the secondary pattern that forms at the corners of my straight set blocks, and I want to emphasize that somehow.  There will definitely be stitching in the ditch, because I worked hard to match all those points -- SID will draw attention to the piecing accuracy.  I know I'll try to mash down the neutral fabrics with dense fills to help the colored triangles pop, and I know I want to emphasize those larger diamond shapes with some straight lines, but a lot of the particulars are still up in the air.  I have to keep reminding myself that just because I can draw something on my iPad doesn't necessarily mean I can quilt it with my longarm machine -- at least, not yet!

And so, seeing as it's To-Do Tuesday, and there's a whole lot of NUTHIN' on our agenda for the foreseeable future thanks to COVID-19, here's what I'll be doing with my Social Distancing free time over the next week or so:

Tuesday's To-Do List for March 17-24

1. Add borders to Spirit Song to complete quilt top.
2. Piece Spirit Song backing
3. Make Spirit Song binding and set aside
4. Paper piece next block for Anders' Beware the Ishmaelites sampler quilt
5. Load SOMETHING on my frame -- either a practice piece, a charity top, or the Spirit Song quilt -- and START QUILTING!

Next Block for Anders' Beware the Ishmaelites Quilt, Ready to FPP

...And a Special Invitation for My Christian Friends Whose Church Services Have Been Canceled:

By the way -- with so many churches having to cancel worship services during this frightening time when we need more than ever to be reminded that God is still seated on His throne, I want to invite my Christian friends and family -- and anyone else who could use an infusion of hope in these troubled times -- to join me and my church family at Christ Lutheran as we gather for worship online.  I know that many churches are not set up with the technology to live-stream worship services as our church does each week.  This past Sunday, our pastors and music volunteers (that's where I come in) gathered in an empty sanctuary, since worship had been closed to the public in accordance with our governor's ban on large gatherings.  We sang and preached to an empty room, reminding one another that God is the audience for worship -- and later realized that over 5,500 people had been worshipping with us online that morning!  

Christ Lutheran will continue to live stream worship over the Internet throughout this pandemic, with a Traditional service at 8:45 AM (EST) and a Contemporary service at 11: 00 AM (EST).  

You have two ways to join us: You can find the live video on our church web site here, or via Facebook Live on the Christ Lutheran Facebook page.  If you had to miss church last Sunday and you need a dose of hope to cancel out the fear coming at us through the media right now, you can watch a recording of Sunday's Contemporary service right here (I'm the dorky girl in the glasses, singing at Communion).

Stay safe, everyone, and happy stitching!

I'm linking up today's post with:

·       Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts  

·       Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

·       BOMs Away Katie Mae Quilts  

·       Colour and Inspiration Tuesday at Clever Chameleon

·       To-Do Tuesday at Home Sewn By Us

·       Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication

·       Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter

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·       Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation