Quilting The Beauty

It's been a l-o-n-g day of quilting. It's all done now but the plain centre of the quilt (wait - wasn't I supposed to do that part first?) I ended up stippling between the points...

...and quilting a leaf motif in the centre of the blocks.

Looking around for inspiration on what to put in the background, I was influenced by the motif on a roll of toilet paper. It's what we in the business call "that which seemed like a good idea at the time." It wasn't. It was a b-i-g space to fill, and the grid lines were marked 1/2" apart. I figured I would sail right through this as quickly as the stippling since it was all free motion, but it was not to be. My friend Lynn and I have been talking much about patience lately and frankly...I don't have any. An hour in, I was perhaps 1/4 of the way finished...and very bored with the tedium of doing the same thing over and over. Machine quilting is much like giving birth though - you can't change your mind half way through the process. It would take longer to rip out what I'd done then to continue and finish the quilting. Oh my...

So I persevered and 6 bobbin refills later, the background quilting is finished (and Bernina bobbins are not small!). At one point, I became so mesmerized trying to stitch curves around the grid lines that I had to stop and rest my eyes.

A Sens/Pens game is on the docket for this evening and it will be a nice change of pace. I am grateful I do not have to quilt toilet tissue for a living...especially those double rolls that go on and on and on...