Today it rained all day – so what do most quilters do on a rainy day? They tend to stay in and sew like me if they are able to. I did run out to the fitness center and then it was back home to fabric and a book 
I made my vines today for the border of the quilt. I cut the bias strips yesterday and today I prepared that long, long piece of bias that I had sewed together yesterday – all 420 inches of it!! I don’t know what method most of you use but here are the steps I use once it is sewn together. I forgot to take photos yesterday of me cutting the strips and sewing them. To make my bias strips into vines or stems I use the product from Clover – it comes in various sizes. ( I have not ordered from this link given but I linked it to the Clover site) There is a fusible tape that you can use with this tool also and iron your stems and vines down. Sometimes I use it other times I don’t. There has been a time or two when I could see the fusible through the fabric and it didn’t look good. Other times it doesn’t seem to stay ironed on. Most of the time in the last couple years that I have used it I just press it and then when I put it on my quilt top I use the Roxanne Glue Bast It to hold it in place until I stitch it down. In this case I will continue to do my hand stitching as so much of this top already has hand stitching in it (the circles) and also because for me it will be neater!!
this is my bias stem/vine maker. It is by Clover and this one is 1/4 inch wide.
I lightly spray with starch (in BACK of the maker - don't spray the area that has already been pressed or it will open back up), give it a second or two to dry slightly and then start pressing the seams down with the iron as you pull/push the maker the opposite direction. I constantly move the iron to keep up with it to press the seams under. I don't even lift the iron up but a kind of push the maker with the iron as I press.
I cut a piece of cardboard off of things in the kitchen cupboard for winding the vines to keep them neat - in this case a large box of microwave popcorn came into use.
400 inches of bias piled up on the floor
420 inches of vines neatly waiting for me to glue baste in place on the border - maybe tomorrow?
Tonight I have gotten some little 9 patch blocks ready and have some more to make. After that it is more circles – I’m making 2 different sizes from scraps and they will go on the sides of the quilt border most likely on both sides intermittent along the vines.
Yesterday I just about completed 2 Dear Jane blocks for the “Insanity Revisited” quilt, I finished one up this morning. The two done:
Block number 8 from row 10
Block number 9 from Row 10. It seems that at times on this quilt the original maker Jane Stickle must have enjoyed making certain kinds of pieces in this case oval shapes, these two and the next two have them. They are a pain to make in my opinion!
Now I am back to making the patchwork blocks for the border until CSI comes on at 8 – how do you all like CSI lately – I haven’t enjoyed it as much the last two seasons now that they replaced the Grissom character with Lawrence Fishburns character – he just doesn’t seem to go with the other cast members as well I think and also not the same since they killed off Warrick last year, or was that two years ago? Too many changes aren’t good for a show at times!! In my opinion
