The Season of ‘Chrimbo Limbo’ –
What do YOU call the week in between Christmas and New Year’s where you kind of forget what day it is?
Don’t know if things are open or not so you have to google them?
Decide that things on the to-do list can just wait until NEXT YEAR to get done as it is less than a week away now?
We call it Chrimbo Limbo and that’s just what it feels like. Life is on hold as we wait for this year to run out so we can jump into the next one ready to tackle what comes our way.
And because it’s Chrimbo Limbo we are not rushing through this binding process…even if I did take the quilt off the machine (And forgot to jot down the nail of the quilting pattern, will get that today – sorry!) and did a trim up job to at least get things ready for putting the binding on.
Every time I explain this, I get comments of “What? You don’t bind by long arm? WHY!?” As if I’m committing some kind of quilting faux pas or crime.
I’ve been long arm quilting since 1996. I quilted for the public for years. In all that time I have NEVER – not even with my own quilts – seen a quilt that was completely square in the corners and straight on the sides.
There is a lot of push and pull when it comes to quilting, the quilting actually shrinks up the top a bit due to the loft of the batting.
I want straight sides and square corners, so I trim first to make sure that happens. That means there might be a tiny bit of batting and backing beyond the quilt top where the top has scooted in a bit. It’s all hidden in the binding seam, but the most important thing to me is that I want straight edges.
If the patchwork goes to the edge of the quilt like this, I will also be sure that I am trimming 1/4” away from any points so they don’t get chopped off in the binding.
But as we say goodbye to 2025 I am excitedly looking forward to 2026 and the new things that holds to discover!
No holding back!
Well, maybe no holding back NEXT week.
Happy Chrimbo Limbo, everyone!
