How to block a quilt

Good morning, everyone. I have been up this morning for about an hour, I have done my morning devotions. I put meatballs in the crock pot for our Prime Timers lunch. The recipe is so easy.

Crock Pot Meatballs
1 bag of frozen meatballs, any variety you prefer
1 jar of grape jelly
1 jar of chili sauce
Mix the grape jelly and chili sauce together, pour over the meatballs in the crock pot and cook on low for 4-6 hours.
It is that simple and really good.

Yesterday, I got good news and bad news about my sewing machine, Lilly. She will be repaired for free because she is still under warranty, but she has to be shipped back to the company for the repairs. So I will be without her for several weeks I am thinking. Linda, at Domestic Sewing Center, Warren, Ohio, called and said that she was going to ask them to put a rush on it but I still think that it will be several weeks. Linda is such a great dealer of Janome brand machines, if you are ever in the market for a new machine and you are in the area of her shop you need to check her out. The service is fantastic.

On to a project report: I have my large oriental piece quilted. I think I will go back and add a little more detail to a couple of places, but for today I need to get it washed, to get out the markings and then spread it out on the carpet in the guest suite and block it. If you don't know what blocking is, it is done after the quilt is completed and the binding is on. You wash the quilt in cold water, spin out as much of the water as possible, and depending on the size of the quilt you can do the blocking part on a bed or table or floor, the area has to be large enough for the quilt to lie completely flat. It helps to have something soft but firm to pin into, such as carpet. You lay the quilt down and stretch it out to square it up and pat it down in areas that want to puff up. Pin all around the edges into the carpet, T pins are good for this, and then you let it dry. I place a fan blowing over it to accelerate the drying time. Depending on how large it is and the weather conditions it can take from several hours to several days to get completely dry. Do not disturb the quilt until it is absolutely dry. My piece is approximately 45" square so it shouldn't take too long with the fan blowing on it. I am going to go do the washing as soon as I am finished here.

My next quilted piece will be a vintage table cloth I bought last weekend. I got some peach fairy frost fabric to go underneath the cutwork cloth and also for the backing. I started the marking process last weekend but some of the marks have faded so much already that I will have to remark some areas before I get to the quilting. This is another piece I would like to have done by Saturday. It shouldn't be a problem as I have several days. I also have to finish up my t-shirts for the craft sale. I have 3 done, and I have about 9 more to go, I might take them with me and make a demo of the technique at the show. I can take special orders and customize the shirts. Well that is where I am today. I still have some other small things I would like to make but if they don't get done it is not a big deal.