Batting Samples - Getting Organized

Dash on "ready alert" just in case something exciting happens... NOT!

It has been a lazy weekend around here. Not much in the way of quilting accomplished.  Dash and Monkey have been keeping me company.

Back in 2010, I ordered the Batting Samples that Harriet Hargrave put together, in order to do the Batting Test.  The samples arrived promptly, and just as promptly were stored with my fabric stash for 'future' use.  I have a few additional battings to try as well.

Today I pulled my dark and light fabrics, halving them and washing one set in order to start setting up the test squares. There are three squares of each batting - one to file in my sample book as it, one to sandwich in unwashed fabric and one to sandwich in prewashed fabric. Unfortunately, I miscalculated the number of 14 inch fronts and 7.5 inch backs (the other half of the back is the dark fabric) I would need for the white muslin, so I need to make another quilt store run to get a few more yards. {Big sacrifice on my part...} I found another length of cream muslin, but I'm pretty sure it is not quilt shop quality as specified in the Test instructions - based on the date on the tag, I think it was purchased to make the inner pouch for a set of planned dog beds.

The last set of fabric is in the dryer now, so this week I'll put together the sandwiches and pull out my pigma pens to create the center reference square (to measure contraction based upon the quilting) and also to label which batting is which.

Tonight I created a form based upon the Sample Test Sheet that Harriet designed so that I can enter the varied data and let the magic of forms/databases handle the organization.

Parallel to this project, I finally purchased a new laptop - those who saw my red Dell Inspiron know this is WAY overdue.  The hinges on the Inspiron started to break down about two and a half years ago - and for the last year or so, I've been propping the screen on a pillow or blankets as it was held on only by a few wires.  Last week though, Gus asked "what is that smell" about the time it blew a fuse and stopped working altogether.  I didn't force the issue as the smell appeared to be electrical in nature. Instead I pulled the battery and left everything on the stove so that there wasn't anything flammable nearby (probably overkill). Happily the hard drive is safe, and we were able to recover my data.

Monkey making sure she isn't missing anything.

I've spent the past few days getting used to the keyboard on my Lenovo Twist.  I chose the Twist as it can set up in a V - allowing me to watch quilting videos as I learn to free-motion quilt. Okay, so I really chose this one because it is both a laptop and a tablet - and just plain looked like fun to use. The keyboard is a bit annoying, and the screen is much smaller than my Inspiron. So while I like it, I'm not totally in love with it yet.  Typing this rambling post out is serving the purpose of helping me get used to the keyboard.  I don't have any of my pictures loaded yet, or music, so will be borrowing Gus's external drive in order to take care of that over the next few days.