I'm a slowpoke

Well, I don't have a finished receiving blanket quilt yet.  I've got the majority of the quilting done, but it is taking forever.  I had to unpick a bunch of the lines I had quilted, losing about an evening's worth of work, because somewhere in the process the stitch guide on the walking foot had gotten pushed over and was at the wrong width so my grid pattern was totally off.  But I've sewn most of the vertical lines, everything except the lines in the seams, and am halfway done with the horizontal ones. 

But, the flannel top is puckering badly as I quilt it. I think it's because it's such cheap flannel from the blankets, and it stretches like mad.  So I'm getting lots of puckers as I cross-quilt across the vertical lines I've already done.  But I don't know how to fix it.  It doesn't look horrible, so I'm just going to leave it and hope when I wash it when it's done, the whole thing will get puckery anyway and kind of disguise it.  Oh well, it's my first try. I hope when I make my next one using regular quilting cottons that I won't have the same stretch problem.  Other than that, it is looking really cute!  But geez louise, it hurts my arms and wrists to push it through the machine and try to keep it all bunched up to fit under the arm.

Hopefully it will be done some point this weekend and I'll be able to put some pictures up.  In the meantime, I'm contemplating some smaller projects for some instant gratification.  I bought two fat quarters of this Michael Miller Christmas fabric on Monday during an outing to a local quilt shop I was visiting for the first time:

Michael Miller Fabrics' Christmas Joyful Damask in Red and Lime

And I'm thinking of making some of these quilted pinwheel coasters from The Long Thread:

Picture from thelongthread.com

I think they'll be cute for the holidays with the two fabrics together, or maybe even as cute little gifts for someone I know.