...now take a vacation.

On the hottest day of the year (so far) I decided I would finish this quilt come hell or high water.  Or in this case, fussy baby or low bourbon.

The binding was already cut.  The next steps were easy.

-square up
-find a way to attach vinyl back to fabric front
-bind

Easy.

My machine had other ideas.

As I always do, I forged ahead without looking for advice on sewing vinyl.  (At some point I will learn, I promise.)  I thought the hardest part was going to be getting a needle through the layers.  Turns out vinyl is pretty easy to sew through.

If you can get it through your machine.

NEWSFLASH: Vinyl does not slide smoothly between the foot and the deck.  Think sweaty thighs on vinyl seats and you'll know what I was battling.

I managed to attach the layers by simply sewing the edges together. Rocket science, I know, but it was actually quite difficult. Not only did the vinyl not slide through the machine easily, it also was a real b*tch to manipulate outside the machine.  It doesn't fold or move easily so the weight of the rest of the quilt constantly pulled the edges out of the feeder dogs.
I moved on to attaching the binding and halfway through decided the only way this quilt was going to be finished was by hand.  My poor machine couldn't take much more.  It was literally falling apart from the effort.  The light bulb fell out during the third side.

Great idea in theory, poor execution in reality.

Once again, Emily came to the rescue with the suggestion of tissue paper or matte tape.  I went with tissue paper.  I covered the entire sewing deck with yellow tissue and took a first pass at 'stitching in the ditch.'

It worked.

The weight of the quilt still pulled at the feed causing some serious wonky stitch lines, but the vinyl slid through like a dream.

And just as Andy Murray finally won Wimbledon (Good job, son. Now take a vacation.) the quilt was finished.

Finally.

Good job, Ariel.  Now take a vacation.