Thanks SO MUCH to everyone who entered my little giveaway and thank you so much to those of you who ordered the pattern. I can't wait to see what you guys make! The five winners are:
Lisa
Sherryl
Kathleen
Stitches
Diane
Please email me so I can send you a copy of the pattern!
Ironically enough, I've needed a thread catcher at my side today.....for not one, but two projects. Yes, two. Today.
After piecing this patchwork panel, I just slapped it on some batting and started quilting away. I SHOULD have known better. I jumped in with no basting and more importantly, no marking! I usually know better than to attempt to quilt a straight line on a 4" square by eyeballing it. A 2" square...maybe. It
wasn't great. I hate ruining pretty fabric, so I ripped! Thankfully it's not a big piece.
I took a break from ripping the project above and started quilting this one. Somehow the combination of the batting (Hobbs 80/20) and the straight line stitching did NOT work out so well. I hate to ruin a quilt with crappy quilting, so I will rip. Then, rebaste. I can't decide which is worse....ripping or re-basting. I think it's a toss up. Don't you?
Here's to a better day of quilting tomorrow!
23 comments:
I noticed that all your pins are pinned in the same way, same direction. When I do that I find that my fabric shifts, I pin baste with pins going up/down/diagonal. Fun fabrics in your projects.
2 easy tips for you. Maybe you already know this, but. . . First, use a 5" strip of masking tape to do your marking for you. Just move it from corner to corner as you go. Faster than actual marking. And second, are you using a walking foot? It looks like you are not, and your top layer is shifting as you sew back and forth on your straight lines. You can easily get around this by stitching those lines all in the same direction, all from one side to the other. The fabric will all shift together and not distort. Long comment, sorry. Your quilt IS too pretty to ruin.
Oh I feel your pain! Ripping and basting are both painful and I can't imagine anyone on this planet doing either for any other reason than the end result of a lovely quilt!
I love your thread catchers - they are all so pretty (though you don't do ugly do you?). It really wasn't until the last couple of years that I realised that not everybody throws their threads on the floor near where they sew to be vacuumed up when the Dyson goes past. Perhaps I should progress to a plastic bag and then make a thread catcher?
Oooh - just had a thought (though this is turning into a ramble!). I have two packs of candy - perhaps I should go straight to the thread catcher (for a second I thought it might mean that I could vacuum less often, but of course the children's crumbs, sand, and the rest...).
Repinning and rebasting are way worse than some wavy quilting lines in my opinion. I would have just left the projects as is.
When quilting becomes a hassle rather than being fun, it's just not worth it for me anymore.
I don't like ripping, too, but recently I did instead of lazy continueing and it was worth it. So I think it maybe will be worth it for you.
Something good on the TV and the ripping will soon be over. I like the idea of the tip Elaine M gave in the comments ... might have to give that a try :)
As crazy as it sounds, I like to occasionally need to take out stitches. It reminds me that nothing I do is "permanent" and gives me a little confidence and no fear attitude to try things outside of my box. I bet your project is much better for having made the changes! Lovely colors indeed.
I'd like to rent out a little space in my head for Susan's comment and attitude about ripping. Clearly that would be a good attitude for me to adopt. I know myself well enough to know if I don't love something in the early stages, I'm only going to grow to hate it as time wears on. Kudos to you for ripping out.
I have to tell you Thank you! I bought my thread catcher pattern Monday night and it arrived in my email Tuesday morning. I was so excited after my already long work day and meeting afterwards I could not resist trying one out last night. I am a beginner quilter I have never made anything else. This was so quick and simple and absolutely adorable. I finished one easily before bed time. I am excited to pack it with me to my first ever quilting class this Saturday! Thank you again you Rock! I am also loving your book I am so inspired!
Please tell me you did not quilt those straight lines with your Juki and a walking foot. I'm going to look at Jukis this weekend and thought it would solve all of my old Singer/cheap walking foot problems.
Absolutely love your blog and your book! Thanks so much for sharing!
Thank you for the folding idea. I don't know why I make it so hard. I like the idea of deciding what is a scrap and what is big enough to be folded. WHY do I complicate things so much?
Patchwork quilt
LOL, well, I REALLY hate basting, and I only dislike ripping...SO there you have it. Both projects are/will be awesome!
rebasting is worse. at least with ripping you can sit infront of the tv or take with you.
Lovely quilts! do you mind if I ask your stitch length? I usually quilt with 3.5 but your looks longer and maybe it would go faster?? Good luck with your ripping!
Oh, gag, I so HATE unpicking! :(
I agree with Lee... ;o)
Okay, so you know that I'm not a fan of either basting or ripping. My family usually clears the scene when they see me with a seam ripper in my hand. Apparently, my sunny personality goes under a dark cloud when the seam ripper comes out. LOL
I use that Hobbs blend all the time and I don't think you can blame it for the shifting. I do agree with Elaine about putting your pins in alternating directions. It makes a huge difference. It also makes them tougher to remove as you go, but ...
I'm glad these kinds of things happen to other folks, too. (Does that sound catty? Sorry.) Sometimes it seems that no matter how careful I'm being, something wonky happens. So maybe the quilting goddesses just happen to be messing with us, eh?
At least you have a beautiful seam ripper...
Well that's frustrating! I don't like ripping, but I really really don't like re-basting! Congrats to all the winners!
505 basting spray ~ worth every penny :-)
I am in the process of ripping stitches from 2 quilts as well : /
One of them, I'm using 12 wt thread, and apparently you need to sew really slowly to get a pretty stitch. The other quilt was folded under itself and I fmq'd PEBBLES for 1/5 of a bobbin before I caught it....
Congratulations to all that won!
Okay...it's pesty me from the other side of the state...
I am seeing that sweet il-pin cushion on the picture of the thread catcher in the other post...? Did I miss a tutorial on that? I have loved those since you made them.....? Really I do and I have looked and looked?
Hope you can post the link.
Thanks and did you see a lil-peek at the sun this morning as well!
Spring will come...
Blessings~Lori
I read all the comments to attempt not to be redundant. I was wondering what your take on spray basting is. I'm with "the momma". I use 505. BUT, I also finish a quilt a year, so the costs don't add up that much!
I always appreciate when you share your goofs. It keeps it all real and helps newbies see that even experienced seamstresses have a BFF named Mr. Seam Ripper. *sigh
I also think it helps those who get wrapped up in the world of "everyone on Pinterest or Instagram or the blog world are perfect and my life is not".
Sorry for the bit of philosophy there...thanks for laughing at yourself and sharing.
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