December 6: Evening Thoughts

Before reading more, I need to state that the quilt was not the issue.  It was me and my lack of attention to my machinery.  The final outcome is that this quilt will be loved and appreciated.  The young man who is going to receive it will definitely be displaying it with pride!

After several glitches or maybe many glitches, I finished Alycia's quilt.  It is her first and was well done for a first one.  However, the applique technique she used on some of the t-shirts would have made it very hard to quilt from the back.  I had to have my right hand on the actual quilt all the time so that I would not raise any edges.  The appliques were not so much a design as a way of attaching parts of the t-shirts to each block so an overall meander really was a good choice, but still required attention.  It turned out great and even has a great binding attached.......

Now for the rest of the story.  My HQ was acting up so I had to do some unsewing, replace a bobbin, and also rethreaded the machine.  Finally figured out that it was due more the differences in quilt top thicknesses and the interface she chose, but once I realized that, everything went great.  I chose a different needle and just slowed way down on the thicker sections.  The quilt was then trimmed up and ready for me to add the binding.  This is where the next problem arose.  I have always fumbled around when I put the walking foot on my Bernina.  (Least favorite version of a walking foot, in my  humble opinion.  Love my machine, though!)  The quilt was not feeding well, so I first wanted to blame everything on the quilt but deep in my heart, I knew that was not fair.  The quilt WAS NOT the issue!!!  I did no have the arm that goes over the screw lined up so it was not doing its job.  MY FAULT entirely.  I had to unsew 1/2 of the short side and start over.  Still my goal was to finish quilting and binding by 2:00 and I actually finished about 2:30.
I would share the quilt, but it is a present, so you will just have to try to call an image up in your head.

Final thought:  In the past I would have gone to the kitchen and eaten whatever was available when I hit this stress level.  Instead, I chomped down on a juicy apple and went back to the studio.  Guess I really am learning how to eat better.