Yesterday morning, I spent 45 minutes putting in a section and when I cut the thread and turned it over, I realized I must have slid my hand over the top tension adjustment and the bobbin thread just looked laid on the fabric. It didn't have any little dots where the stitches locked. No top tension. So, I spent two hours last night pulling all that out.
And, this morning, I was looking it over and found the spot I filled in first and the rows of echo stitching are way too far apart. The more I quilted, the faster my machine speed got and the faster it got, the more dense my bacground quilting got. And, that first spot really stands out now. I'm going to try to go in and fill in between the rows and will show before and after pics to show how much good this little practice piece has done me.
I've learned that machine speed is the key to all this. I watched Leah Day quilt and thought, she's running that machine too fast and her stitches are too small. And, I really thought that the slower machine speed increased my accuracy. Now, after all these hours of practice, I'm running my machine that fast too and my stitches are tiny. But, my curves are correct now and the density has increased and I can quilt an almost perfect circle. All those are good things.
I can hardly wait to get to the border. I know exactly what I'm going to do and picked up the last of the thread yesterday. At least I hope it's the last of it. It's the last the store had, so I hope it's the last I'll need.
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...when you have to let go and let the kid stand or fall on her own. (did I lose you there?) Today, she's going on a field trip to a water park with the school choir. It's funny how worried Rob is. Me, not so much. Either she'll make it or they'll call us to come get her. If she gets in so much trouble that she has to do that, I wonder which one she'll pick to call. Hmmm. Rob is more worried about her having a good time, so he took care of a disposable camera and snacks and money for the dance tonight and making sure she had everything packed in her backpack that she needed. All I did was make sure she got a good breakfast and remind her to take a hair brush. I feel like such a slacker as a parent today. Oh, and I gave her WWDDD as a theme. What Would Dad and Dad Do? Lots of meanings there, one of which is what would we do to have fun. But, the other is what would we do to you if you get in trouble??? Yikes!
She's already planning to sleep late to make up for spending the whole day at the waterpark and then getting off the bus and going to a school dance. Whaaaa! I plan to have her in the yard helping me clean out the greenhouse. Double Whaaaa! We'll have to call the Whaaambulance!
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...when you have to eat some crow. Remember I said I lost a follower and thought it was because of one of my posts? Well, she wrote to me this morning and it was an accident and she's back. I guess I shouldn't have thought the worst. I should have assumed it was something like that. And, not only did I get her back, but I got another follower yesterday. Ya'll keep reading and I'll keep telling you what it's like to be a dorky quilter with a kid and a good therapist.
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...when you have to get back to work. The boss is on vacation and we'd all love to be slackers around here today, but I know it won't be. I have a ton of work to do and he's going to want to start new projects next week based on the meetings he was at this week. No rest for the weary quilter. Whaaa!
Lane
9 comments:
Lane---I love your posts---especially the really deep ones---like the one the other day. It really gets my thinking going! Have a great day and your little "honey bunny" will be just fine! I told you I had FIVE and although I have LOTS of grey hair (which of course you can't see) but they became really nice people that I like (at least most of the time) as well as love! She is so blessed to have you two! Have a great week-end!
BTW---I am too impressed with your quilting!!! Maybe I will get up the courage yet to try a fancy freehand!
Hi Lane,
The quilting is looking terrific! The more practice you put in, the smoother your lines of quilting will become, even if the stitches are smaller than usual.
Next time you pick thread color, go one shade lighter than you think you should. Thread usually doesn't build up much unless it's really thick (like with pebbling), so always err on the side of lighter / more contrast shade rather than darker.
I'm crossing my fingers for Sydney that she stays out of trouble and has tons of fun.
Let's go quilt!
Leah Day
Boy Howdy, that wall hanging is gorgeous!
Thanks to your description of what you learned doing all that work, I've determined that I need to do something similar (after I finish a friend's movie themed t-shirt quilt and clean up my sewing room.) And thanks, Leah, for the thread selection tips.
I hope Sydney has a great time. Your instincts are good, sometimes less parenting is better-- she has to learn to be independent sometime in the next few years, so letting go a little at a time is a good thing.
Lane, you just impress the socks off me how much your FMQ has improved over the last couple of years. It's just totally beautiful! Yes, the painful part of watching your kids grow is letting them go. Like my son in Singapore.
Hi Lane.....you have such a great way of expressing things!!!!! Whaaambulance!! I'm laughing out loud!
I think the FMQ is just beautiful. I don't have the patience to do enough practicing so I'll probably not do much of that stuff. But it is stunning to look at!
Hope you have a great weekend and that Sydney has a wonderful time with moderate :-0 choices!!
Hugs, Becky
Deleted my first comment b/c of a typo and an incomplete thought. That'll teach me to proof-read ;). Let's try again.
Lane, you're far too critical of your own work. When I took my machine quilting class (admittedly a very basic beginning class), someone asked the teacher if she stopped and pulled out every mistake. She said that her rule of thumb was if she could ride by on a galloping horse and notice the mistake, she'd pull it out (ha, ha, ha!). Remember -- this was a learning exercise for you and from where I sit you did an absolutely AMAZING job on it! It's OK to take a bow for some seriously fantastic quilting on that sampler!
Hope that all was well with Sydney's outing.
This post tickled my funny bone several times, as usual. (except for the bits about quilting which are very serious, as they should be )
Since I dont FM quilt (yet) I think what you've done is really wonderful. You continue to inspire me to try new things. Quilting is meant to be a process-not neccesarily a perfect product (which is just as well since I'm the one operating the sewing machine ) I'm finally getting the message.
I think your quilt looks great. And I think you've got the right idea with the kid. It's hard not to have a good time in a water park at that age. She'll do fine.
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