2/16/16

Snipping threads

I'm getting ready to pin baste the Star Struck quilt. 


 
 
You can imagine that in a quilt with that many pieces, there would be some ravel on the back.  
 
And, your imagination would be correct.
 
I've been snipping threads off the back for about 2.5 hours and I have at least another hour to go.  But, it's okay.  Because every little black thread I'm going to show you in the rest of this post is a little black thread that would love to lay down behind that white fabric and not show itself until I put in about 800 quilting stitches in around it.  Been there. 
 
Have that quilt.
 
Not only is there the regular ravel that you'd expect, but even more of it was caused by hauling this little quilt all over creation and showing it off before I moved forward on it.  Anyway, here are a couple examples of thread that needs to be trimmed off. 
 
 
 
And, this is what I have picked off so far, balled up tight.  That's a lot of little tiny pieces of thread. 
 


This is one of those steps that is tedious and boring.  And, I dread it.  But, it's that one little extra step I can take to make sure this quilt is as good as I can make it be.  It would have been a lot less work if I hadn't folded and refolded the top so often.  But, I enjoyed that too, so I'm okay with the extra work. 

My birthday was wonderful.  I collect gnomes and Rob gave me a new gnome for my kitchen window.  And, a dish that I didn't have.  The story goes that he was standing in front of the china cabinet with his phone and Syd walked up.  He was looking at the picture of the piece and trying to determine if I already had one in the cabinet.  Syd took one look at the pic and said, he doesn't have that.  Now, I do.

I just found out that Christine, at Quilterscandy was inspired by my refolding day post.  She mentioned the importance of every quilter having a refolding day.  Thanks, Christine!!

Everybody have a great Tuesday.  Work is interesting right now.  I got a new boss while I was off last week.  And, this week, I'm moving to a new desk location.  Ch-ch-changes!  And, on top of that, I'm applying for something different.  Good thing I'm flexible. 

Lane
 

2 comments:

Auntie Em said...

As someone who is about to embark on her first feathered star, I appreciate this post. Your work is all worth it in the end, though. That quilt is beautiful.

Happy Belated Birthday.

-Em

lw said...

I've noticed that if I tear the fabrics (to ensure even width over lengths greater than 20") instead of cut them, I end up with a zillion threads that need to be trimmed when I finish.

Glad to hear you had a good birthday. Sydney has the same talent I do-- to see things that are static and remember where they are. In my house, I am the keeper of memory and the keeper of the locations of all things useful. She might want to consider careers that require good recall-- law, medicine, engineering.