One Step Forward, Two Steps Back - Finally Finished Friday, uh Saturday

Here it is, my Bee Happy Quilt, finally finished.

Yesterday, I spent the majority of the day doing: Sew 10 inches, Rip out 3 inches, re-thread everything, repeat.  Little by little, I got it done.

Wow, what a process this has been.  When I signed up to complete this quilt, I actually got started right away.  At the time, I had plenty of time to complete, but I didn't want to wait until the last minute (like I usually do). I was actually hoping to be the first one done!  I had my pattern in mind when I signed up, it promised to be an easy one.  I prepared my applique pieces, got everything cut, and the whole top pieced together rather quickly.  I stalled a little when it came to the back, waiting for some additional fabric, but it too came together quickly.  The quilting pattern suggested was easy enough too - a meandering loopy bee trail.  I sandwiched my quilt and got ready to get down to it.  That's when "easy" ended.

I am not sure if I have been quite so frustrated in a long time.  The machine issues, which I am sure you are tired of hearing about and I am tired of thinking about, really threw me for a loop.  I don't really understand how a machine can be fine quilting one thing, but then completely stink at doing another.  My best guess was that it had to do with the needle flex that occurred when sewing through the applique parts with their fusible web.  I is the only thing that makes some sense to me.  So, I pulled out my notes from my long arm class with Dawn Cavanaugh.  She talked a bit about needle flex and I tried out her suggestions.  I switched to a bigger needle, with only some improvement.  I sewed slowly, no improvement.  If I hadn't already quilted half the quilt, I would have changed thread.  In the end, I just had to battle it out.

I certainly wish I had done things a little differently from the start.  I felt confident with the machine quilting, so I choose a pretty, shiny, variegated thread for the quilting.  Unfortunately, it just shows off all the issues I had quilting!  And perhaps, putting appliques on the back wasn't such a good idea.  I haven't had any problems in the past sewing through them, so I didn't really think it would be a problem this time either.

It is not my best work, but it is done.  And, I learned some things about myself.

This quilt is destined for Happy Chemo, part of the Hands2Help Challenge at Confessions of a Fabric Addict, which gives quilts to people going through chemotherapy.  While I have never been through chemo myself, I imagine that I encountered some of the same emotions going through making this quilt - obviously, less intense as I was not fighting for my life!  At times I cried, I was angry, frustrated, and even wanted to give up.  And I was just making a quilt!  Heaven help me if I have to go through anything as major as chemotherapy.




Jen

Making lemons from lemonade - WIP Wednesday

Today was my first opportunity to sew since last week.  I figured it was high time I did something about my Bee Happy quilt, especially since it was supposed to be completed last Sunday.  Ironically, this was the only project this year that I started early, with the intention of being the first in the group to complete!  That obviously did not happen!  With deadlines, whooshing past me, I decided I better put my frustration aside and get it quilted with Big Brother.  Unfortunately, he had other plans.....

"P" is for Pissed Off!

I would be zooming along with my loopy-loop stitching and then all of a sudden, the above would happen.  Soon, I had a mountain of thread trying to figure out what was going wrong.

Yes, I had to take a picture of this.  It is actually about half the thread that I had in the trash.

Finally, I figured out that he would accept some stitching through the appliques, as long as it wasn't an area that had appliques on the bottom also.  So, I marked the top using painters tape to show the areas where the appliques were on the bottom.

Add caption

It sounded simple enough = avoid these areas, at least until Ms. Kitty returns (presumably fixed)!  However, Big Brother still didn't like spending too much time on the top appliques.  If I did more than one loop before getting back to the background, he protested.  An hour and a half of sewing later, I am now half done with the quilt (I started at a third done).

To add to the frustration, I KNOW I am not doing my best work.  My stitch sizes are very inconsistent (versus my usual average amount), in part because I feel like I have to hurry over the appliques to get back to the background, and in part because of all the stops and starts I have to do every time he protests.  Let's not even discuss all the ripping out of stitches and the small holes it leaves in the appliques.

I feel very badly because sick people deserve nice quilts too.  I know they don't expect perfection, but this quilt is so far from that, I'm sure it will end up in the trash instead of a hospital.  I hate giving up, but I think if I had an extra week, I would be tempted to start all over again with another design.  I have until Saturday to get it done and in the mail.  Ms. Kitty is supposed to be ready Thursday afternoon.  Doesn't give me a whole lot of time!

Back to trying to make lemons from lemonade.....



Completed Projects:

• Are you kidding me?

On-going Projects:

• Hands2Help Bee Happy Quilt - quilting in progress 
• Red, White, Blue New York Beauty - piecing in progress
• Urban Nine Patch - just blocks for my 3 x 6 Bee, they are cut and ready to be put together
• Urban Nine Patch Tablerunner

Back Burner:

• New York Beauty Quilt A Long - actually different from the one above.
• Batik Stripe Quilt - still sandwiched and ready to be quilted!
• Thank you quilt for Ashley's teacher - due second week of June!  Plenty of time, right?
• Lincoln quilt - need to put the borders on this baby and finish it up.
• Blue & White Stack-n-Whack for May UFO challenge 

This week's stats:
Completed projects - 0
New projects - 0
Currently in Progress - 4

Linking up with Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday's

Hole in the Head - WIP Wednesday

What was I thinking?  I must have a hole in my head or something, because I managed to start a new project that wasn't on my list from last week.

I started quilting the Bee Happy quilt, got about 1/3 of the way done, and needed a break.  What better way to spend my break than to try to figure out how to put together a mosaic with my colors for the 3 x 6 Bee, and I realized that I had absolutely no pictures of anything quilt related in red, white and blue.  I did, though, have a project on my UFO list that was supposed to be red, white and blue, and I had all the fabrics needed to start the project.  So I started cutting, and I managed to get a few blocks put together.

There is something calming about paper piecing.  I think it is the methodical, cut, sew, press, repeat.  I needed something calming this week and I feel so much better just spending a few hours with this routine.  Refreshed almost!


Completed Projects:

• Nada, but I am getting closer on the Bee Happy quilt, maybe next week.  

On-going Projects:

• Hands2Help Bee Happy Quilt - quilting in progress 
• Red, White, Blue New York Beauty - piecing in progress
• Blue & White Stack-n-Whack for May UFO challenge - I actually glanced at it this week.
• Free-Motion Challenge Placemat for May - I am determined to finish before the last days of the month
• Batik Stripe Quilt - still sandwiched and ready to be quilted!

Back Burner:

• New York Beauty Quilt A Long - actually different from the one above.
• Urban Nine Patch - Decided to do this block for my solids group in the 3 x 6 Bee
• Thank you quilt for Ashley's teacher - due second week of June!  Plenty of time, right?
• Lincoln quilt - need to put the borders on this baby and finish it up.

This week's stats:
Completed projects - 0
New projects - 1
Currently in Progress - 5

Linking up with Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday's

Friday (not so much) Finished

My first Friday Finish and I got nothing actually completed, and one excuse prevails - Ms. Kitty isn't feeling so hot.  My suspicions were validated today as I tried to complete my Free Motion Challenge....I want to tell you more about it when it is actually done, so I'll just skim over it.

Here is where I was when I had to stop:

Ms. Kitty has been making strange noises for weeks, but aside from some broken threads here and there, not much was happening, UNTIL...I finished all the thread sketching shown above and started doing a simple meandering motif (you can see some of it on the right side) as filler.  I am going to be using this motif for my Bee Happy quilt, so why not practice a little ahead of time, right?  Well, Ms. Kitty disagreed.  She was clunking loudly, skipping stitches, and practically spitting thread.   There were suddenly problems underneath.  I picked out a large portion and tried again but no go.  I re-needled, re-threaded, turned her off/on, and for a few moments on my test piece, she was fine.  But, when I went back to my placemat, more problems and they were getting worse.  And now my test pieces were looking ugly too:

Look OK to you?  Perhaps a minor tension issue?  Well this is what it looked like underneath:

The top 6 rows were at my usual tension for free motion.  In the middle I turned it up a few numbers.  At the bottom and side, I turned my tension all the way up (higher than I have ever gone before), but there was still clunking and skipped stitches.  Ms. Kitty evidently needs a trip to the spa.

I was able to finish the backing for my Bee Happy quilt earlier in the week before all this happened.

I think LM was right in the earlier post, about the "gold" fabric, it is not great.  Luckily, the front doesn't have much of it, but you know how I dislike leftover fabric.  I HAD to use it in the backing, especially with so much.  Close up, it is cute:

Very "Bee-ish".  But take a few steps back, and yikes!  Not for everyone.  Perhaps if I start to think of it as Honey, it might sweeten my thoughts?

WIP Wednesday

My "Bee Happy" quilt top is done for the Hands2Help drive

Hurrah, Hurrah!  The top for my Hands2Help quilt is done!  I finished up the borders and hive applique this morning.  Now on to the back and quilting, right?  Ms. Kitty has been acting up a little since her trip for annual servicing.  I am a little disappointed, since she was working just fine BEFORE I took her.  I just hope I can get the quilting done on this project before I have to take her in again.

I've also been working on my monthly challenge for the Free Motion Challenge at SewCalGal.  This month's challenge includes a transfer technique that is used to mark your quilts, and I sure am glad to learn it.  I just wish I had known about it before I quilted those feathers on the peacock quilt!  Here are a couple of shots of my practice motif.  I still need to do my final project for this month's challenge.  Hopefully, I will get to show it to you on Friday as a finish.

Completed Projects:

• I completed my little gifties, which I cannot show pics of until they are delivered in a few weeks.  But, I am very pleased with how they came out

On-going Projects:

• Hands2Help Bee Happy Quilt
• Free-Motion Challenge Placemat
• Batik Stripe Quilt - still sandwiched and ready to be quilted!

Back Burner:

• New York Beauty Quilt A Long
• Urban Nine Patch - I am sew excited about starting this new project, but it really should wait until Bee Happy is done.
• Thank you quilt for Ashley's teacher - due second week of June!
• Lincoln quilt - need to put the borders on this baby and finish it up.

This week's stats:
Completed projects - 1 (actually 3 gifts!)
New projects - 3 (basically most of my back burner quilts)
Currently in Progress - 3

Linking up with Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday's