I was trying to be really productive today but it didn't end up working out as well as I thought. We overslept this morning and then by the time I was ready to get started it was around 10am. I ironed the backing on Gwen's quilt and loaded everything on the machine. Just when I was getting ready to start quilting (literally I just turned on the sewing machine) Ryan wanted to go get lunch. We went to run a few errands and get lunch and then I was finally ready to get started. I start sewing the first row of quilting...and I run out of bobbin thread. So I reload all the bobbins with thread and start sewing again. Then I can't get my machine to turn back on. I spend about an hour unplugging everything and plugging it back in and finally got it to turn on. I get about one row quilted and the top thread bunches up and breaks...Grrr...So I clean it up, rethread the machine and start sewing again. Kept breaking threads at the beginning - so annoying! Why is it that when I only have time to do a little bit the machines work perfect and when I plan on a whole day of sewing we fight with each other? Anyways, eventually I got everything figured out and successfully finished the quilting. I went downstairs to get my camera and I found that Ryan and KC were being really productive, haha.
Willow wasn't asleep but she sure looked bored...
So after smiling at my silly fiance and pets, I grabbed the camera and headed back upstairs to take a picture of my handi-work. Here's a picture of the quilt while it was still in the frame but I had already finished the quilting.
After the quilting is done, I take it off the frame, remove all the plastic tacks around the edges that hold it together while I sew, snip any loose threads and then trim away the extra fabric. Here's the quilt right after it comes off the frame but before I trim off excess fabric
Here's a couple of closeups to show the quilting pattern I used (just a basic meandering or wide spaced stipple).
All that's left now is to stitch on the binding tomorrow and then it will be ready to package up and ship to Gwen, yay!!
I am a part time quilter, full time engineer and hope to one day become a full time quilter. Feel free to read along as I explore quilting, cooking and anything else that strikes my fancy.