Starting Anew

Taking a break from my sewing machine... turning out rather long as I try to get the hang of Blogger. Already lost a post. I'm switching over from Tripod because I found out that Blogger will allow 300MB of photos, while Tripod gives a measly 20MB (and that includes text!).

Last night I finished my sister-in-law's Christmas quilt. She loves pink, any shade of pink. I struggled with this and it couldn't be helped... some green and blue slipped in! Green is my absolute favorite color... there can never be too much green in this world! :)

Here's the top - all pinky and nothing outstanding.


Now the backing is more fun! Just trying to use up stash here... and why do you need a perfectly even backing if you're not gonna professionally long arm it?


I did free motion quilt it, it was my first time doing an entire quilt FMQ style. I couldn't believe how fast it went. There were a few hiccups. I ran out of bobbin thread and after I replaced it, I ended up with a huge nest of thread. Since it was already late, I just took the quilt off the machine, took out the bad thread and said "tomorrow!". The next day showed a huge pile of thread lint under my sewing plate. Oh yeah, that would do it.

The next woe was as I was less that 2 feet away on the border from being completely done, I ran out of top thread! Have I mentioned I don't care for pink? So no back up spools for me. Off to WalMart I go... and they don't have "hot pink"! Gah. Ended up using another pink that looked close enough. I hope that's the last time I have to buy thread from WalMart... of course it's icky and linty thread. But there's no other place in town that has thread, except for two quilt shops that close too darn early.

I feel like there are 4 things that you should NEVER have to worry about:
*Thread
*Background fabrics
*Rotary blades
*Sharp needles
Well, I sorta did take care of the rotary blade problem by bidding on eBay. I was the happy winner of three 5-packs of 60mm blades for a total of $23, including shipping. That sure beats JoAnn's single 5-pack of 60mm blades for $39.99!

I gave one pack of blades to my mom as a birthday gift - I'm trying hard to turn her into a quilter! She's the one who taught me how to sew - was brave enough to let a 5-year-old me just "play" with her machine. I remember sewing wavy rows up and down a piece of fabric, what fun to a little girl! :) But I never did pick up on clothes sewing. My baby sister did, and between the two of us, we put many hours on my mom's sewing machine! Of course we'd "grump" at each other for changing the settings - nothing like aiming for a perfect quarter inch seam allowance, only to find out that the machine was set to zigzag or basting stitch! :)

Leah