What comes first?

A sigh of relief; a shout of yippee or just a body slump?  I mentioned in a previous blog that I have a new long arm quilting machine and I asked for suggestions on how to quilt a busy blue and white quilt.  First of all now that I have had some experience with both I will call the quilt Patience.  I have now sighed and my body is not like a stretched wire.

This has been a learning experience and all the videos in the world or directions in manuals substitutes for experience.  I learned the following:  (some applies to any quilting but some is more specific)

• Make sure your quilt is truly flat both in seams and at joins with borders (see note below)
• make a checklist such as clearing your sewing surface of threads and other objects (long arms do not like loose and/or stray threads (this makes bumps and squiggles where you do not want them or the threads can end up showing through your quilt top)
• do not quilt when you are tired or upset
• quit when you are tired
• plan how you are going to quilt and keep a picture of the plan or write it down  (this is something I learned when using my old mid arm.  Another hard lesson)

Note:  a little bit of stretch on a border can cause the main part of the quilt to 'hump' up a bit and that bit is a nuisance.  Also consider pressing seams open when doing complex areas of the quilt but make sure your machine stitching is not going to come apart.  I made a solemn vow to cut and piece with the greatest of care and to reject anything not perfect or I could not press flat with intense heat, steam and sheer force of will.  :)  Hey I am no angel and perfection is beyond my scope.

There are some other things but that is enough housekeeping for now.  I hope this helps someone else to avoid some pitfalls.

I call the quilt Patience because I barreled ahead with an idea and it took an hour to pick out the tiny stitches.  I was frustrated with something else hence the advice to be calm. I am not sure who suffered more; me or the threads I pulled out. Then a design element would not go right when I repeated it vertically.  Think about writing your name vertically rather than horizontally.  My brain would not do it. I have some tools but they were too big.  Then in the middle of the night I thought of a tiny (and expensive) can of cat food which was the perfect circle.  But it was too high so after scrounging around the kitchen I found a circular cover to a light which was just perfect.  I did not do this in the middle of the night (I am not crazy).   Sometimes keeping bits is handy.  Do not overlook simple solutions.  Try drawing the element and break it down into parts that are simple shapes.

So the quilt is on its way.  I will NOT pick out the imperfect elements but since it is a busy quilt it will not be noticed.  That is another thing; practice on a busy quilt.  It will not show when you make a boo boo.  And if someone finds it after searching carefully re-evaluate the friendship or the familial relationship.  :)

On a very cold and snowy day the sun has peeked out of the clouds both inside and outside of the house.  Now off to my sewing room to make some (I hope) close to perfect 12 inch squares.  However the iron will be hot.  

Thought dashes

This has been a week of topics popping in and out of my head.  One I am trying to put into practice.  You have all heard the words 'Just Do It'.  Well when I was still working the words meant something different from what I was thinking about.  I was thinking something more positive.

I have heard there are a large number of people who procrastinate including me.  So I started timing how long it took me to do some of these little things.  What I discovered was that I spent more time thinking about doing them than the tasks actually took.  I have freed up more time to think about 'Just Do It' in relation to quilting.  It could also be phrased as 'Just Try It'.  So a project that has been occupying brain space is now a project occupying space on my design wall.  It is taking shape and it even has a name which makes it more legitimate than just a bunch of blocks in my head shifting and changing.

'Just Try Doing It'.  It is liberating.

Other thoughts have been around the variety of people who quilt and the many, many reasons they do so.  Like people some quilts are rough and gruff; some soft and pretty; some rigid; some free flowing.  Some are very flamboyant.  Do they match their people?  I must watch to see if they do match and what matches; the designs and/or the fabrics.  Or are lots of people like me who like every quilt and quilting style.  My fingers itch to try everything I can and hence my own campaign to 'Just Do/Try It'.

I also like to knit, design machine embroidery, do thread painting, do needlepoint and sew clothes.  And I love to quilt on my long arm.  I feel like I am painting.  Sewing clothes has been shelved for quite a while but each time I see the lovely fabrics I brought back from India that type of sewing stirs me.  But would I be a better quilter if I took these away and just concentrated on quilting?  Are these considered cross training like in athletics?  I sure hope so as I ordered a complex cabled sweater and yarn this morning.  The lure of a challenge?  Does this match up with 'Just Do It'?  I think it might.

  What I don't like is house work but actually did some today.  Could that be considered as discipline which helps in getting UFO's finished?  Maybe I might feel better about housework if I looked at it this way as self discipline.

Off to enjoy some sunshine in the sun room.  Must bank those sunny hours against days without at this time of year; at least if you live in a  coastal northern climate.

Life and Crazy Quilts

Did you ever have days that felt like a Crazy Quilt?  Not just crazy.  Yesterday was one.  A lovely gold fabric with a phone call from an old friend from Colorado which promised a continuing friendship in spite of life changes; a black velvet for a friend in Australia packed up to evacuate at anytime due to brush fires; red for a dog that had a case of the ins and outs all day; blue for her companion who wanted to stand and sniff the air at the back door with sub zero weather.  In addition there was green, a lovely soft spring green for a talk with a good friend and brown for logs that are not dry enough to burn.  There was white for the cutting table not cleaned up as planned; lovely pink for some time to play with the long arm and try out the functions.   Colours are so much a part of our life.  They have associations from which they cannot be separated.  For some people there are colours they simply cannot stand but they use them anyway because the punch of colour is worth it.   Take time to think why you like or dislike a colour or particular designs on fabric.  It can help to finalize a design or get past a colour to enjoy a quilt design you might bypass.

Like crazy quilts, in the end this was a lovely one which ended the day stitched; comfortable and cozy.

There was also a crazy idea yesterday.  Too bad they do not make a thread that when quilting shows up in a pastel colour but when heat is applied the colour disappears.  Boy would that ever make machine quilting easier.

Today has silver as the evacuation has not occurred.   Wonder what the rest of the day will bring.  I know one thing; exercise class.  Those Christmas calories are singing Jingle Bells or is it Jiggle Bells?  :)