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Monday, May 31, 2010

A Little Sewing-- A Lot of Relaxation.

It's Monday and here is my design wall. I think it has been like this for at least 2 months. But, I vow to finish both of my Patriotic Quilts before I get back to work on this one. Stop by Judy L's Patchwork Times to see what everyone else is up to.



Well, I didn't get the flag quilt finished yesterday as I planned. I actually spent quite awhile sitting out on the patio reading. After I got the "stitch in the ditch" finished, it took me forever to adjust the thread tension because the thread kept breaking. I changed needles twice and adjusted several times. Sometimes that just happens. Frustrating.  When this happens, I go to "Piecemeal Quilts" and go over her list of adjustments.


The "meandering stars" free motion went so well in the outside border that I decided to do them in the other two borders also. When I have a pattern such as this, I usually do not mark it and follow the stencil. What I do is, set the stencil next to me to visually use the stencil. This saves a lot of time in prepping the quilt.


Have you ever been just quilting along and everything going well .... you think


only to find out that your backing fabric has turned under and you are quilting on it also.  Isn't that frustrating! But, then again, I sure was lucky it was only a few inches and the area had light quilting. It was also at the very beginning of my quilting. So, it only took a few minutes to fix my mess.

I'm off to my sister's today for swimming, eating, and visiting with family. (She lives about 30 miles away.) But, I do plan to get home in time to finish this quilt. We'll see!!!!!

Oh, by the way, I am sooooooo excited. Only 3 more days of school until summer break. I love teaching and I had a great class, but there is a reason most schools have a summer break. :)

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting.

13 comments:

  1. Love the stars border! That's a great idea to skip the marking of the border and just use a visual represenation! You do such a nice job of it too!

    Have a wonderful time with your famiy today!

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  2. I just love the quilt at the top. That is going to be gorgeous when it is done! It is amazing it only take a few seconds to quilt it in and forever to rip it out.

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  3. I'm laughing now at he border quilting with the backing flipped into it. I've been known to do the same thing myself and then wonder how I could sew through all those layers and not notice. It's a nice idea to look at the stencil for reference without actually using it.

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  4. I have seen others post about the backing flipping and sewing though it. Glad you caught it early. Have a fun day relaxing.
    Karen
    http://karensquilting.com/blog/

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  5. I cannot tell you how many times I have caught the back! The stars are great.

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  6. I like the stars and swirls template; very nice!

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  7. I, too, am in the "back flip" club. I just did it on an appliqued border and couldn't believe it had happened. But, like you, I got it out and soon will be putting the borders on the top.

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  8. I just hate when that happens! I have done that many times and it is so frustrating...breaks your quilting rhythm, makes you do some unstitching, and annoys the heck out of you!!

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  9. Vivian, that literally happened to me a couple days ago while quilting a piece on my 830. It was a small fraction of a corner and will be hidden by lining so I didn't even pull it out.

    While loving your design wall, I am seeing quilting motifs in each center of each block.

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  10. Done it! LOL. More than I care to admit!

    glen

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  11. Love the blocks on the desgin wall...so scrappy and colorful!

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  12. I have had that happen to the back of a quilt too. You cant uderstand how something like that happens...specially when we all think we have been so careful...Do like what you are doing - and the flag quilt will get there...hope you have a happy holiday too> :)

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