Before we get too far away from February, I ought to share the two quilts I finished at the end of the month. Both quilts will forever be memorable, and the reasons are not so pleasant. I was attempting to be efficient, and, well, it backfired.
I had a long piece of backing and these two small-ish quilts would fit nicely according to my rough calculations. I mentioned awhile back that I am near the end of the bolt for this backing fabric, so using the cut-away parts helps keep the random piles of fabric somewhat tamed.
First I loaded 4-Patch Delight, then I put Lunch Box Social onto the end of the piece. The quilting was fast and easy. I am so glad that confidence on the long arm has finally found me. And with confidence comes carelessness. I actually sewed over my index finger! No harm to the quilt or machine, but man-oh-man! I cannot recall ever feeling faint after an injury; this was a doozy! The pic below was taken the next day. This is what two needle-pokes look like.
After DH helped me bandage my finger, I went back to stitching. As I was nearing the midway point of the second quilt I made a rather startling discovery. I was going to be running short on backing. My rough calculations didn't work out very well.
I had to remove the half-quilted quilt and add more backing fabric to allow me to finish it. It was doable, but geesh! Talk about a whole lot of bother.
I have bemoaned my aversion to math in many previous posts, but this incident is a clear lesson for me. From the very beginning, if I had calculated more accurately and allowed the standard 4" that quilting generally requires, I would have saved myself a whole lot of aggravation.
It wouldn't have done a thing, though, to save my finger.
So, now to share the actual finishes of both quilts. First, 4-Patch Delight. It was on this quilt that I stitched my finger. Special memory number 1.
Special memory number 2 - short backing; Lunch Box Social sure is a pretty little quilt, which makes up for my being a dunderhead.
That wraps up my February quilting. I needed to finish that old business before moving on to some really exciting new business! Yes, I have a new quilt started, and you will be seeing that soon!
Happy Quilting, Friends!
If it's any consolation, I did the same thing years ago, only the needle got stuck in the down position, pinning me to the quilt right in the middle of my 14 foot long longarm table. I had to manually rotate the wheel, squishing my finger so the needle could continue it's path down and up before I could be released from the machine. I was home alone, two days before Christmas, so went to the ER for a tetanus shot, then went home and finished the quilt, which was my sister's Christmas gift. That was probably 15 years ago and my nail still doesn't grow right! I didn't bleed on the quilt either! Lol Hope your finger heals quickly!
ReplyDeleteIt’s nearing 2 weeks since the finger incident and I seem to be fine. No indications of in infection, and I do just about everything as usual. Coulda’ been so much worse! I could have messed up my machine!
DeleteOuch! Needle accident and maths mis-calculations! But you finished the quilt! I think I would have been tempted to throw it into the UFO Cupboard of Shame! It was worth it though - the quilt looks lovely :-) Exciting that your perseverance with the long-arm is paying off.
ReplyDeleteI’m nothing if not resilient! 😉 I’m glad about the long-arming, too!!
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