Cookie Troubles

I've been experiencing some difficulties with technology here in the last few days which accounts for my long absence from posting here. In an effort to fix things, I am appealing to you readers who know anything about cookies and Blogspot/Blogger and settings - especially for Google. I have tried many combinations of fixes, and have even taken my laptop to a tech guy - still no fix.

What I am able to do - for now - is to load my pictures onto a draft from my phone; then come back to my laptop to type text and move photos around.

In these intervening days, difficulties also occurred with my longarm machine. I'd been having such good success with it while doing my own quilts, so when my Frienzie Hettie called to ask me for a quick job on a baby quilt, I agreed to do it. She was about to get a 3rd grandbaby, coming earlier than expected per OB doctor's orders, so the rush was on!

I got along reasonably well until I neared the bottom third of the quilt. Then stitches began skipping and the upper thread began breaking. I removed a lot of quilting stitches while I thought through what my next step ought to be.

In the picture below, my seam ripper is pointing to an area where stitches have skipped. You can see that the needle did go through the fabric, but the bobbin thread did not catch. I tried all the usual tricks, but it soon became evident that my timing was off. 

I have fixed timing before, and while quilters make it sound complicated, it really isn't. I've watched a particular YouTube video about 100 times, and know the basics of what I need to do. I just had to be in the right frame of mind and have good morning sunlight to aid my bright lights - the machine's inner workings are hard for old eyes to see in dim lighting.

While I was fixing things, I took some time to adjust the upper tension; before long I was removing the quilt from the frame. Yay! Hettie also asked me to make and attach the binding; once that was done, Hettie picked up her quilt for an evening of tacking down binding.

The backing and much of the front of this quilt is batik fabric. I know lots of longarmers don't care for quilting on batik, but I'd done it before and never had had any troubles. Even now, I don't know if that contributed in any way to my issues. I may never know, but I do know that with each setback I learn new things and grow more confident.

Meet Ezra Meeker, all 5 pounds, 10.5 ounces of  him! He was born Friday, October 20, and measured 17.75 inches long. He doesn't take up much space on his new quilt! Hettie snapped this for me to post here. Won't it be fun to watch as he grows and fills out this quilt!? 

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne

Quilting For Others

Once upon a time, this quilter was certain she'd never feel confident enough at the long arm machine to ever, ever, EVER quilt another person's quilt. I knew first hand the love and care that goes into piecing a quilt. I could not even think about quilting one and ruining it with sub-par quilting. Doing it on my own work would be one thing; doing it on another's carefully created quilt top would be an entirely different story. Unthinkable!

I'll have you know, that with steady practice, I have agreed to do two in the past month or so. And they turned out pretty darn good, in my opinion. Granted, they were small - one was a panel wall hanging; the other was a baby quilt - but I wasn't ashamed in handing them back over to the quilters. 

This first one has been done for quite awhile, but because of our schedules, I couldn't get Helen's penguin wall hanging back to her until a couple weeks ago. This past Friday when the Frankfort Girls met at Helen's house, she'd prepped the binding and worked on while we visited.

I'd quilted it in late March, according to the date on this picture. It was fun to quilt; my first panel, actually.

This second quilt is much more recent - Hettie (one of my Frienzies) brought this baby quilt over on Saturday morning, and I quilted it Saturday afternoon. It is such a dreamy little quilt! The lucky baby will never be too overstimulated with such a calm, peaceful quilt.

So, while I am not doing anything remotely close to starting a quilting business, I am feeling comfortable picking up occasional small project to help out some friends. These two little quilts were good practice for me, and with each quilt I finish on the long arm machine, I feel confidence growing. 

It's all good!

Happy Quilting, Friends!