Sunday, March 11, 2012

Progress Report

Well I'm actually quilting it.  And so that I don't get ahead of myself I'm surprised I'm not remaking it  (more to come.) 

Would you believe it took 2 days and about 665 pins to baste the quilt?  Yep that's right 665 pins.

Now here's the story on why I thought I would be unpinning all those pins and remaking the quilt.  After I had everything marked and pinned I started quilting.  I was SO DISAPPOINTED when my needle would hardly go through the fabric and would bend and one actually snapped into 3 pieces.  For some reason there is something about the main fabric that makes it nearly impossible to quilt.  I was ready to give up and start all over because my thumb was so sore and I wasn't getting anywhere with the quilt.  I started trying different sizes of pin and most had such small eye's that the thread would break when I was trying to thread it (with a needle threader of course)  Well the next day (yesterday) I decided to try once more.  I finally found that if I only took 2 or 3 stitches on the smallest needle I could manage to thread, then I could quilt the quilt.  I can't say this is going to be easy because so much of this quilt is that light hard to quilt fabric, but I think I can do this.  So I've been going along slow and steady but you know what they say about the turtle.  I guess I would rather be a turtle that a quitter.

Until next time...God Bless!

2 comments:

  1. If your fabric is what it seems to be in your pics, I've also had problems with that type. I think it's whatever is printed over the top to create the flowers that is hard to get a needle through. If you're using your new hoop, be sure to make the quilt sandwich fairly loose inside, so there's enough "give" to be able to rock the needle. Is it possible your batting is making it difficult as well?

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  2. I have had someone else tell me they thought they had that same fabric and it was hard to quilt so you are probably right. It is beautiful fabric but boy is it hard to work with. I also thought about the batting since it is cotton but I tried some scraps of that fabric with some other batting that I used on my granddaughters quilt and it was still pretty much as hard to quilt. I have been trying to make sure I have my fabric loose in the hoop because I found out recently it should be that way. I've always had my fabric too tight until now. I think I may still be confused as to how lose to have the fabric.

    Sadly it will take me about 10 months to quilt this quilt as compared to the 6 months I figured. Oh well. I guess that is better than doing it all over.

    Thank you so much for the confirmation that it is not me but the fabric. I've had some various health issues in the recent past and I began to wonder if I had lost strength in my hands or something.

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