WIP Wednesdays... Pucker Up!!!

Hate to share my misfortunes, but I just finished quilting my Mother's quilt and when I was done all I could say was "Mother Pucker!!!" I need to write this post so that I can learn from my mistakes. It helps me to "ingrain in the membrane" and work it all out.

Ok, I haven't binded/bound it yet, but here are the pics (laid on a King size bed, but the quilt is Queen):

Puckering below (if you can see it) and some stitches ripped out :(

Binding below. And a kitty that likes to play with it :)

I need to figure out what caused all the puckering. I have some ideas:

1. Trying to baste (spray) on a design wall that is not suited for a quilt of this size.
2. Not spraying it thoroughly because of the size and the design wall limitations.
3. Not checking underneath while free motion quilting to make sure there were no problems (especially since I was breaking thread between every loopy flower design).
4. The quilt was so big and my sewing table so small, there was a ton of adjusting and a ton of overhang causing the baste to lose its hold.
5. Quit trying to rush things and looking for instant gratification.

I could go on and on I am sure. But, I think next time I will just be extra careful to check the back more often. I might even pin some of the outer areas (this is where most of the problems occurred). A nice solution would be to just buy a long arm :) Would probably make a Queen much easier to deal with! I know I was flattening and spreading, but I just did not feel the puckers with my gloves on! And, it happened in about 15 places!!!!!

Anyway, thought I would share. My mind is fluttering with tons of other ideas for fixing or for what went wrong, but feel free to share your thoughts!

I'm linking up at Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesdays!



I also wanted to mention that I have linked up at the "new bloggers" link party. If I reach 50 followers, I'm having a giveaway!

Until next time,

Mike.

Modern Mini Challenge, Printable Fabric Labels, and a Simple Welcome!

I haven't written on my blog in awhile, so I thought it was time since I had a spare moment. What I thought I would do was share some of the things I've been working on since my Block of the Month post on the 12th.

The first thing I wanted to share relates to something I blogged about here. I wanted to know how you sign your quilt. Of course I always try to use some sort of fabric on the back that relates to The Wizard of Oz. But I really needed a way to put words on the back. I decided to purchase some printable fabric sheets from Avery:

In the photo you can see the box it came in, and the sheet on the right is my first printed label. I ended up putting it on the back of this quilt.

The fabric sheets are fusible, so after I cut it out with my rotary blade, I ironed it to the back (after I washed the quilt). It seemed to work out well, but I have asked my Aunt Carrie to let me know when she washes it if it held up. For the label design I used my digital scrapbooking software, My Memories Suite, to create it and then print it.

I have also been working on the Modern Mini Challenge at Ellison Lane Quilts. I decided to make a mini for our cat, Mitch. He really needed something to lounge on in the kitchen. I noticed that he really liked laying on my works in progress or my unused batting, so I am making him his own quilt.

Above is Mitch laying in the kitchen in his favorite spot on towels that we used to wipe our feet when it is wet outside. (The back door is in the kitchen.)



I decided to go with colors that match the kitchen. Three of the walls are painted Candied Yam (obviously not the wall in the picture with Mitch above). And, I thought slashing and sewing would be the most modern piecing technique I know how to do.



The back fabrics are pictured above.

Anyway, I will blog about that more when it's time to enter the contest.

I have also been working on a queen sized quilt for my mom. I am using a pattern that I found in the latest issue of Easy Quilts from McCall's. It's called "A Simple Welcome." 

Here are some pictures:

I suppose I will blog about that when I finish it.

Anyway, I should get busy!

Until next time,

Mike.