#1 WiP 2013 - The One With A Lot of UN-Sewing

It's been awhile since I've Work-in-Progress Wednesday.

 

Here are the things I've been working on:


Monster Hats
for my twins.

Here in Virginia, it is rarely cold enough to wear a heavy coat, so my boys usually just wear the fleece liners, which don't have a hood. So I'm making them these hats to match their jackets for when they go out to play at school. I've got one done, one to go.

 

Block of the Month

I decided to do a Block of the Month this year and chose the Sisters Ten Modern BOM over at Gen X Quilters.  I've chosen my fabric and cut it out.  Hopefully I will be able to make them up tonight while my boys are in bed and my husband is at Scouts.

Unpicking a Quilt

I finished this quilt top back in October and thought it would be a quick easy finish and I would have it done in plenty of time to ship to my cousin before her baby was born in early December.  Wow, was I wrong!

 

 

I decided to do regular stipple quilting because I was going to use my stitch regulator foot, which I'm really still not totally familiar with.  I thought I would stick to quilting that I can do well without having to focus too much on, so that I could focus more on getting the feel for the stitch regulator.

 

I should have had this little quilt quilted and done within just a few hours, but I ended up fighting with my machine for 3 days before giving up!

 

My thread kept breaking inexplicably every 3-6 inches.  The back of this poor quilt was just a mess of starting knots.  It was awful. 

 

I had tried everything I knew.  Changed the tension, changed the needle, went slower, went faster, changed threads, changed bobbins, you name it, I did it.  Nothing worked!

 

So, after 3 days I gave up, folded the quilt, and shoved it in my closet. 

 

I took my machine in the week before Thanksgiving, but was told it would take up to a month of more to repair.  NO WAY.  So I took it home and just decided I would only be able to sew things with a straight stitch (because for some reason, the thread only broke when I tried anything free-motion), but that was better than nothing.

 

So I was able to make all my Christmas gifts, since none of them required quilting.  But then I pulled out my embroidery module, because we decided to embroider pillowcases for our Primary children this year and I needed to get some done for the January birthdays.  First thing that happened when I tried embroidering - my thread broke!  Arg!

 

That is when I realized that as long as I didn't put the thread through the last hook on the thread guide, it was fine. 

 

So that meant I could finish my quilt!  However, it was at least a third of the way quilted with a meandering stitch.  That is A LOT of unpicking.  But, I just couldn't give it as a gift with all those knots and obvious starts and stops in the back.  So, a few days ago, I finally sat down and began unpicking.  

 

Two nights of unpicking so far, and probably one more night and it will be done.  Then it will be a race to get it quilted and bound so I can get it to it's new owner as quickly as possible...a darling little girl who is already over a month old!

 

And I also signed up to do a BOM at my LQS - an Applique quilt by Edyta Sitar called Spring Bouquet.

 

 

I am really excited about this.  I think it is beautiful, AND it will give me experience and practice doing applique, as well as working with batiks, which I have never done before. 

 

I've never thought batiks were my style, but I have to admit, I think they are just lovely in this quilt.

 

I was supposed to go pick up my first kit this morning and attend the instructions class, but my son woke up vomiting this morning, so we are all sequestered to the house.  I'm pretty sure I know what I am doing, however, so it shouldn't be too hard to figure out on my own. 

 

Oh!  And another fun thing...I finally got my Christmas present from my parents this past week...a serger!!  I am so excited to get it out and try it out.  I'm sure I will be posting about it when I do. 

 

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