A Week of Quilting, Learning, Seam Ripping... and One Longarm Emergency
It has been a very quilty week around here, and somehow I managed to finish things, learn things, sell something, and almost break my longarm all in the same week.
I’m calling that productive. 😂
Someone Bought One of My Quilt Kits!
Let’s start with the most exciting part.
I finished piecing my Halloween quilt, Jack-o’-Lantern Lane, and listed the quilt kits in my shop.
And somebody bought one!
There is something very different about making a quilt for yourself and then putting together a kit knowing another quilter is going to make something from the fabrics you chose.
That was a pretty cool feeling.
I have four Jack-o’-Lantern Lane kits left, and my own quilt still needs to be quilted and bound, so technically it is finished-ish. So if you are interested in buying one to make for Halloween head on over to my page:
In quilting, I feel like “finished-ish” should be an official category.
The Birthday Quilt That Was Only Nine Months Late
I also FINALLY finished my husband’s birthday quilt!
His birthday was in December.
It is now September.
We’re just calling this an extended birthday celebration.
I used the Fire and Rain pattern from Villa Rosa Designs, and I did the whole thing from piecing the top to quilting it on my longarm and finally binding it.
And let me tell you, this quilt taught me some things.
For starters: directional fabric matters.
Apparently, when you are making half-square triangles with directional fabric, you need to think about which direction that fabric is going to end up facing BEFORE you cut and sew everything together.
Who knew?
Well…probably a lot of quilters.
I did not.
I also got some very hands-on experience with longarm tension problems. The good part is that I am slowly learning how to recognize what the stitches are telling me and troubleshoot the problem instead of immediately assuming I have ruined everything.
Then came the binding.
Oh, binding.
I learned how surprisingly easy it is to create a little pucker in your binding. There is one in this quilt, and I made the executive decision that it lives there now.
I also became extremely familiar with my handy-dandy seam ripper during the binding process.
But I discovered an important quilting technique that I feel obligated to share:
If you squint your eyes or move the quilt around really fast, you can barely see the mistakes.
You’re welcome.
And Then I “Broke” Lucey…
Saturday was supposed to be a quilting day.
Instead, I managed to mess up the timing on my APQS Lucey longarm.
How?
Here is your quilting public service announcement for the week:
Do not put a rag in the bobbin area while your longarm is running.
I know.
Not one of my finest decisions.
Thankfully, I didn’t permanently break anything.
My sister Sharon went with me to Over The Top Quilting Studio in Cedar Park, where Kim saved the day. Even better, she took the time to show me how to fix the timing myself if it ever happens again.
I even recorded a video of what Lucey is supposed to sound like when the timing is correct so I have something to compare it to in the future.
That is one thing I’m discovering about quilting. Sometimes the mistakes are frustrating, but they also force you to learn how your equipment actually works.
So I suppose Lucey and I both learned something Saturday.
Everyone Needs a Sharon
Speaking of my sister Sharon, she is also one of my unofficial quilting support people.
Sometimes she comes over and basically acts as my body double.
If you have never heard that term before, body doubling is when simply having another person nearby helps you stay focused and actually do the thing you have been meaning to do.
She doesn’t necessarily have to help me.
She just has to be there.
Suddenly I can clean the house, cut fabric, piece a quilt, organize fabric, quilt, or tackle whatever I have been avoiding.
It sounds a little strange until you experience it, but it really works for me.
So now I’m curious:
Do you have a quilting body double?
Maybe it is your sister, a friend, your spouse, someone from your quilt group, or even someone you FaceTime while you sew.
Or had you ever heard the term before?
Quilting Around a 9-to-5
Something else you may not know about me is that Tootie’s Quilt & Fiber Studio isn’t my full-time job.
At least not yet.
I work full-time as a budget analyst for the State of Texas, which means most of my quilting, shop work, fabric cutting, website updating, and occasional longarm emergencies happen in the evenings and on weekends.
Some weeks I get a lot done.
Some weeks I don’t.
And apparently some Saturdays are spent learning how to retime a longarm.
But every finished quilt, every lesson learned, and every order gets me a little closer to where I want Tootie’s Quilt & Fiber Studio to go.
This week had a little bit of everything.
And honestly?
That seems pretty appropriate for quilting.
Want to Make Jack-o’-Lantern Lane Too?
I currently have four Jack-o’-Lantern Lane Quilt Kits left in the shop.
If you love a fun Halloween quilt and want to make your own version, you can check out the kit on my website.
And while you’re here, tell me in the comments: Do you have a quilting body double, or had you ever heard of body doubling before?