Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Note to Self: It's Easier to Pin Quilts When the Children Aren't Home

Yesterday was the day I decided to sandwich and pin my Broken Dishes Part Deux quilt. It's a very lovely, darkish but still quite vibrant quilt. I intend to machine quilt through the sashing and then hand quilt each block, which totally distracted me from my normal routine of taking a picture of the quilt before any pins are added.
Broken Dishes Part Deux
I rarely machine quilt so it takes me awhile to determine the most efficient pinning for that particular application. Apparently I'm supposed to use a bazillion pins, which always seems incredibly unnecessary until I'm right in the middle of machine quilting the quilt. Then I tend to have tons of remorse and an overwhelming urge to bang my head against the wall. Because I NEVER learn. It's a vicious cycle. Probably why I love my hand quilting hoop to pieces. We completely understand each other and never have relationship issues.

It also didn't help that yesterday was a half day and my children were wandering back and forth through the living room. As you can see from the tennis racket inserted into the picture below, they were NOT helping me out at all. I usually take tons of pictures from a couple different angles which ensures that I'll get at least one or two decent pictures to post. Yesterday I gave up at five pictures. Yep, and there isn't a single picture where my quilt isn't washed out from the light shining in through the front door....
Broken Dishes Part Deux with the help
of my sons tennis racket....
Once I find a fabric that I like, then the binding can be put on my Spring Forward quilt and it will be finished. Oh I just love that word! And I know it's a quick change-up, one quilt out of the hoop and another one ready to put in (almost), but that's how I roll.
Spring Forward waiting for binding
These crazy spring day-- coming up on the end of the school year? I need my time with the hoop. Our schedule couldn't possibly get more hectic than it is right now and although I know it's just the normal having-a-houseful-of-teenagers routine, it leaves me a little bit breathless at times. Whew! These 'almost' adults are a lot of work!

16 comments:

  1. I absolutely love the way you explain things...so true and so real! I do agree with this being a crazy busy time of year, so much end of the school year stuff going on! I too have a house full of crazy teens and though they can be frustrating, they are entertaining aren't they? :)

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  2. Wow can I ever relate to this! My kids know pretty well not to step on, move, spill on, or eat anywhere remotely near a quilt I am basting but they are pretty good at distracting me! And, yeah I thought my days were busy with toddlers and babies but teens and preteens' schedules can really cut into my stitching time. They don't sleep enough... My handquilting hoop is a sanity saver for sure!! Good luck with the machine quilting - it's a gorgeous looking top and I look forward to seeing how you quilt it.

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  3. What a great quilt! How do you find the time to work on so many projects?

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  4. Love the Broken Dishes quilt! That dark sashing is just right. And Spring Forward almost a finish!! Yea!! I know when my kids were teenagers I wished they were toddlers again. There is nothing in the world like teenagers!

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  5. I always find I put too many pins in a quilt for basting - I try not to but it seems there are too many anyhow. With the batting I use it seems to just plain stick to the fabric especially if I pin the backing to the carpet to stretch it out -- but then I know neither one of us has a ton of experience in the machine quilting world so maybe more pins is better? Beautiful quilt

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  6. Another beauty...I do like the dark sashing!

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  7. OOhh I love this quilt!! My motto is You can never have too many pins! I pin for a while then go off and do other things then come back and pin some more. And I agree that it's easier when the house is quieter. I think it's great you have a high turnover in your quilting hoop, it's the way to get them finished.

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  8. Im an over pinner – I have serious trust issues that I have ever put enough pins in a quilt when basting ...its not unusual for me to put 300 into a 60 x 60 quilt (which subsequently leaves very little room to manoeuvre a quilt through the machine without hitting a ton of them )
    Sometimes I even spray baste as well...

    Good Luck with the machine quilting ..Im sure it’ll all be A OK.

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  9. Madre mía!!!!! preciso tus platos rotos
    y la raqueta.... un detalle tierno me gusta
    saludos

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  10. Your quilt is beautiful. I know this is an old-fashioned technique but I still hand baste my quilts vs. pinning them. I do the basting with a bright colored thread and about 3-3.5" apart. It takes less time than inserting and closing all those pins and I don't have to stop to remove pins while machine quilting. The only thing that causes me to stop is when the basting thread gets caught on the darning foot and I have to stop and cut the thread. When the quilt is totally quilted, it's very easy to just quickly pull out the basting thread.

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  11. I as well hand bast my quilts the classical way. What a beautiful quilt, congratulations!

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  12. Broken dishes is just wonderful!! I hear you on the quilting!!! Ah the things we do for ourselves!!

    Blessings

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  13. I also have to make myself keep pinning even when I want to be done and get on with it. Hard lesson to learn. Beautiful quilt.

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  14. Yep, the more pins the better, in my opinion. But I don't close my pins (it's too hard to get them out when I need to) so lots fall out as I go. Lazy? Maybe!

    Oh yeah, the teenagers! They can be so distracting! It is much easier to baste (or just about anything) when the kids are NOT there!

    You know, looking at Spring Forward, I wonder if a turquoise (like your letters and geese) would make a good binding? That could be fun. Or, you could ignore me and do what you like! *grin*

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  15. Hi Audrey! I love your broken dishes quilt, I am so over modern stuff right now, so this quilt is a tonic xx ps loving quilts on the diagonal right now xx

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