starting about two weeks ago, i started re-working on the patchworks blanket that i started a little over two years ago. i have sewn the squares together. yesterday, i have finished basting the three layers together (the top, the batting and the backing).
how exciting! my first quilt is almost done!
the plan was to do machine-quilting, because it seems to be the easiest and the fastest. or so i thought. after trying it out on the small piece of three-layer, i put in my huge blanket in place and started sewing… within about 1 second of sewing, i realized that something didn’t seem right. the fabric moves so slow on the machine, causing the stitches so close to each other, the top layer keeps sliding, and it seems that i’m unable to maneuver the huge blanket around on this little sewing machine.
aina is trying to cheer me up…
but i kept trying…
after about two rows of line, it’s obvious that things went out of whack. the squares become parallelograms from the pulling and uneven tensions, and the backing was scrunched up here and there.
then i realized that i just suck at machine-quilting.
so i went downstairs and googled “how to hand-quilt”. then, i went to the nearby craft store and bought an unstitcher and a quilting hoop. i asked ari if he could help me take out all the stitches i’ve done. the unstitching was a bitch due to the uneven tension (causing so many tight stitches).
finally, after an hour of unstitching, i finally got to put the hoop on and started to quilt… oh boy, this is going to take a looooong time.
if it took me two years to get to this point, i think it’ll be another two years to finish the hand-quilting…
wow, and i thought the neverending blanket was neverending…
2 comments
You don’t suck! Do you have a walking foot for your machine? They are specially made for quilting so that all three layers feed through evenly. You really can’t machine quilt without one! Mine cost about $30 US.
doh… no wonder! i should get the walking foot first! thanks, Kim!