Monday, November 28, 2011

Dots and Checks: The End!


The top?  
Started and finished it in 2 days last year.
A simple "Snowball" pattern.


Then I finished the back in one afternoon about a month later.



And promptly folded them both up and put them away....

I think I wasn't sure about the unknown velour-like fabric I had chosen from my stash.  Or I think I just didn't know how I was going to quilt it.

Either way, I completely forgot about it!

But I think it was fate that I found it again recently.   Otherwise, I wouldn't have had a complete quilt to take a spin on Ole Betsy.   It made my Thanksgiving day a bit brighter while the boys and Mr. Boss cheered on their Dallas Cowboys.  (pssst...I am so tired of sports in our house.  I wake up every morning to the ESPN sound)

I started with FMQ and it just wasn't looking well.  I tore out all the stitches.  Two hours worth.  I just checked on my Turkey in the roaster every once in while!

I finally found a maple leaf pantograph and took it for a spin.



Not perfect...but it will do, I guess.

I didn't watch any vidoes (even though I have TWO from Handi Quilter) on how to do it with the laser.

So I had a few oopsies where I trailed off the border.



Of course, this weekend, I watched the videos and realized that I should have tried to use the pattern for my border.  It would have looked better than my free hand leaves.


And can you please squint....those stitches along the binding need to be pulled out. They were the stitches that were holding my quilt to the leaders.  They are supposed to be hidden by my binding.

I REALLY need to work on that skill getting it closer to the edge of my fabric!!!

Otherwise, I am pretty happy with it overall.





Lessons learned?

Watch as many Handi Quilter videos as possible.  I am so thankful they gave me 7 free DVD videos with my purchase.  

Many things are much clearer now after watching them while ironing and sewing costumes!!!

Am I a good girl for showing you my failures? 

Or have you lost even the small amount of respect you had for me as a quilter?

 

7 comments:

  1. I think you did a great job and the quilt looks lovely!
    OOoooopppsss I missed a couple of posts...I´ll go check them out!
    Take care!!

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  2. The maple pantograph pattern is fun! And don't worry about mistakes- you'll get better with practice! I longarmed some this weekend too-all stitch in the ditch though which is no fun! Glad you got to use your machine!

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  3. I love it! The quilting looks beautiful. Run over the border or not. :) Good job!

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  4. I love your quilting and thank you for sharing. It is so nice and refreshing to see your work as you get to know Ole Betsy. We all have to learn and I an enjoying your journey as you share it on your blog. I love the quilt also, but you already know that from a previous comment left :o)

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  5. How fun! You and Ole Betsy are off to a good start.

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  6. I think you are perfectionist like me. I do that with photos. lol Work, work work and then erase it all and start over. It's so beautiful Heidi. I can't imagine how you do it.

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  7. You are so funny. I had a Gammill Premier for 10 years and used it for business. You are doing very well with your HandiQuilter! The freehand leaves look great. I think it's always nice to quilt the border differently. You can put in more leaves, sort of going up and down the border as well as along the length, or echo a bit as you go - or after - if you want more quilting in there. I'd say it looks just fine, though, and I love the idea of checks and dots in the same quilt!

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I cannot wait to hear what you have to say! Seriously! It makes my day!

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