Quilter on the edge!

Gosh - I should have told you this before and I forgot. By the time some of you read this - it will be too late.

I'm doing a lecture on binding today at Sew n Serge in Brampton. There are two sessions - one from 10 AM - 12 Noon and the other is from 7 PM - 9 PM. It's going to be EVERYTHING you ever wanted to know about binding. I mean EVERYTHING.  Loads of samples and because it's Halloween, it's going to be fun and candy!!  There are sales on products so be sure to call the store and get yourself on that list.

I MUST get better at announcing my events. I really need a web page so I can put everything up and make it easy to find. I'll add that to the list of things I must learn!

I did learn something yesterday but at the moment, it escapes me. Maybe I didn't learn anything after all. I can't remember. I'm in a bit of a bind at the moment. And it's all because I'm an idiot. I have deadlines - I know that but I got lazy and I wasn't respecting those deadlines and now EVERYTHING is due and almost all at the same time.  I have SIX quilts to get done before the end of the year. No big deal, but a few of them are DUE now and one of them has to be ready to be shipped by tonight. And I'm teaching two different classes today.

We're NOT going to panic because that won't help the situation. Nope, we're going to FOCUS.

Let me tell you about something else before I get into that quilt situation.

Here's another situation. I had a customer ask me if I could quilt a quilt for her - no big deal. She had originally quilted the quilt a while back. She was learning and well, the quilt didn't survive the wash very well. So the binding came off and I agreed to redo the quilting on it for her. We decided to NOT remove the original quilting. I would just load it and then quilt it. A challenge, but after some of the quilting "stunt's" that I've done - well, I didn't think it would be too big of a deal.

The first line of business was to add a leader to the top and bottom of the quilt. I had the quilt laid out here so I could measure my strips of fabric that I keep on hand for this very reason. While this is the first time I've done this, it's not the first time that I've added strips to some part of a quilt. I've had to add strips to a backing because it wasn't quite wide enough.

Prepping the quilt

Here I am serging the fabric strip to the top and bottom of the quilt. I don't use my serger often, but boy, I'd be lost without it. While this isn't my normal brand of machine, it's the BEST serger around. But don't quote me on that - I'll deny it all. There are NO tension discs, it's air threading and honestly - it makes serging FUN.

Serging the fabric strips to the top and bottom of the quilt

To make life easier for myself, I could have serged some fabric to the sides as well, but why? I like a challenge.

So the quilt got loaded, I choose a loose pattern and I was off. I did have to babysit those edges because there was NOTHING for the machine to over stitch onto. It would have been easier with the fabric attached to the sides.

Stitching out the design

Then BAM - in the middle of the second row, the machine stopped working. Then I went through the whole issue of the blown fuse. I got the fuses back into the machine and everything was good. I even figured out how to get the SAME pattern back (I had saved the design for the quilt). But I got back to the same place where the long arm had stopped. That required a bit of finagling but I managed. 

I need to really understand how to do the repositioning so I can get faster at it. Got to figure that out.

Here's a look at the edges of the quilt. See that the clamps are RIGHT on the edge of the quilt. Using the computer program, the stitching always goes slightly over the edge so I really had to be careful or I would have had a mess on my hands. If I were doing it manually (with no computer), I'd have had no choice but to put fabric on all four sides.

Clamps are right on the edge of the quilt

Clamps are right at the edge of the quilt

And here's the last row. I was very happy to see the end of the quilt. It stitched right to the serged edge and that was as far as it went. Yeah!!! 

The last row

 Here's the quilt after it came off the long arm. I need to trim all four sides now which I'll do later and then get it back to the customer so she can rebind the quilt. She came to one of my binding lectures so she's much better prepared to reattach the binding.

Customer quilt - DONE!!!!

As you know, I've been making quilts for magazines for the last couple of years. While I've received some of them back, there are still many that haven't been returned to me. I got one back yesterday!!!  I think I know which one this is. No time to open the box. Heck, I made a messenger bag for Quilter's Connection a while back and that one is still in the box somewhere in the office. NO time to unpack.

A quilt has been returned to me!

After I took the customer quilt off the machine, I immediately loaded the urgent magazine quilt. It has been a bit of a challenge to quilt it as it's quilted with straight lines. I used the channel lock on the long arm. I also had to do a bit of stitch in the ditch. Let's just say that the lines are not bad - not perfect, but not bad. I have about ONE hour of quilting left. Then it has to come off, some more work done and then back on the machine. The binding is made and so is the sleeve. It's going to be very tight to get that thing done. I was working until 10 PM last night and I see another late night tonight.

I taught a private class last night. A dad and his nine-year-old daughter who is making a dress. Isn't that just the greatest??  It was so much fun. They've been practicing sewing at home. When she sewed the first seam and I said to cut the threads with the scissors, she said - "there's a thread cutter on the machine, can I use that?"  OH - sure!!!!!   She's a very bright nine year old. With a little bit of practice, she's going to be a superstar. Extremely polite and very well mannered. If you know someone who needs a private class for ANYTHING, give Oh Look Fabric a call and it can be arranged. I guess you could always get in touch with me directly - I'm not cheap, but I'm very good!

It's never fun when you hear of a local store closing. Late last night, we got word that a local sewing machine/quilt shop is closing its doors by the end of November. Sew Etc. in Burlington. Here's a video from Nic, one of the owners. And if you want more details, here's a web page they put together. Wow - no one saw that coming. I wish them luck in whatever their next endeavor is. I didn't frequent that store - I don't frequent any store for that matter as I literally do not have time.

On that note, I'd better go and finish packing for my trunk show/lecture this morning. If you get this in time and can get out to the binding lectures - you should. If you can't and you're local, let me know - I'd love to do the binding lecture/demo at your guild, or your local quilt shop, or we can arrange something. It's a great lecture - you'll learn tons!

Have a super day!!!!   Happy Halloween!!!


Ciao!