A good day’s worth of sewing… in Looking for OpenDiarists

Posted on September 14, 2014 by tehachap
Thanks to a friend’s AccuCut machine, I was able to cut over six yards of fabric into 2 1/2″ strips in less than an hour. This would have taken me all day to do the regular way, using a ruler, cutting mat and rotary cutter.

Today, I concentrated on getting the strips sewn together, seams pressed, and then cut into 6 1/2″ segments. I got the first fabrics (coral, print and olive green) sewn together, pressed and cut. They’re stacked and ready to be laid out in the 3-Rail Fence pattern. I have a stack of leftover bits and pieces that I will use for a border, similar to the one I put on the yellow, gray and black Comfort Quilt I finished the other day. I want to get these tops finished before the Comfort Quilt meeting on the 22nd of this month. I should make it with time to spare.

That said, I have quit sewing for the day. After ripping stitches out of the same two strips of fabric for the third time, I realized that I was tired and my brain had shut down for the day. The problem strip is laying in a huddle next to the other strips. I wanted to sew the strips with a light thread in the bobbin (for the pink fabric) and a dark blue thread on top (for the blue print). This was fine until it came time to add the dark navy blue strip. I tried sewing it from the left side (I have the right side of my machine bed marked for 1/4″ but no guide for the left. I figured (wrongly) that by moving the machine’s needle opposite to the position used for the right side, I would get 1/4″. Nope… after sewing about 6″ I checked my gauge. Nope. Stopped… picked up the seam ripper and began popping stitches. I didn’t want to take the time to fill a bobbin with dark blue thread. I was being lazy.

After putting the newly separated pieces back together again, and having changed out the upper thread, filled a bobbin with the dark navy blue thread and set the machine up for sewing 1/4″ seam on the right, I began stitching, thinking this was what I should have done to begin with. When I got to the end and cut my threads, I held the joined strip up and yep, I’d sewn the last strip to the wrong side. Arrrgh… out with the seam ripper … again! <sighs of=”” exasperation=”” here=”“> Suddenly, I realized I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t pull one more stitch out. I was done. So I come in here to write about my almost perfect day of sewing.

I will not let this deter me. I will finish these two quilt tops. Here’s a photo of the offending strips. The dark blue should be on the other side of the print. :/ Tomorrow’s another day and I’ll be able to finish one top tomorrow for sure.

Be safe, be well, and please be happy. If you make a mistake, realize that you made a mistake and take steps to correct it. If you make the same mistake again, think about not doing what you’re doing for a while. Kick back… take a break… do something else for a bit. In the end, it will be beautiful…

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