Monday, March 7, 2011

day 1: success

Yesterday afternoon, I loaded the anniversary quilt.  I decided to use what daylight I had left to get a jump start on quilting for today.

This morning I got up and dug in.  A few deep breaths, fingers crossed that my thread tension would be good and I wouldn't have trouble with threads breaking or any other, new troubles, and off I went.

In all, everything went quite well.

Skitter had a vet appointment at 10:30, so I had to stop for a bit.  But I'd done 6 passes of the panto.


There are two passes of the quilt on the roll.  It's "Rose Vine" and marked N. Woods.  Since these came with the machine, I don't know any more.  Each pass is about 6 inches wide.

By lunchtime, I had enough of the quilt done that it wasn't hanging down on the floor any more.


I knew at that point I was going to have it finished by the end of the day.  And it's good timing.  My dad is coming down tomorrow to install my light bar.  Actually, I think I'm going to do the bulk of it, as he fell off a step ladder last week and broke his wrist.  (We're all thankful it's not worse.)

At this point, I had a little tension trouble (okay, it was big trouble and required some unpicking, but the solution was simple - rethread the machine and start a new bobbin).  Thankfully it was easily resolved and I went forward.

Before I finished, I had to take Tucker in for his yearly appointment, too.  You may ask why I don't do them both at once.  First, I only have one cat carrier.  Second, Skitter, true to her name, is very skittish and sometimes decides to hide inside the box springs of my bed, forcing me to cancel her appointment.  If I schedule two separate ones, I can always take Tucker for her appointment and try again.

Back from the appointment for a few more passes and it's done!


I didn't calculate or anything and came out with the motif finishing just a few inches from the edge of the quilt.  Close enough to call it done!

Here's one of my favorite parts.  This was not planned and only happened once.


And so finally, I took the quilt off the machine, cleaned and oiled it, folded the extra batting and backing nicely and now it only needs binding and a label.  And the binding is already made!


I used my new Red Snappers to load the quilt.  They were faster to unload, but loading...I'm not sure they were that much faster.  They take a lot of strength to snap on and I'd be willing to bet I was making some pretty good faces while working on it!  I think with some practice I'll get faster.

To date, this is the largest quilt I've ever quilted myself.  I'm pretty happy with the results, though I'm a little stiff!  (Too bad the hubby isn't here for a backrub!)  And I'm excited that it's mostly finished and not needed for a gift for another 3 months!  (You all know I'll be sewing binding on on the way to give it away, though, right?)

And now, it's time to make myself some dinner, feed the kitties and have some snuggle time.  With two traumatic visits to the vet (not really, though with all the meowing going on, you'd think it was pure torture the whole time), my kitties would probably enjoy some lap time.  I think a movie is in order for that.

Happy quilting,
Katie

10 comments:

Ruth said...

Oh!! That really came out nice! It is gorgeous. How big is the quilt - it looks really big in the picture. I'm sure you are very happy with yourself. So, get in a good relaxing cuddle with the kitties tonight.

Ruthie said...

Good job! I have that onto also.

Marsha B said...

Sounds like day 1 was a good one. The quilt is beautiful and you can cuddle with the kitties tonight. Enjoy that movie and get ready for day 2!

Liriopia said...

Oh, and you so deserve it (your movie)! Great job!

Liri

---"Love" said...

Wow! You did a great job! You should be very, very proud of yourself! ---"Love"

Sandy said...

Wow Katie -- very impressive! That will be a lovely gift. (I spent a little time at the vet's today, too.)
I hope the light bar installation goes smoothly.

Sandy

canuckquilter said...

That was definitely a good day's work! The quilt looks great. I'm curious - how does a panto work?

Unknown said...

Glad you are experiencing success with your machine quilting;)
And the kitties...I understand on that one;) My mom takes her cat on road trips....sometime's the kittty isn't ready to leave the hotel room and crawls up under the bed;)
Happy Quilting!!

Beth said...

The quilting is a wonderful finish to your pretty quilt. Hope you had a good cuddle with the kitties.
Can't wait tosee what you do on day two!!

Connie204 said...

I love the quilting pattern. I think I would try and do more quilts if I could make them look like yours. It turned out wonderfully. Everytime you talk about your kitties, I really miss mine. Not ready for another one, as we will be moving in the near future. Connie204