Friday, February 25, 2022

Finished fooling around

 Hello all, and a very damp happy weekend! It feels strange to say that with all that is going on in the world right now, but I'm still glad to have made it through the week. This was a much better week, except for the epic fail that appears later in this post, and I did get some stitching done. Which reminds me-- the first of the easy tutorials for a Hands2Help is coming up this Sunday. Be sure to tune in!

For this week, I finished up the top for the Stay at Home Round Robin. Yay me! I actually pretty much kept up this year. It was a fun project and I started with a fun panel. Here's how I ended up:
 
 
This has been one difficult top to photograph, but at least I got a couple shots! Yester day it rained, and this morning we had sleet and freezing rain:
 

I tried to get a few shots this morning, but the top got wet and soggy. Thankfully, when I got home it was quite sunny, but also quite windy:


 I love how this top turned out. It's cheerful and happy, and it's sure to be comforting for a child. And how do you not love those dinosaurs? I did all of the rounds this year except applique. Honestly, the fabrics were so busy that I couldn't find a place for applique, and I didn't want to add it just to add it. 
 
 
I did make the last round, though. Chris chose Shoo Fly blocks, and you can see that the tiny blocks in the corners of the last border are mini Shoo Fly blocks. These are 3 inch finished blocks, and I think they're adorable. I also love the different colors of the final border. You know I did that because of the fabric that I had (which is used up!), but I still love how it looks.

So that was my happy finish for this week. Here is the epic fail:

 
At least this is not my fail, but a machine fail! I had an appointment to longarm, and as you can see, I got partway through the quilt and then the tension failed. No, I didn't notice until I rolled the quilt! 
 
Friends, I cried. 
 
 
I wasted three hours, and now I have to pick out all that quilting and go back and do it again. And I couldn't do my second quilt, either, because someone else was using the other machine. It was not a good drive home.

I couldn't look at the quilt for a couple of days, but I started on the ripping last night. There's nothing else to be done, unless I wanted to throw out the quilt. And who wants that? I know it will be lovely once I'm finished, right? Good thing fabric is so fun to play with, or I'd give up!

 
Ah, well. Hope you all are staying safe, warm, and dry, and are not in any kind of a war zone. It's a crazy world we live in right now, isn't it? Enjoy the weekend any way you can, and be sure to come back on Sunday for a much more successful project!


Sharing at Finished or not Friday, Brag About Your Beauties, the Patchwork and Quilts linkup at Quilting Patchwork Applique, and the SAHRR linkup, too.

18 comments:

LIttle Penguin Quilts said...

Those are the cutest, scrappy shoofly blocks, Mari! Perfect for that final border. I'm so sorry for the tension issues in the quilting, though. That must have been so disappointing! Is that a problem with the machine itself? I hope you can get back there and get this happy quilt finished up soon!

Linda Swanekamp said...

Now you can understand why I spent a king's ransom in buying one of those under the carriage camera (Quilters eye). I can always keep checking the underneath. I just never know when something will go off and mess up the bobbin.

ButterZ said...

Oh Mari, what a bummer. I would have cried too. Did you hire time on a long arm to quilt it.

Elizabeth V Kelbaugh said...

I know that was very disappointing quilting time. Love the colorful fun top.

sue s said...

I feel your pain! I've been fighting the bottom thread for 3 years on my regular machine. I tried everything- finally took it in and, what a fool I've been! It's great now. I hope you can get some help with the owner on how to detect and/or deal with that in the future. Find a good movie to watch and rip away.

The Joyful Quilter said...

5 minutes to quilt = 5 HOURS to ripout. My heart aches for you, Mari!!

Kathleen said...

So so sorry about the epic fail. It will pass, but in the moment it feels so like the worst thing. Looking forward to seeing the start of H2H! Gotta plan what is going where for donations, and get sewing!

piecefulwendy said...

What a happy quilt, I love all the borders and, of course, the dinosaurs! I'm so sorry about the quilting snafu. I hope the second time goes better. Nice finish, Mari!

Sara said...

I got hung up and haven't kept going with the SAHRR rounds this year. But I love how yours turned out. It's so bright and happy!!

Rebecca said...

Loved that panel when you picked it and love the way the quilt turned out with the different last borders.
So Much Fun.

Sorry about the last quilting snafu but the good news is it should be easy to frog out.

Home Sewn By Us said...

Awwwww, man. Crap on a cracker. I was having an issue just today myself - it had me stomping my foot in frustration. Good thing you had that cute and adorable finish this week to end it on a high note. And high it is!!! Your SAHRR is adorable and fun and sunshine on a rainy day (or icy). Nuts to having to pick out all that quilting. I would happily do it for you - not happily because I'm deranged like that, but so that you didn't have to. Sometimes we just have to put our big girl panties on, even when we do not want to, and get 'er done. {{Hugs}} a bunch - you deserve them!! ~smile~ Roseanne

Quiltdivajulie said...

SORRY! I remember my long arm friend blessing things over and over when her tension went wacky. She bought an under the machine camera like Linda mentioned because she got so tired of messing up customer quilts. Maybe set a timer next time and check every few minutes so there might not be so much to "fix" ??

Alycia~Quiltygirl said...

Lets just concentrate on the finish!!! and the amazing pictures you finally got!!!
So sorry about the tension ;-(

Bernie Kringel said...

I remember being in the same situation with a quilt I was doing on a long arm - so frustrating - But that kind of tension on the back seemed to rip out fairly quick. Some of it was so loosely stitched. Good luck Mari.

That round robin project is adorable!!

QuiltGranma said...

OH, Great Frustration! Sew sorry for all that lost time and thread. Beautiful quilt though.

Chopin - A Passionate Quilter said...

Congrats for finishing the top. I had the same problem when I first used my Handi quilter in 2005! I DID NOT CHECK the tension, so after I finished the quilt I almost died. I cried because it was to be entered into a show. I was originally going to hand quilt it but decided to long arm it.

It took Clay and I 3 days to rip all the tiny tiny tiny circles. We used rotary cutters to rip the quilt. Of course the batting was thrown away, and I finally re-quilted it last year - Took me 15 years to want to touch it again. I certainly feel your pain. I learned how important to check the tension before each quilt. I am so very sorry and hope that you can rip it. I learned to really be good ripping things out with my rotary cutter. I have to be careful when I do it so I do not cut the fabric.

Looking forward to when you get it finished. Not sure if it was your machine, or one you rent. Whichever - not fun at all! Hugs

Quilter Kathy said...

A great job on the SAHRR!
What a disappointment with the machine quilting! I would help you unpick if I lived closer... that's a big time consuming job.

Cathy said...

Oh my! In the realm of quilting, a tension fail while quilting ranks as tragedy. Been there, done that. My heart goes out to you! But it is a lovely quilt top and will be an awesome quilt when fixed and finished!