Come Stitch With Me

One of my non-negotiables for 2022 is to donate at least one quilt to a children’s charity each quarter. Quilts for Kids is my charity of choice for 1st Qtr 2022. I participated in an online QAL hosted by Cozy Color Quilts. Over the past six weeks, each participant was invited to piece a quilt top using a modified version of Beth Ann’s Homebody Quilt pattern. At the conclusion of the QAL, participants were instructed to complete the quilt using the Quilts for Kids’ specifications and mail the laundered quilt to the group’s national headquarters.

I added two parameters for this endeavor: (1) all fabrics, batting and thread had to come from my stash and (2) machine quilting would be done by me.

I don’t keep a lot of yardage on hand, so the scrappy version became my choice. Blocks were constructed using leftover 10″ squares from various Lori Holt collections with Shabby Cloud (Beehive) as the background fabric. Backing fabric choices in my stash are rather limited. I decided to “borrow” some gray-brown polka dot yardage earmarked for another project. It coordinates very nicely with the colors in the quilt top and any machine quilting in an off white/yellow thread color will blend with the backing fabric. Combined with a yellow print binding, this makes a quilt that’s suitable for a boy or girl.

Next time I make this quilt: (Psst: it will be a surprise for a super special somebody who’s about to retire!)

Use only 3 colors for the quilt: (a) a patterned focus fabric, (b) dark contrast for the Flying Geese blocks and (c) a light to medium tone on tone for the background (light blue, turquoise, gray, green or beige).

Backing should be a light to medium all over print that coordinates with the front.

Consider a muted plaid, check or stripe for the binding.

Press all seams open – make seams as flat as possible (spray, tailor’s clapper, mallet)

Use the same sewing machine and 1/4″ foot for the entire project.

Use a scant 1/4″ seam.

Machine quilt using using crosshatching or an allover E2E design.

My local school district is out for mid-winter break this week. I turned off the news and stayed (mostly) away from social media for a few days. It helped immensely!

Sadie and I did a therapy dog visit at Georgia Tech on 2/22/22.

We spent a couple of days visiting my parents – always an adventure. The Elnita EC30 went along for the ride as my dad needed me to replace those “sissy” buttons LLBean had put on his knit shirt. In fact, he met me at the door with the offending shirt and another stack of mending mom needed to have done. [More on the Elnita EC30 coming in a future post.] I also took an iPad I was no longer using and set that up for my dad to be able to read his beloved daily newspaper online. Mom reports he hasn’t had to bother her one time for “technical support” since I upgraded his e-reader. Hope that trend continues.

The Quilts for Kids quilt I’ve been working on is *almost* complete. A mishap with a seam ripper meant I had to redo one of the Flying Geese blocks. I also had to redo 3 of the Cat’s Cradle blocks. I didn’t catch my piecing error until I was laying out the quilt top. I tried to make it work, but it wasn’t pretty. Those blocks took some time to take apart and redo.

I also tech edited an adorable quilt pattern coming soon from Canadian designer Ira Rott.

This week has also provided a glimpse of what life will look like as this chapter closes and the next phase begins. It’s very evident that my current work environment is impacting my mental and physical well-being. Current events make me hesitate to make the jump; however, my inner voice (and our financial advisor) tell me we’ll be fine. We may have to make some minor tweaks to our plan as we go along, but we’ve got this!

I’d like to give a shout-out to Kim in Customer Service for her patience with helping me find a solution to my problem.

Does your sewing machine chew fabric and/or hesitate at going over thick seams? Mine sure was on Saturday night. I’d even been to the Baby Lock dealer earlier that day about the problem. I’d tried everything the dealer suggested.

(1) Use a starter strip that’s double the thickness of the fabric you are attempting to sew.

(2) Make sure the area underneath the needle plate is clean.

(3) Try the “J” foot.

(4) Try a another low shank adapter, if you have one.

I did all of the above. I was using a new Schmetz Microtex 80/12 Chrome needle with 50wt Aurfil thread in the top and bobbin. The J foot did go over the seams, but the “J” foot is not my preferred foot for piecing quilt blocks. I prefer a 1/4″ foot with a flange.

Baby Lock Customer Service to the rescue.

The solution was to switch to a 90/14 needle. (Duh!) A Schmetz or Organ 80/12 needle with 50wt Aurifil thread is fine in most cases; however when a sewing machine starts to act like this, you need to go up a size in your needle.

A simple solution to a rather vexing problem. Glad I reached out to their customer service. Even happier that they got in touch with me.