Failure

 My poor blog is still taking a back seat lately. (This post was started over a week ago & have been adding to at here and there.)

I haven't had much progress on my doggie quilt since I last posted.

I did make a bunch of practice quilt sandwiches shortly after my last post and used my fmq foot for the very first time. Wow! I'm not very fast and not very flowy. I have found there is a 'sweet' speed where it seems to go better.

I used a multicolored thread and had constant problems. Bunching threads, needle unthreading, bobbin issues, etc. I will make more sandwiches and use a solid thread. Play a bit with my tension and see if that helps. Funny enough I found writing was the easiest thing I tried and was pretty pleased with the way it turned out. 

 I still haven't decided on how I'm going to quilt my doggie, maybe after I play some more with my fmq I will find something that will seem right.

.I spent the long weekend in the garden or at gardening stores. Chris spent a good portion in the garage or in the driveway trying to get the old cabriolet ready for summer driving fun

Daisy

Calla Lily

Our backyard is a typical suburb postage stamp size and we often long for the 1+ acres we had at our previous home. We didn't enjoy it though like we do now. For us our backyard has become our zen area. Very few mosquitoes that are easily deterred using a single citronella candle, tons of solar lights and flowers to create a tranquil area where we can push all the stress of the day away with a hot cup of coffee or a raspberry lemonade. I still have some planting to do but it's coming along nicely thanks to my sweetie pitching in yesterday afternoon and helping me clean up the back garden.

Clematis early blooms

Since the long weekend (the week before US Memorial Day) not much more progress has been made in the garden but what is planted is thriving.

Looking over this I can't believe it's June!! I started my doggie quilt over a month ago.

Yesterday, I decided to stiple my doggie quilt. I changed the thread I'd been using and did a few quick sample blocks of FMQ - what a difference. I don't have to rethread my needle every 100 stitches and it's not bunching in the back.

So feeling energized I rolled my quilt so the middle was under the needle and began. Arrg, stuffing half the quilt (it's only a baby sized quilt) into that small space didn't leave any motion to do much of anything. 10 minutes of struggling playing I found I didn't have much left to right motion going on. 2 hours of stitch ripping I decided to do a wavy line. I drew a base wavy line. Well darn, one or two waves bust mostly it was straight. Stitch ripper out again, decided to do straight lines. LOL I should have just told myself I was doing waves. The lines aren't very straight. I am not loving the way this is turning out but am so far in there is no way I'm ripping the stitches again I have 1/3 done. I have to take breaks every second line or so. My right wrist gets tired from trying to stuff that bulky quilt roll through that tiny opening. I have found a rhythm though and seems to be less work on my wrist. I can't believe how hard work this is!! And the end results are far from what I anticipated how it was going to turn out.

Lessons learned:
When quilting lines leave more than 1/4 inch between the lines (looks and feels like corduroy)
Always wear your grippy quilting gloves
Evaluate your work constantly so you can remove stitches without having hours of work with your ripper.
Using the auto function instead of the foot pedal creates consistent stitches when attempting to quilt long lines.

I'm going to check out my old singer sewing machine and see if there is more space for quilting. For future quilts I think my best option though is to learn how to link quilted blocks so I can quilt each section individually. I know I've seen some videos on how to do this previously. I wish I had done this method with this quilt but if I hadn't figured out this on this first quilt I would have been where I am with another quilt.

My ugly lines

This feels like a huge failure for me. If I don't like it now how am I going to feel after it's done? What do you do with a quilt you hate? Yes, I could give it to the dogs as originally planned or hide it a back closet but no matter what I do this quilt - my very first will be a big fat failure in my mind. I have to say up to this point I really loved the way it looked and was incredibly proud of myself. Are there things I'd change? Absolutely, I wish I had used the black paw fabric instead of the brown around the blocks but that's just a learning lesson in trying different combinations more instead of barreling ahead.

Hmmmm, maybe I need to take a step back and set this quilt aside before I get any further in. If I sit with it each evening during the week I probably could get all these stitches out before next weekend. In the meantime I could make some fun blocks and think about it. Or clean my house. I do my best thinking & planning while cleaning. Off to tackle a bathroom or two.