I hate cautionary tales, but this quilt is certainly one of them. I mean, it wasn’t meant to be — I just wanted a clean-lined easy-to-stitch quilt, with a bit of impact, but then I decided to quilt it with the new Insight Table on my Handiquilter Sweet Sixteen.
That new mechanism — two sensors embedded in the table determine the stitch length — really helped in some places. My stitches in long runs were nice and even.
But in one area where I was trying a close serpentine pattern, the machine’s stitching would be perfect on the straight runs, but when I needed to slow down to make the turn to the next run, the sensors thought I wasn’t quilting, so I’d get big globby stitches on the ends. (No, I am not showing you.)
I called the Tech people (one company where you can still reach a human — hooray!) but then they switched me to some rando “education person” who then drilled me on the basics of a machine I’ve been using for several years. It made me wonder: do I sound like an idiot? Hmmmm.
I should have just stiched-in-the ditch on all the parts, but noooooo, I wanted a fancy design of budding leaves on this log cabin block. I like the design enough but where I would have been able to travel atop stitching lines before, and because I picked a high-contrast thread that showed every mistake (maybe I am an idiot), I ended up burying about a zillion threads. Waaaah. I like how the back looks (below) and I generally like the quilt, but I ended up unpicking the entire center section and redoing it in a thread that settled into the color that was there.
For those who don’t know, this quilt is a riff on the Log Cabin block (and is quilt number 288).
Often I remember to take a photo of the date I started cutting. And…often I don’t, but here’s this quilt’s date marker. I’d spend many hours on the designing of this, so it’s not the most *accurate* start date, but close-enough.
Trying out designs. Christine Perrigo opened up my eyes to breaking out of the obvious quilting routines; she passed away this year, and it’s incredibly sad the world has lost a quilting pioneer. Two, actually, for Ruth McDowell also passed away. As the regular readers know, for me — this past two years — death has been “inescapable,” as my sister described it. I am trying to learn how to fold it into the fabric of my life, instead of confronting it as it flattens me like a ribbon in its wake. I certainly miss the baby shower stage of life, and the bridal shower stage of life. Another friend died recently, and I was able to sit through the entire funeral this time. (Progress?)
Back to the machine: maybe that’s why I picked out all those stitches, because getting a better stitch path was certainly the most do-able thing I could focus on, but in the end, I won’t be entering this in any quilt shows.
Truths:
Not every quilt hits the mark.
Not every quilter has a great day.
It’s still a great quilt, and after the complicated New York Beauties, it feels like a sort of palate cleanser, readying me for what’s up next: more quilting.
Joy Harjo gave me something to think about in her poem, “For Calling the Spirit Back from Wandering the Earth in Its Human Feet:”
“Watch your mind. Without training it might run away and
leave your heart for the immense human feast set by the
thieves of time.
“Do not hold regrets.”
No regrets. Just keep going forward.
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Yes, just keep moving forward, one step at a time, one day at a time, one quilt at a time. Condolences for your most recent bereavement Elizabeth.
How interesting that you have called the Log Cabin quilt a palette cleanser…that’s what I call my latest quilt top, still waiting for my lost mojo to return so I can get it quilted!
Another beauty and your writing inflates the blog to breathtaking. Love, Christine
I always look at quilts that I am not thrilled with as great learning experiences. I think it turned out well and someone will love it. The colors and design are lovely. You, however, learned more about the new Insight table, designs and threads. That knowledge will help in future quilts you create. I’m looking forward to seeing your NYB quilted.
Hello. I am a beginning quilter and I love to read your blog, not just the quilty parts but the “life does happen” parts. Thank you for sharing. Is this pattern available to purchase? Thank you.
So, in the end did you not get any help or answers on why the stitch regulation is not as good when you are going slower? I’m glad you found a solution, but ripping out quilting to get there (and then burying a lot of threads) is surely not anyone’s idea of fun. I think it’s a beautiful finish and getting to see the quilting plan on the back of the quilt is an extra bonus!
Your quilt is beautiful, and good for you for persisting with it. Love the quilting pattern too. And I feel for you as you go through this time of loss. Unfortunately, as we age – and we all do! – that stage comes to meet us, ready or not.
Here’s to no regrets. I love that you stuck with it and your willingness to “make it right” More and more these days I have a “good enough” attitude which is actually a good thing for my perfectionist self. Your quilting really adds a lot to the log cabins and lifts it above the normal. It’s a dynamic design all on it’s own but the quilting really does enhance the entire quilt so much. Well done.
Here’s to no regrets. I love that you stuck with it and your willingness to “make it right” More and more these days I have a “good enough” attitude which is actually a good thing for my perfectionist self. Your quilting really adds a lot to the log cabins and lifts it above the normal. It’s a dynamic design all on it’s own but the quilting really does enhance the entire quilt so much. Well done.
That quilt is gorgeous! I’m sorry the machine gave you fits. I’d love to hear what the company’s solution is. Love all the non-quilt parts of your entry, too
Like Yvonne I’m wondering if the quilt machine company ever came through with real help. I love the quilt. Sorry it involved ripping to get to the gorgeous finish.
Oh, the inescapability of death. I’m sorry that it is hitting you so hard during this season. I remember a very long time ago (how can I have memories that are decades old? good grief) my sister and I were driving to a funeral, and she related, in a tone of wonder, that her college roommate had never been to a funeral. At that time we were in the midst of a very inescapable season, and had nearly lost count of the number of funerals we had wept through. I didn’t know that we would all get there, even Julie’s roommate. Now that I am sixty I think to myself, “It must be normal, to think of people who have died, all day long. To be reminded of people who are gone…”, and wonder how I never really saw that in the elderly people I loved and spent time with. Not just their deceased husbands or wives, of whom they spoke so often, but cousins, friends, parents, neighbors, teachers, friends, beloved pets, siblings–the list unfurls easily because their list is now my list. Some days they are my sweet companions and others they are the tears in my eyes, the catch in my throat. This life is really something, isn’t it?
I love it! But I always try and make things perfect …and they are not. I just use them as a lesson learned and move on.
Still think this quilt is striking!
oh the vagaries of stitch regulation. One thing I find is it does not like me to be choppy. And I am just…. Choppy. Anyway- another beauty!!!!
Love the “Truths” you included. They’re especially important for beginning creatives to see, hear & absorb.
Beautiful work and love the colors.
Leslie
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I love this quilt, it looks so clean and fresh and the quilting is great!
Hooray – I’m able to comment again. I love this log cabin modern quilt!
Great photography!
The quilt is stunning! I would have never thought up such a creative variation of a log cabin.
I’m sorry you had so many quilting problems, but it was a lesson to me to stop pining for a stitch regulator — the worries sound way above my skill level. 🙂
Grief knows no boundaries. It just comes when we least expect it. All we can do is take one day at a time. And it sometimes appears as a challenge of some kind of another. This time it was a quilting challenge. You handled it well. And the results are beautiful.
The Lord is my Shepherd. There is nothing I shall want..
This is gorgeous! And in particular, you got the colors/shades just right!
I really love this quilt, on so many levels. I’m in awe that you do your own quilting, something I could never do beyond simple cross hatching. Christine’s passing is such a loss. She quilted what is probably one of my most favorite quilts of all time–the flowering snowball (not sure if that’s the right name, but you probably know which one I’m talking about).
The pattern I’m using is an older one called Elizabeth parlor Medallion Quilt. I need help.making the bows in the third row.
!,Also the strip on the outer border appears to be in the same fabric as the border except in the photo it is different.
Can you please help