So I started machine quilting the watermelon quilt yesterday, and have officially spent more time ripping stitiches out than quilting stitches in. I have finally started getting the hang of it, a little anyway. I am doing freehand swirly lines. My boyfriend questioned how hard it could be, and I compared it to drawing, only you are moving the paper and holding the pencil still, and trying to keep it from looking like crap. Only its a lot harder to erase than a pencil line. I am using a nice bright pink thread (which makes the mistakes stand out nicely on the white parts of the quilt), at least to me it does. My boyfriend says the pink thread was exactly what the quilt was needing. (And for him to actually approve of pink means it must be true, or he was trying not to hurt my feelings, which I doubt. He isn't the most tactful of people for the most part, he is too honest, and a horribly liar.) The machine quilting also made me realize how much I like quilting by hand, and how relaxing it is to sit on the couch, watch TV and quilt. Also it made me realize how genuinely easy I find hand quilting when compared to learning an entirely new way to quilt. Its hard to do continuous line quilting when I am used to being able to 'jump' around when hand quilting by going in between the layers and in the batting and coming up in another place in the quilt. Its all very new to me. Its also a workout! I probably should have started my machine quilting on a much smaller piece than the watermelon quilt, its really hard on my forearms moving such a big quilt. I never realized how heavy it is when you're trying to move an whole quilt with just your fingers!
My goal this week is to finish my table runner and get the binding on. I got the fabric cut for my retro quilt, and I had planned on quilting it on the machine, but I'm starting to rethink that now! I'm sure it will continue to get easier, and I do ahve about 1/3 of the watermelong quilt already done. Thats a lot faster than I could do by hand. On the retro quilt though, I will do some straight line quilting, and make it easy on myself. No pictures this time, I am waiting until I have something finished, whichever comes first.
And despite the fact that I have 2 projects in process right now, and another one nearly completely cut and ready I am still thinking about things I want to do. Not just quilting either. There are several projects I want to sew for myself and as gifts, on top of the list I already posted. I'll have to post an updated list soon, and then in a month or so, see if I've actually managed to complete any of them! I know I do want to piece some baby quilt tops, just to keep on hand in case I need a quick baby shower gift, as well as some fold and go changing pads and diaper totes. Hopefully soon I will have a finished project to post!
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