Murphy's Law of Quilting

Naturally, once I got my quilting groove back, Murphy's Law figuratively punches me in the face and steals my wallet. Seriously, it's uncanny. IN the last few months, with years having followed patterns and not deviating a whole lot, I've been making a lot of things without patterns...just letting them develop as the ideas come to mind.  It's been a lot of fun sewing without the safety net of a pattern, and it's been one of the few times in my creative life that it's come with just about unilateral success.  I've felt like lately I've been growing as a quilter, becoming more adventurous, more willing to try new things and new ideas, and developing my skills more.  I've always been intimidated somewhat by all the brilliant quilters around me, that I can't hold a match to their skills but it's been a really encouraging experience finding my groove and finding confidence in my work.

But I'm beginning to think somewhere someone installed a camera in my sewing room and waits for every time I am on a real creativity streak and pushes the "ruin her day with something ridiculous because we can't have this kind of fun just happening willy nilly" button.

My machine has bit the dust, and all because of a stupid pin run over while making a shop sample. 

Son of a bee sting.  Everyone runs over pins, every day, all the time.  It's like the one quilting "rule" that everyone knows about and laughs in the face of.  Wellllllllll now, isn't this special.

To the right, is the quilt I was working on when my machine up and croaked, only it was at a lesser state of completion.  I was in the middle of piecing Row flippin' 2. Finished the rest at the shop.

 But back to the machine.  Like I said, I ran over a pin. Broke my needle.  Check out the half-a-pin still in the fabric. It happens to everyone.  But where's the other half?

Well...there's the point of impact but uh...the rest of the pin is MIA and this time, it didn't hit me in the face like it has in the past.  Go figure.  

Would you believe that just before I started this project, I dusted out my machine?  Anyway, I opened my machine up and the other half of the pin is still nowhere to be readily seen. There's my bobbin thread, and some dust, but uh...no pin. What the hell, Bernina?

 Oh riiiiiight. It's THERE.  Stuck in the bobbin region, see it to the right?  I took out the bobbin thing, and got the pin out.  Surprisingly, it wasn't in there tight at all, really it pretty much fell out on its own when I went to grab it (gently) with some needlenose pliers...because in that space my fingers might as well be Oscar Meyer weiners. I thought "hey, if it came out this easy, all I have to do is put my bobbin region back together like I have a million times before, clean it out and I'll be back in business!"  Foolish, foolish me.

Foolish me indeed.  Remember Murphy's Law?  Yeah, here's where it punched me in the face.  I reassembled everything as I always have, got it all clean and rethreaded everything and got ready to sew.  When I used the hand wheel (as always) to pull up the bobbin thread...well, Houston, we have a problem.  My needle was getting bent, like so.  I thought, hey man, what gives? So I figured I didn't get the bobbin region put back together correctly. I took it apart, made sure it was in right (it was) and tried again...5 times.  Same thing every time.  So what do I do in these situations?  CALL MY MOMMY!  No seriously, she's good with machines, and knows Berninas. I told her what happened, and she confirmed what I was reallllly hoping wouldn't be true - the timing on my machine was beyond screwed up and I had to take it in to be looked at.






Well, at $135 for the shop to even look at my machine, plus whatever it cost to fix it plus whatever else they found was wrong (which I know there are other issues with it, mainly electronic) plus whatever parts were needed to fix it...Yeah, Murphy's Law stole my wallet too, because Berninas only take Bernina parts and Bernina's prices are just laughably ridiculous. 

Were this machine not a hand me down from Mom, I could never afford to buy a Bernina at all.  But I also can't afford to fix it right now either.  $135 to look at it plus $X to do whatever it needs?  I can buy a good little workhorse machine for that much and I plan to once my paycheck hits, hopefully. It was recommended several times that I look at a Brother machine, because they're relatively inexpensive but are good quality machines. So I'll give one a look and see what I come home with. 

So yeah...My creative burst got stymied by one stupid little pin.  Well played, Murphy you asshole, well played.

Tippy Tuesday, only on Wednesday

Well, life has been crazy lately (and not in a fun "Barrel of Monkeys" way). Too much time has been spent in hospitals and at doctors appointments, and I've been triple-timing it at work so my time for anything more than work and sleep has been extremely limited. But we did finally get some good news - Mom doesn't have a heart problem. Her heart attack and related issues were not caused by a faulty ticker, but because of a thyroid disorder called Graves Disease. Don't worry, it's named after the doctor who discovered it in the 1920s, not after where you end up if you have it. Luckily it is easily treated and hopefully life will return back to normal for all of us soon. Needless to say, everyone in the family and at the shop are so very relieved it isn't anything more serious.

So, now to the tips. Since I haven't had a whole lot of time, I haven't gathered that many so I'm gathering while I'm writing. I haven't been able to test any of these out so they mayt or may not work for you but hey, it never hurts to give it a go on scrap or test fabrics/notions. Here we go!:

* Flannel works as a good batting subsitute if the quilt you're making is thick enough on its own (a Minkee quilt, for example) or if you want to keep your quilt really lightweight. Back in the day flannel was often used as "batting" because batting of a good quality wasn't always available where flannel was easier to obtain.

* Dishwasher utensil baskets make a great notion storage device - they are narrow and compact so they stay out of the way on your table, and they are easily hung up on the wall to be out of the way entirely. So if you're getting rid of a dishwasher, save that basket! Or, you can purchase one relatively inexpensively.

* If you're binding a quilt, and it's getting too warm to do while it's draped over you, move your ironing board to where you're seated and lower it to just above your lap. Drape the quilt over it and continue binding. The ironing board prevents the quilt from overheating you, and there is a nice draft between the quilt, board and you.

* While you're working on a project requiring several bobbins, stick a Q-Tip in the spool of thread, and then the bobbin through the Q-Tip. If you run out of thread, you will quickly know whch thread you used for that bobbin in case you forget.

* Keep inexpensive makeup brushes (eyeshadow and eyeliner brushes work best) as well as the fuzzy dental picks in your sewing kit. They are great for cleaning your machine when needed, and get into the nooks and crannies better than the brush your machine came with.

* If you have a cat or small dog, fabric scraps (apparently) make good chew toys. Tie a knot in it and let 'em at it. My chihuahuas can hardly wait until I start having scraps falling. I give them the big ones I know I won't use later, with the knot tied in it and believe it or not it gives them literally hours of entertainment gnawing on that thing. Sometimes they'll steal away the smaller ones and chew it to bits after it falls from my cutting board and I don't always catch it until it's been in their slobbery little mouths for a bit. They just shred them up, so it's not really a choking hazard, but it could be - stick with larger pieces.

* Clean your blades, both rotary and scissors, with rubbing alcohol to keep them gunk free and cutting smoothly.

* If you are thrying to thread a clear monofilament through a needle and not having much luck, there are two things you can do: first, thread it against a dark fabric since that makes the thread easier to see. or color the very tip of the thread with permanent marker so you can see it to thread it and then snip it off.

* Making cloth napkins and coasters are a great way to burn through your scraps/stash and they make nice gifts for people.

* Speaking of cloth napkins, if you have a theme decor in your dining room, buy cloth napkins that complement your color scheme or dishes and use them in a table runner. While the fabric quality may not be the same as quilting fabric, it's an inexpensive way to tie your room together. Plus, it's not a piece to be washed regularly so using the napkins is just fine. A heavier weight napkin tends to work a little better than the lightweight cotton ones.

* The edge of the selvedge tells you more than just the line and manufacturer. Those colored dots tell you how many different dye screens were used to make that whole fabric. As such, those are the individual colors that will match and blend nicely with that piece of fabric. So if you're stuck on the color choices with your go-withs, that selvedge is a great place to start looking!