Wednesday, July 11, 2012

One of Those Days

You know, the kind where nothing seems to go right?  Leaving Prairie Cairn Cottage later this afternoon for a few days, I was trying to get some loose ends finished.  One of my most pressing issues was a quilt block I had promised a fellow farmgirl.  I told her way back on May 17th that I would help with a quilt she wanted to make.  This was probably a promise I couldn't keep as today I was working on the FOURTH attempt at it..
This little guy was my 2nd attempt, the first attempt was a pair of cowboy boots on a bandana type fabric.  Cute and would have worked had I not messed up the machine blanket stitch.  While ripping out the mistake I somehow managed to put a hole in the fabric.  When I got ready to do the new one I changed direction and thought I'd make a likeness of Little Black Brindle. 

This 2nd attempt didn't work out either.  It was my first try at the Eleanor Burns style of applique using a lightweight fusible interfacing.  I was in too much of a hurry I guess and poked clear through the interfacing in several spots, the tip of his ear, and the chest area of the coat.  I also missed the 1/4" seam at his collar so that didn't look right.  OK so this wasn't all that hard, I'll just make another...       

I was starting to get desperate to finish this and lost my mind thought I should do it the needle turn method.  I figured I'd get a smoother turn if I stitch the 1/4" seam then pressed the seam under.  Well of course THAT didn't work!  So, rip out the stitching or make a new one?  Well a new one of course!

So, 3rd attempt at Little Black Brindle and 4th attempt at any type of block for her project.  I had gotten the pieces sewn together a few days ago and this morning I thought I'd try to get this one finished and be able to mail it out today or tomorrow.  OK, so I should have figured that if the other 3 I'd already tried were nightmares difficult this one would follow suit.  But still I plunged ahead knowing I had a ton of other things I needed to do to be able to leave for a couple of days. 

Sewing was finally going along rather well.  This one looked like it might be the one I could finish!  Foolish, foolish girl!  I got the interfacing stitched down, the right sides turned out and only managed to poke a small hole through the interfacing.  I'll just press it down to the background and do the blanket stitch real quick and I'll be done!  WRONG!
If you can believe this, I ran out of bobbin thread here!  OK, no problem, I'm only about an inch from being done, wind the bobbin quick and lets get this nightmare project finished!  I get the machine rethreaded and the needle in the right spot to pick up where I left off.  First stitch...screech, thunk, clunk!  What the...I pull it out and see I've got a huge rats nest underneath.  I pick that off the fabric carefully, again rethreaded the machine and bobbin, get the needle in the right spot again.  First stitch, screech, thunk, clunk!  Not again?  Yes, I've got an even bigger rats nest underneath!  This time I have to not only pick it out of the block but I've got to dismantle my machine and get the bobbin thread unwound from underneath.  So, rethread again, position again, start to stitch again...screech, thunk, clunk!  That was it!  I yanked my block out from under the presser foot.  Cut off the thread attaching it to the machine see another nest of bobbin thread stuck underneath.  Shut the electricity off to the machine and walked away muttering words the real Little Black Brindle was fearful of.

After I calmed down, I realized I didn't not have to start a brand new block again.  I will just get out a trusty hand sewing needle and (please, Dear God!) finish up the small amount of blanket stitching by hand.  Then maybe I can send this off to a very patient farmgirl.  It's not done yet, I'll have to wait until this evening to finish it but this is what it will look like
 

Do you think I should warn her that this block might be cursed?             

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