Do you hate them? I do! They way you can't tell the front from the back of the fabric when you sew because instead of being printed, the color is dyed and sometimes it is so subtle, you sew the wrong sides together and then, when you are all done, you notice you sewed a wrong side together. Ugh. The way, when you are quilting, sometimes the fabric is so dense, the quilting machine hates you and skips stitches, just because it can, just because the fabric is so beautiful and then you have holes in the fabric that will never, ever in a million years close up to remind you that you hate batiks! That the fabric stretches sometimes, just because it is a batik and is oh, so beautiful and you just had to have it because it was so pretty, but you knew you were going to regret buying it!
Yeah, that's my life with batiks.
Well, a long lost friend brought this quilt by yesterday for me to quilt for her for a friend who has cancer. Of course I wanted to get it done quickly and that always means trouble. :) The back is batik too and gave me a devil of a time stretching strangely. Of course it didn't stretch the same in all directions. Why? Because it is a batik and can do whatever it wants to do. I had to babysit it and hold it and make sure it didn't get a fold in it when it was quilting. More time to look at the gorgeous quilt I guess.
And then, when I put the quilt on the frame, I was thinking, she didn't get enough batting. That's really weird. She got everything at the quilt shop, but the batting is just barely wide enough for the quilt. It was really stretchy, so I was able to make it fit, but usually the quilt girls are really great about making sure you have enough of everything and measure twice before cutting.
Well, I figured out the problem when I got to the end of the quilt. The batting came up about 6 inches short at the end of the quilt and I could see the last 2 inches that it was folded over. UGH! How did I not notice that the batting was double when I loaded the quilt on the frame? It is a poly batting and I use poly batting all the time. But it is a very thin poly batting even when it is double, so if it was a single ultra thin poly batting WOW. So, when the lady comes to pick up the quilt, I've got some explaining to do. I was able to add some extra batting on to the end because as you know, I have about 72,000 extra pieces of batting of all different kinds around here and just happen to have the same kind laying around, but man, how did I not notice? That stuff sticks together really well. Then, I go up to the top, and that has popped apart and it is totally obvious it is double. I feel really stupid.
Oh, well, the quilt is gorgeous and soft and not too fluffy :) I hope she likes it too.
And since I don't quilt for hire, she can't complain about the price.
To console myself, I had another cupcake. Boy, those things are good. It's a good thing they are $2.50 each because if they were cheap, I'd weigh 400 pounds by the end of the year.
2 comments:
I'm glad it worked out in the end. I've been reading a lot about how quilters are doubling up the batting lately, so you were only being vogue, not vague!! It's very pretty.
It turned out beautiful! Thank you so much! I got it bound and embroidered a special label for my friend.
I just dropped it off a little over an hour ago and she loved it. She liked it so much she couldn't quit crying and saying thank you. Her husband called right after I got home and told me she fell asleep holding on to it. I hope it brings her comfort and peace and healing.
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