Success! My quilt kept calling me last night so I answered the call. I decided to sew for a few minutes while dd finished her homework (at 10:00 p.m.!). The first thing I did was to pull out the last few rows of quilting. I didn't like the tension. I quilted a few rows and ripped a few rows. I kept fiddling with the tension to get the thread to not lay on the back. Suddenly I had the reverse problem. The stitches from the back were pulling to the front. What had changed?? I adjusted the upper tension down, eventually to zero. I stitched and ripped and stitched.
I finally got the tension where I could accept it. I quilted the last row (for this direction) and looked up at my machine. The machine was unthreaded and I couldn't even see the sulky coming from the spool. I took the spool off and looked it over. I could not find the end. I ran my fingernail over the thread repeatedly turning the spool. I eventually found the end. It appears that the thread had gotten caught in the way it was wound. I wonder if I didn't have the end that was first wrapped on the spool and it was coming off ok for awhile then just could not unspool any longer.
I rethreaded my machine and checked the back of my quilt. I had a wonky row and picked it out. I then quilted that row again and it went beautifully. Here I am almost 2 hours after starting and I have resolved my tension issue (I hope) and have gotten to the half way point in my quilting. Yeah!
I hope to get back to it tonight to quilt just a few rows so I can be sure that my tension issue really is resolved. I can't stay up until midnight as I am just too tired in the morning. Let's hope this quilt is all quilted by the weekend then I can bind it and the baby quilt. Keep your fingers crossed!
**** A few people have commented about me being hard on myself. I think it is frustration. I set goals to accomplish things and when I don't meet them I am disappointed. I guess I shouldn't be. None of the remaining UFOs have a timeline on them. I have an aggressive goal to have these all done by the end of June. I have new projects that I want/need to do. I may let the June date slip a little and work on other things a little to give me a fresh view.
I'm pretty sure I had that same thing happen to me once with a spool of thread. I seem to remember saying some rather uncomplimentary things about the manufacturer. I think it's easier to finish my UFO's if I have a date when they are needed, or if I have a specific person in mind. I think the real problem is that none of us are independantly wealthy with the opportunity to sew all day long if we want.
ReplyDeleteI think we're all harder on ourselves than others. Swooze, I try to respond to the ladies who visit my blog but sometimes that is impossible....no e-mail or other way to respond. HELP!
ReplyDeletetension on my machine will make me cur-raz-y! I can imagine how frustating its been, two steps forward, one back. urgh!
ReplyDeleteIt is good to have goals, but I also think it is okay to start a new project if it is calling you to do so. Come on, I know you want to. Besides I need the company! I am about to abandon my UFOs for several new projects. (My goal was to finish 25 UFOs this year, but I didn't specify exactly *when* they were started....)
Needles and tension! Two things it seems to take years to figure out all the possibilites! Glad you got that sorted out!
ReplyDelete