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.
Binding
1 hour ago
4 comments:
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.
I 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!
tension on my machine will make me cur-raz-y! I can imagine how frustating its been, two steps forward, one back. urgh!
It 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!
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