Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Firsts

This past week I have tried some new things. Scary, right? But sometimes you just have to take the plunge out of your comfort zone.
I took some of your excellent advice and found me some 505 spray adhesive, and gave spray basting a try. Thumbs up! Love it.

I also tried my hand at free motion quilting for the first time (excluding the puckered fiasco). The basting worked great! Not a pucker to be found! My stitch length is all over the map, but in time I am hoping that will improve. I have to keep reminding myself that I am not a professional, and I don't sell my stuff, it is given as gifts- who is going to scrutinize free stuff? It generally looks good from afar :-)

I think I can really get into the free motion, especially the stippling. The random thing would really work for me, seeing as I can't sew a straight line to save my life. Seriously. Which brings me to my next "first"- I decided to try some hand quilting. I am doing it on a strip quilt in addition to machine quilting, and it seems that following a seam at 1/4 inch is too complicated for me. Do I lose concentration? Do I have mini-seizures I am not aware of? I don't know, but I stood back and looked at the progress on this one today and my lines are wandering all over. No channel quilting for this girl! I know I have written about drinking and sewing in the past, but I swear I was not under the influence! Again, best admired from a distance!

Lastly, I picked up some wools and suiting and have a new sewing project in mind using these: In my mind, this project will be fabulous....let's just see how it turns out in Real Life, shall we?

I have a bunch of things in various stages of finishing, and hope to have something to show you soon :-) Also, still a couple tutorials on their way, as promised!

Happy Tuesday!

2 comments:

Kelli said...

Glad you liked the spray, I haven't made a decision on it yet. How big was the quilt you basted with it?
Hey, with the hand quilting, You can get 1/4 inch masking tape. Stick it along the seam and sew beside it. Super easy!

sewali said...

505 is the best thing since the rotary cutter!! I've basted things from bag size to king size, as long as you've got a nice big area to lay it out (tables at your local village hall or quilt shop are great), it's quick and easy.