Sunday 2 February 2014

Wrestling

My weekend has consisted of basting, and starting to quilt the HSTs,  and then there was spending most of Saturday escorting eight young ladies for a day out in Milton Keynes. The bright side of that is seven of those young ladies were quite happy not to be in my company for a good portion of the time there. All in all, it wasn't a bad day out at all - because I came home with the most spectacularly gorgeous dark purple hand bag. I think having to give up my sewing time for that bag was a trade off I can accept.

Today, thankfully, I got some sewing time in. Back in the early days of this blog I likened quilting a quilt on a domestic machine to wrestling a walrus. My HST quilt is the largest quilt I made (yet). Not big by the standards of many, but for me 6' square is plenty big enough, especially when cramming it through the limited harp space of my beloved Bernina 440QE (design fault Bernina - hint hint!). The new sewing desk is proving its worth already though. Because I have it pushed up flush against the wall and finally I can quilt without the quilt sliding off the other side of the dining room table I used to quilt on, and all the weight tugging viciously and sending my stitching even more awry than normal.


So my spare time over the next few days will be spent quilting row after row of straight lines, maybe with the ocassional corner. It's physical, and tiring, but strangely zen like in the repetitive motion of sewing those liines. I kind of like it, even if I feel rather achy after doing a few hours in a row.

Susan

21 comments:

  1. Looking promising, Susan! Can't wait to see the finished product!

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  2. Making some good progress, keep going, and looking forward to seeing it all done! :o)

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  3. I have some very "relaxed" lines on the babies quilt but I am calling them a "design" & moving on!! LOL
    Pictures of the bag please? I am shopping vicariously.
    x

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  4. Glad you managed to squeeze some quilting time in. I quilt a lot of straight lines (simply because that's all I can figure out what to do) and agree with you it zen. It may become boring after a while, but just keep thing zen and you'll be alright ;)

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  5. Quilting straight lines is boring but it will be so worth it. Nice handbag too. Di x

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  6. It's not many would like a day out in Milton Keynes lol Sounds like the bag was worth it at least!

    I moved my sewing machine to the other end of the table after the reshuffle in the new year, and like you am enjoying having the table support stuff rather than things slithering off the edge and falling down the gap between the end of the table and the wall!

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  7. Keep an eye on your posture too! Step back every so often and stretch out those shoulder and back muscles! Jxo

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  8. Judith is right. I am glad the new desk is working so well, it makes all the difference to keep the quilt from falling off the sides of the table. Your quilt is looking fun and maybe you should show us the purple bag.

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  9. just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming swimming swimming...

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  10. It's going to be gorgeous, Susan! A glass or two of (white!!) wine will ease you through and you'll be done in no time.

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  11. You go up, then down, up then down ;-)

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  12. Go for it Wonder Woman!
    We are going to a concert in July in MKbowl x

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  13. Hang in there! At least your lines are straight. I quilted half a quilt on Sat afternoon and it should be straight but I don't believe a single line actually is. Argh!

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  14. Looking forward to seeing this quilt :-)

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  15. Stop blogging and quilt it already! I am desperate to see this quilt! Would you send me a private sneak peek pic - you know I can keep a secret!

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  16. Oooh- almost there ! Keep going row by row and you'll be finished in no time ...

    Chocolate as a reward for every 5 rows will definitely help(I would suggest wine but after 10 rows your stitching might start to wobble)

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  17. It;s looking good Susan, and I think Shay is on to something there.

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  18. It's always encouraging to read about other peoples organic quilting!

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  19. Looking fab! When I first set out quilting, I had no idea just how physically demanding quilting was, all this wrestling and grabbling with getting it through the machine, not to mention getting down on your hands and knees for the basting! It's not a sport for the faint hearted lol!

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