A rocky start, a rocky middle, and a happy ending

Boy did I send a lot of time on this quilt. I received the fabric as a gift back in August and had the most trouble deciding what I wanted to do with it, pattern-wise. The fabric is Serenade by Kate Spain and I love it, but there is a lot going on–in color and design–and after I had the quilt top finished, I came to realize that I should have added some neutral color or some sashing (or both) to get the look I had intended. I was a little disappointed in my “creative vision,” so the project stalled. Fortunately, Garrett kept encouraging me to move forward. What a guy!

When I did get the motivation (and backing fabric) to move forward, I hit a snag with my machine. A literal one. I could not get the tension of the thread right. Not by guessing, not by Googling, not even by guessing some more! So, in a burst of inspiration, I found my sewing machine manual and consulted it. Now, I should say that I bought my sewing machine for $30 on Craigslist–and I’ve moved two or three times since–so I didn’t think I actually had the manual. Otherwise, yes, that might’ve been a good place to start. But here we are.

So I consulted the manual, figured out that the problem was simple, and fixed it. Unfortunately, I’d been sewing with the wrong tension for a long time without realizing it, and had to go back and fix a lot of shoddy workmanship. Bummer. In the end, I learned a lot about my machine (including the fact that it has a manual!) and I liked how quilt #2 turned out, so much that I gave it away. I wouldn’t give away something I didn’t like, or wasn’t proud of, and I was thrilled to give it to my cousin’s daughter on her first birthday. Technically, it was a late birthday present that I gave her on Thanksgiving, by putting it under my grandmother’s yet-to-to-be updated Halloween/Christmas tree, but that’s neither here nor there.

More photos to come later!