a small vent

Mostly I'm annoyed for getting myself into this situation and for
making too many assumptions.

I offered to machine quilt a top for a friend, who plans to give it to
her niece. She has a lot of experience in patchwork and some in
machine quilting, but her health prevents her from quilting anything
larger than a wall hanging. So assumption #1 was that this top would
be twin size, since it's for a young child. Wrong! the kid must sleep
in at least a double bed.
#2 was that my friend could piece and press accurately. Wrong again
-sigh. She used that HST technique where you sew 2 strips together
down both long sides, then cut triangles, so that the resulting HSTs
end up on the bias. With all those wobbly bias blocks, poorly pressed,
lumpy seams, her border strips are like the waves of the ocean.
#3: She didn't send enough thread. 300 yard spool for the bobbin
-please! there's one 500 yard spool for the top -BIG sigh. So I need
to ask if she has more. And thread is not always easy to find here if
you need to match a color.
#4 The backing was a bit on the skimpy side and not perfectly square.
So while each side was theoretically long enough, the sides were off
by an inch or so. (Great big miserable sigh and shaking of head.)
#5 She machine embroidered some lovely butterflies over some of the
block intersections, and there's a large butterfly on the back. Made
the top and back a bit puckery.

Anyhow, I have finished my all-over grid and the 3 inner border
strips, each 1" wide. Not too many puckers, even though the dratted
thing fought me every inch of the way. About to start on something
fancier for the wide outer border. Thanks for letting me vent, I feel
better.
Roberta in D

" Mostly I'm annoyed for getting myself into this situation and for
making too many assumptions.

I offered to machine quilt a top for a friend, who plans to give it to
her niece.

So nice of you to offer to do this for a friend, even if it is a pain to do!
Barbara in SC

Anytime, anytime. I admire your tenacity for your friend's sake. Well
done, you.


Karen, Queen of Squishies




Mostly I'm annoyed for getting myself into this situation and for
making too many assumptions.

I offered to machine quilt a top for a friend, who plans to give it to
her niece. She has a lot of experience in patchwork and some in
machine quilting, but her health prevents her from quilting anything
larger than a wall hanging. So assumption #1 was that this top would
be twin size, since it's for a young child. Wrong! the kid must sleep
in at least a double bed.
#2 was that my friend could piece and press accurately. Wrong again
-sigh. She used that HST technique where you sew 2 strips together
down both long sides, then cut triangles, so that the resulting HSTs
end up on the bias. With all those wobbly bias blocks, poorly pressed,
lumpy seams, her border strips are like the waves of the ocean.
#3: She didn't send enough thread. 300 yard spool for the bobbin
-please! there's one 500 yard spool for the top -BIG sigh. So I need
to ask if she has more. And thread is not always easy to find here if
you need to match a color.
#4 The backing was a bit on the skimpy side and not perfectly square.
So while each side was theoretically long enough, the sides were off
by an inch or so. (Great big miserable sigh and shaking of head.)
#5 She machine embroidered some lovely butterflies over some of the
block intersections, and there's a large butterfly on the back. Made
the top and back a bit puckery.

Anyhow, I have finished my all-over grid and the 3 inner border
strips, each 1" wide. Not too many puckers, even though the dratted
thing fought me every inch of the way. About to start on something
fancier for the wide outer border. Thanks for letting me vent, I feel
better.
Roberta in D

#1 Well done you for fighting the good fight, and persevering.... and
winning.
and
#2 An added bonus is that _I_ will now never bother with that HST
technique, which I had down as looking like a _good idea_.

Thanks
Nel
(Gadget Queen)

Well, it could be a good idea, especially if you mean to set the
blocks on point. And add quarter-square setting triangles. then you
could put on a border with no grief. The main problem in this case was
poor pressing, compounded by not measuring the border strips properly.
This is not something where you can just sew strips and cut them off
at the end.
Roberta in D

On Thu, 23 Jun 2011 09:20:05 -0700 (PDT), Sartorresartus
wrote:

#1 Well done you for fighting the good fight, and persevering.... and
winning.
and
#2 An added bonus is that _I_ will now never bother with that HST
technique, which I had down as looking like a _good idea_.

Thanks
Nel
(Gadget Queen)

Howdy!

Oh, I feel your pain!

This comes from my book, "Sight Unseen: Never Again!"

Several yrs ago a quilty friend who lives about 40 miles away, asked
me to help a friend with whom she worked at a quilt shop, offering my
name as a handquilter to the friend's cousin, a woman who had inherited her
uncle's estate and, of course, found a "beautiful, antique quilt top" that
just had to be handquilted.
My assumption #1: that these 2 quilters had actually seen the quilt top
&/or the niece & knew what they were talking about.
Assumption #2 came when the niece called to meet with me & we set up a
date for her to come to my house w/ the quilt top. She didn't make it
all the way here, she called to say she was running late in everything
(including her life, I'm sure) & could meet me at the highway exit. ?
Hey, I cleaned the front room, lady; get over here!
I met her on the side road, she flashed her name & thrust a box at me,
thanked me, "call me, my email address is in the box, too"... and I went
home w/ this surprise, assuming #3: that this was "Something".
It was, indeed, a Something, Surprise!: Polyester all over this quilt
top which wasn't that old (1970s), wasn't well-pieced, had a conglomeration
of fabrics stitched in, & was assembled in the dark by a pack of squiggly
worms who never heard of a straight line.
I fixed the fixable seams, squared up the edges, found a piece of white
muslin for the back; it just wasn't worth anything else for backing.
I quilted it, by hand. And it was good. Went thru' 2 pkgs of needles,
some C&C quilting thread (no, not gonna' invest Gütermann on this),
discovered several really cute fabrics (circa 1940), and Finished that
thing. Into the wash, w/ a dye magnet, no problems on the front but there
were some light bleed-throughs on the back; can't be helped, not going to
change it, Such is Life & the niece couldn't really see it.
She got her "heirloom" quilt, I got a big lesson: never assume ANYone
knows what they're talking about in regards to a quilt top belonging to
someone else! and never, never take on a project Sight Unseen.
It's a pretty quilt. I hope I never see it again. ;-D

Good luck to you, Roberta!

R/Sandy -
"It's a learning experience to assist you in your personal development."


On 6/23/11 8:29 AM, in article ,
"Roberta" Roberta@Home wrote:

Mostly I'm annoyed for getting myself into this situation and for
making too many assumptions.

I offered to machine quilt a top for a friend, who plans to give it to
her niece. She has a lot of experience in patchwork and some in
machine quilting, but her health prevents her from quilting anything
larger than a wall hanging. So assumption #1 was that this top would
be twin size, since it's for a young child. Wrong! the kid must sleep
in at least a double bed.
#2 was that my friend could piece and press accurately. Wrong again
-sigh. She used that HST technique where you sew 2 strips together
down both long sides, then cut triangles, so that the resulting HSTs
end up on the bias. With all those wobbly bias blocks, poorly pressed,
lumpy seams, her border strips are like the waves of the ocean.
#3: She didn't send enough thread. 300 yard spool for the bobbin
-please! there's one 500 yard spool for the top -BIG sigh. So I need
to ask if she has more. And thread is not always easy to find here if
you need to match a color.
#4 The backing was a bit on the skimpy side and not perfectly square.
So while each side was theoretically long enough, the sides were off
by an inch or so. (Great big miserable sigh and shaking of head.)
#5 She machine embroidered some lovely butterflies over some of the
block intersections, and there's a large butterfly on the back. Made
the top and back a bit puckery.

Anyhow, I have finished my all-over grid and the 3 inner border
strips, each 1" wide. Not too many puckers, even though the dratted
thing fought me every inch of the way. About to start on something
fancier for the wide outer border. Thanks for letting me vent, I feel
better.
Roberta in D

I was sympathetic until I got to the part that said: was assembled in the
dark by a pack of squiggly
worms who never heard of a straight line. Then I had to laugh.
Years ago, I bought a quilt top, GM flower garden on ebay. It seemed
like a good idea. Not. It was pieced by those same @#! worms. Polly


"Sandy E" wrote in message
...
Howdy!

Oh, I feel your pain!

This comes from my book, "Sight Unseen: Never Again!"

Several yrs ago a quilty friend who lives about 40 miles away, asked
me to help a friend with whom she worked at a quilt shop, offering my
name as a handquilter to the friend's cousin, a woman who had inherited
her
uncle's estate and, of course, found a "beautiful, antique quilt top" that
just had to be handquilted.
My assumption #1: that these 2 quilters had actually seen the quilt top
&/or the niece & knew what they were talking about.
Assumption #2 came when the niece called to meet with me & we set up a
date for her to come to my house w/ the quilt top. She didn't make it
all the way here, she called to say she was running late in everything
(including her life, I'm sure) & could meet me at the highway exit. ?
Hey, I cleaned the front room, lady; get over here!
I met her on the side road, she flashed her name & thrust a box at me,
thanked me, "call me, my email address is in the box, too"... and I went
home w/ this surprise, assuming #3: that this was "Something".
It was, indeed, a Something, Surprise!: Polyester all over this quilt
top which wasn't that old (1970s), wasn't well-pieced, had a
conglomeration
of fabrics stitched in, & was assembled in the dark by a pack of squiggly
worms who never heard of a straight line.
I fixed the fixable seams, squared up the edges, found a piece of white
muslin for the back; it just wasn't worth anything else for backing.
I quilted it, by hand. And it was good. Went thru' 2 pkgs of needles,
some C&C quilting thread (no, not gonna' invest Gütermann on this),
discovered several really cute fabrics (circa 1940), and Finished that
thing. Into the wash, w/ a dye magnet, no problems on the front but there
were some light bleed-throughs on the back; can't be helped, not going to
change it, Such is Life & the niece couldn't really see it.
She got her "heirloom" quilt, I got a big lesson: never assume ANYone
knows what they're talking about in regards to a quilt top belonging to
someone else! and never, never take on a project Sight Unseen.
It's a pretty quilt. I hope I never see it again. ;-D

Good luck to you, Roberta!

R/Sandy -
"It's a learning experience to assist you in your personal development."


On 6/23/11 8:29 AM, in article ,
"Roberta" Roberta@Home wrote:

Mostly I'm annoyed for getting myself into this situation and for
making too many assumptions.

I offered to machine quilt a top for a friend, who plans to give it to
her niece. She has a lot of experience in patchwork and some in
machine quilting, but her health prevents her from quilting anything
larger than a wall hanging. So assumption #1 was that this top would
be twin size, since it's for a young child. Wrong! the kid must sleep
in at least a double bed.
#2 was that my friend could piece and press accurately. Wrong again
-sigh. She used that HST technique where you sew 2 strips together
down both long sides, then cut triangles, so that the resulting HSTs
end up on the bias. With all those wobbly bias blocks, poorly pressed,
lumpy seams, her border strips are like the waves of the ocean.
#3: She didn't send enough thread. 300 yard spool for the bobbin
-please! there's one 500 yard spool for the top -BIG sigh. So I need
to ask if she has more. And thread is not always easy to find here if
you need to match a color.
#4 The backing was a bit on the skimpy side and not perfectly square.
So while each side was theoretically long enough, the sides were off
by an inch or so. (Great big miserable sigh and shaking of head.)
#5 She machine embroidered some lovely butterflies over some of the
block intersections, and there's a large butterfly on the back. Made
the top and back a bit puckery.

Anyhow, I have finished my all-over grid and the 3 inner border
strips, each 1" wide. Not too many puckers, even though the dratted
thing fought me every inch of the way. About to start on something
fancier for the wide outer border. Thanks for letting me vent, I feel
better.
Roberta in D

Oh, Sandy, I just had to laugh! Perhaps there are many of us who have
experienced this.

My own story, which I try to forget, is from a person who had a quilt
his mom made him, but it needed some "fixin". Uh, no kidding! I am not
sure at all what this poor piece had been through, but no doubt it had
survived because it was made of polyester. Yep, ugly avocado green and
royal blue. The batting was wadded into clumps. And there was a
horrendous smell to the whole thing. I worked with it, took the layers
apart, and hand washed it all. Started looking for replacement fabric.
One day he showed up at the house and said he had a new girlfriend who
could fix it "because if you really cared it wouldn't have been taking
you so long". I was glad to be rid of it.

And I never did hear from Chris again....

Ginger in CA

On Jun 23, 11:24*am, Sandy E wrote:
Howdy!

*Oh, I feel your pain!

This comes from my book, "Sight Unseen: Never Again!"

Several yrs ago a quilty friend who lives about 40 miles away, asked
me to help a friend with whom she worked at a quilt shop, offering my
name as a handquilter to the friend's cousin, a woman who had inherited her
uncle's estate and, of course, found a "beautiful, antique quilt top" that
just had to be handquilted.
*My assumption #1: that these 2 quilters had actually seen the quilt top
&/or the niece & knew what they were talking about.
* Assumption #2 came when the niece called to meet with me & we set up a
date for her to come to my house w/ the quilt top. *She didn't make it
all the way here, she called to say she was running late in everything
(including her life, I'm sure) & could meet me at the highway exit. *?
Hey, I cleaned the front room, lady; get over here!
* *I met her on the side road, she flashed her name & thrust a box at me,
thanked me, "call me, my email address is in the box, too"... and I went
home w/ this surprise, assuming #3: that this was "Something".
* *It was, indeed, a Something, Surprise!: *Polyester all over this quilt
top which wasn't that old (1970s), wasn't well-pieced, had a conglomeration
of fabrics stitched in, & was assembled in the dark by a pack of squiggly
worms who never heard of a straight line.
* I fixed the fixable seams, squared up the edges, found a piece of white
muslin for the back; it just wasn't worth anything else for backing.
* I quilted it, by hand. *And it was good. *Went thru' 2 pkgs of needles,
some C&C quilting thread (no, not gonna' invest G termann on this),
discovered several really cute fabrics (circa 1940), and Finished that
thing. *Into the wash, w/ a dye magnet, no problems on the front but there
were some light bleed-throughs on the back; can't be helped, not going to
change it, Such is Life & the niece couldn't really see it.
* *She got her "heirloom" quilt, I got a big lesson: never assume ANYone
knows what they're talking about in regards to a quilt top belonging to
someone else! and never, never take on a project Sight Unseen.
* *It's a pretty quilt. I hope I never see it again. *;-D

Good luck to you, Roberta!

R/Sandy -
*"It's a learning experience to assist you in your personal development.."

You are a good friend Roberta. Rant away.
Life lessons come in lots of different forms.
Taria

"Roberta" wrote in message
...

Mostly I'm annoyed for getting myself into this situation and for
making too many assumptions.

I offered to machine quilt a top for a friend, who plans to give it to
her niece. She has a lot of experience in patchwork and some in
machine quilting, but her health prevents her from quilting anything
larger than a wall hanging. So assumption #1 was that this top would
be twin size, since it's for a young child. Wrong! the kid must sleep
in at least a double bed.
#2 was that my friend could piece and press accurately. Wrong again
-sigh. She used that HST technique where you sew 2 strips together
down both long sides, then cut triangles, so that the resulting HSTs
end up on the bias. With all those wobbly bias blocks, poorly pressed,
lumpy seams, her border strips are like the waves of the ocean.
#3: She didn't send enough thread. 300 yard spool for the bobbin
-please! there's one 500 yard spool for the top -BIG sigh. So I need
to ask if she has more. And thread is not always easy to find here if
you need to match a color.
#4 The backing was a bit on the skimpy side and not perfectly square.
So while each side was theoretically long enough, the sides were off
by an inch or so. (Great big miserable sigh and shaking of head.)
#5 She machine embroidered some lovely butterflies over some of the
block intersections, and there's a large butterfly on the back. Made
the top and back a bit puckery.

Anyhow, I have finished my all-over grid and the 3 inner border
strips, each 1" wide. Not too many puckers, even though the dratted
thing fought me every inch of the way. About to start on something
fancier for the wide outer border. Thanks for letting me vent, I feel
better.
Roberta in D

Another good friend that has learned a lesson. I probably have a
vintage (old) quilt top around here that could stand being quilted.
Anyone needing to learn their lesson about now give a holler and
you can quilt while we teach you!
Taria

"Sandy E" wrote in message ...

Howdy!

Oh, I feel your pain!

This comes from my book, "Sight Unseen: Never Again!"

Several yrs ago a quilty friend who lives about 40 miles away, asked
me to help a friend with whom she worked at a quilt shop, offering my
name as a handquilter to the friend's cousin, a woman who had inherited her
uncle's estate and, of course, found a "beautiful, antique quilt top" that
just had to be handquilted.
My assumption #1: that these 2 quilters had actually seen the quilt top
&/or the niece & knew what they were talking about.
Assumption #2 came when the niece called to meet with me & we set up a
date for her to come to my house w/ the quilt top. She didn't make it
all the way here, she called to say she was running late in everything
(including her life, I'm sure) & could meet me at the highway exit. ?
Hey, I cleaned the front room, lady; get over here!
I met her on the side road, she flashed her name & thrust a box at me,
thanked me, "call me, my email address is in the box, too"... and I went
home w/ this surprise, assuming #3: that this was "Something".
It was, indeed, a Something, Surprise!: Polyester all over this quilt
top which wasn't that old (1970s), wasn't well-pieced, had a conglomeration
of fabrics stitched in, & was assembled in the dark by a pack of squiggly
worms who never heard of a straight line.
I fixed the fixable seams, squared up the edges, found a piece of white
muslin for the back; it just wasn't worth anything else for backing.
I quilted it, by hand. And it was good. Went thru' 2 pkgs of needles,
some C&C quilting thread (no, not gonna' invest Gütermann on this),
discovered several really cute fabrics (circa 1940), and Finished that
thing. Into the wash, w/ a dye magnet, no problems on the front but there
were some light bleed-throughs on the back; can't be helped, not going to
change it, Such is Life & the niece couldn't really see it.
She got her "heirloom" quilt, I got a big lesson: never assume ANYone
knows what they're talking about in regards to a quilt top belonging to
someone else! and never, never take on a project Sight Unseen.
It's a pretty quilt. I hope I never see it again. ;-D

Good luck to you, Roberta!

R/Sandy -
"It's a learning experience to assist you in your personal development."


On 6/23/11 8:29 AM, in article ,
"Roberta" Roberta@Home wrote:

Mostly I'm annoyed for getting myself into this situation and for
making too many assumptions.

I offered to machine quilt a top for a friend, who plans to give it to
her niece. She has a lot of experience in patchwork and some in
machine quilting, but her health prevents her from quilting anything
larger than a wall hanging. So assumption #1 was that this top would
be twin size, since it's for a young child. Wrong! the kid must sleep
in at least a double bed.
#2 was that my friend could piece and press accurately. Wrong again
-sigh. She used that HST technique where you sew 2 strips together
down both long sides, then cut triangles, so that the resulting HSTs
end up on the bias. With all those wobbly bias blocks, poorly pressed,
lumpy seams, her border strips are like the waves of the ocean.
#3: She didn't send enough thread. 300 yard spool for the bobbin
-please! there's one 500 yard spool for the top -BIG sigh. So I need
to ask if she has more. And thread is not always easy to find here if
you need to match a color.
#4 The backing was a bit on the skimpy side and not perfectly square.
So while each side was theoretically long enough, the sides were off
by an inch or so. (Great big miserable sigh and shaking of head.)
#5 She machine embroidered some lovely butterflies over some of the
block intersections, and there's a large butterfly on the back. Made
the top and back a bit puckery.

Anyhow, I have finished my all-over grid and the 3 inner border
strips, each 1" wide. Not too many puckers, even though the dratted
thing fought me every inch of the way. About to start on something
fancier for the wide outer border. Thanks for letting me vent, I feel
better.
Roberta in D