Friday, October 10, 2014

Serpentine Stitch

As I did the hand binding on Bob's quilt, I came to see how the edges of the back fabric let me know that it was a cotton/poly blend. It would not be a fabric of choice for me normally, but just makes his quilt so wonderful.

I decided to run a Serpentine Stitch next to the binding as a re-inforcement. It is almost invisible. I feel better about it this way because if the edge frayed, I would never know and they would end up with a quilt that stressed them out, thinking it was their fault.

It only took me about 20 minutes to run it through the machine. I couldn't get much closer to the binding edge and still have it all go through the machine, and yet think it is fine.

My next step with all the quilts is to lay them out and go over them on both sides to ensure that the threads are clipped and seams solid when I pull on them. It is a wonderful feeling to be on time with all of them and not feel pressured to finish.

This year has been an exciting experience that included successful accomplishments as well as challenges that invited me to go back, to repeat lessons, and to do things differently. 

I became more gentle with myself too, and allowed myself to take things off my to-do list so that there was less pressure. Right now, I 'could' finish up two quilts for my younger Nephews and give the quilts to them for the holidays. I could, however, I would like to quilt them with more skills than I have right now, so want to wait.

Doing Bob's quilt with some different stitches was really good practice for me. I know I said I wasn't showing my Pay It Forward projects, and this didn't start out as one. The practice I got doing this was huge for me. 

When I first saw a pattern that used a horizontal fabric, I was ecstatic. I love these Santas and Birdhouses. They remind me of my Daddy whose name was Nick and who loved feeding and watching birds. The funny story about Bob and my younger Son is that when Bob named his first Son Nick (after my Daddy), my Son told him that Nick was our family name and he should name all his kids Bob. That still makes me smile.

The quilt was fun for me to make, and will have a good home with Bob.