Done!

I finally finished my brother's Grateful Dead quilt. Here's the front...

And the back...

I tend to just use whatever material I have available to make the backing, and since I was short on time, this backing is very simple.

My long-arm quilting machine gave me fits with changing tension each time I had to swap out the bobbin thread, so there were some places where the stitching was loose and messy. I tried going over those spots with my reliable Singer Heavy Duty short arm machine, but found that without having the quilt on the rack, I couldn't create circles. Instead I just hand-stitched in the places that needed repair. Now I'm off to find a box to ship the quilt in.

My Life Story

See that bobbin sitting on my quilt?  That's how close I was to the end of this quilting project before the bobbin thread ran out.  Oh, I don't mind winding the bobbin with fresh thread, but I hate having to spend what feels like hours adjusting and readjusting the top and bottom thread tension once I put a new, full bobbin into the machine.  Had the old thread held out until the end of the project, I could have been done quilting in literally two minutes.  Instead it took me two hours to get through this last row and a half of stitches.  That's my life story.  I'm the runner who trips over her own shoelaces just seconds before she's about the cross the finish line.

To make matters worse, when I did finally finish those two rows, I accidentally stitched the quilt to the leader fabric on the quilt rack, so now I get to spend hours ripping out the last row to free my quilt from the rack, and then I will have to re-sew the last row off the rack on another machine.  The last few steps are always the hardest, even though you have all that experience behind you.  Oh well, at least I will be able to dismantle my quilt rack soon and put it back in its box.   I know that if I were retired or a professional quilter, I'd be doing this activity more often and be more aware of the potential hazards, and therefore be able avoid such pitfalls, but so is life.

Struggles with Machine Quilting

I decided to try to hurry and sandwich together my brother's quilt, machine sew it, and mail it off to him before I move out of state. I wanted to use the quilt rack one last time before tearing it down.

I managed to recall how to connect everything from memory. Usually, when a few years pass between quilts, I have to view the tutorial tape, which is on VHS, and our tape player is broken.

I forgot how fussy my Brother quilting machine can be. The only thing about it that is easy is winding the bobbin. However trying to pick up the bobbin thread is another deal. It usually takes several attempts of readjusting the location of the bobbin thread tail before the top thread can pick it up.

Then when you start quilting, there is always this deep thump, thump, thump, which is a telltale sign that the thread is getting bunched up underneath the quilt. You have to rip everything out, pull all the excess thread off the bobbin, and start over.

I spend a good half hour just adjusting and readjusting the thread tension on both the bobbin case and the machine before I can get a decent stitch. Unfortunately, because half of my backing is black and half of my backing is white, and I'm using black thread, I couldn't see that the tension was way too loose until I looked underneath the quilt rack at the black on white thread.

Now I remember why I've been spending the past year hand-quilting my Storm at Sea quilt, because I hate using that machine.  I also know why it takes a whole village to sew an extra large bed quilt.  I just hope I finish the hand-quilting project before I die.

My brother's quilt is a complete mess, but because I have to tear down the quilt rack and box it up to move, I don't have the time to rip all the thread out, buy a new spool and start over. My brother is not picky. I'll just apologize for my lack of talent, I guess. It's the thought that counts, right?  When it comes to quilting, I'm just happy if I can complete a single project.

Brian's Grateful Dead Quilt

Years ago I found some fabric that slightly resembled the logos of the band The Grateful Dead. My brother Brian was a loyal groupie of the band and still occasionally goes to concerts of cover bands that imitate The Grateful Dead.  I bought the fabric with the intention of using it to design a bed quilt for my brother, however life got a hold of me and the fabric just sat in a basket for years on end. 

Upon rediscovering the fabric, I designed a quilt using ElectricQuilt5 software.  Because the featured prints were so large, I had to include sizable window blocks.  I used the smaller prints, which displayed dancing skeletons and skulls, for borders.  Last weekend I picked up a white calico fabric for the inner border and a black musical note fabric for the outside border.

I was really proud of myself because I managed to sew the entire top together over a period of three days.  I think my motive was that I need to tear down my quilt rack to move, and wanted to finish this quilt before doing so.  Now I just need to cut the right size piece of batting and put something together for a backing, and I can attach the layers to my quilt rack and quilt it all together.

I'm hoping to have the entire project done by next weekend so that I can ship it off to Brian.  It would have been nice if I finished it before winter or for his birthday, which is in winter, but we can't always get what we want.