ScrapHappy Saturday - RSC18 - Week 32

Welcome to Week 32 of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!!  It was a whirlwind of quilting and other activities.  Would you care to walk with me through my week?

Here we go...

SUNDAY - Here's the LINK to this month's Squared Away Sampler block tutorial from Mari at The Academic Quilter blog. Angela over at So Scrappy has offered Samplers in the past, running on the same schedule as Mari's annual Block of the Month program.  This year, they collaborated on a collection of blocks for the 2018 RSC Sampler.

Reminder:

The Rainbow Scrap Challenge Color of the Month is...

MONDAY - Started quilting a client quilt (to get it off the frame, so I'll be ready when my niece's wedding quilt is done!)

Would you like to see?

I figured you might:

Look closely and you'll see a tiny bit of ORANGE for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

You can find this week's Mail Call Monday post HERE.  It's a good one and you're not going to want to miss it...  Especially, if you like Crazy Mom Quilt's, Kaffe Fassett, mug rugs, or New Zealand!!

TUESDAY - Dinner with a good friend and I posted my August Scrap Attack goals.

WEDNESDAY - A thunderstorm rolled through right when I was going to start (finishing) the quilting.  By the time the storm was done, there was no time to go up to the studio.  This little guy (stationed somewhere near the middle of the quilt) will just have to wait for another day:

Today was the day I had planned to begin my adventures of Instant Pot cooking.  Copycat Olive Garden Gnocchi Soup?  YUM!!!

Instead, I chose 1" squares in the Color of the Month to be ready to fulfill (a small portion of) my Scrap Attack goal:

With that done, I brought out the bag of my niece's deconstructed T-shirts to plan a tentative layout for the quilt:

Next step, rough cutting the squares!

THURSDAY - Tonight was a continuation of my adventures in Instant Pot cooking with Instant Pot Crispy Potatoes.  It's a bit of a misnomer, since you have to finish it off in a big frying pan.  I added a browned package of Neese Sage Sausage Roll and a Vidalia onion.  YUM!!!  If accompanied by some steamed zucchini, you wouldn't need anything else for a complete dinner.

After the clean-up was done, I finally made my way upstairs to work on finishing the quilting on the beautiful batik client quilt that I shared earlier in the week.  I finished one pass and had just begun my return, when THIS happened:

Look carefully.  As I came off the sashing strip, something happened.  I wasn't "speeding" and the stitch regulator was engaged.  Somehow, for a reason unknown to me, the machine suddenly started making stitches that appear to be the length of basting stitches.  NOT okay!!  Just the moment before, nice small stitches hadn't been an issue.  :o((

FRIDAY - This morning was spent with my knitting friends before I was back in front of the longarm... well, technically, that would be the BACK of the frame while working on one of my giant template boards.  :P

But first...

A phone call to the local longarm dealer to diagnose last night's stitching problem.  (See photo above.)

Determination?

The encoder wheels on the rails (based on the direction the machine was traveling at the time of malfunction.)

Solution?

Squeeze the wheel and inner rubber wheel together (as the rubber wears over time.)

Whew!!  Thank you, Angela @ Threadwaggle Quilting!!!  APQS Raleigh provides SUCH outstanding service.  Even over the phone!

Now, back to quilting...

Unfortunately, before very long (meaning just a couple of rows or so) the thread broke.  Here's me, trying to figure out what went wrong now:

Think, think, think...

This is my angry face, as I crawled under the machine, only to determine the problem...

Grrr!!!  Insert frustrated self-talk here.  

Can you say EMPTY bobbin?!  The bobbin tricked me by breaking with a SNAP! instead of simply running out of thread.  Sigh...

SATURDAY - Well, well, well...  The days blew past and we have arrived at another LINK PARTY day!!  Join in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge fun or just check out what the RSC Quilters were up to this week.

I'm off to my studio to work on the wedding quilt.  If I could turn back time, I would have done MORE prep work in the months since the bride delivered the shirts.  Truly!  However, the reality is there are SEW many projects and so little time to devote to my quilting projects. We'll see if I actually manage to get the T-quilt done by the wedding day.  If not, I'll just have to mail it afterwards.

Until next time...
Get SCRAPPY!!!